Some people think that sales and marketing are primarily about hype. They think it’s all about loud self-promotion, boasting, and exaggerated claims.
Sure, there’s a place for being excited and passionate about your products and services, but you don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver.
Most prospects and customers don’t trust hype, which is why relying on it can damage your credibility and brand. One reason for this is that hyperbole is easy to spot and the motives are transparent, which can quickly cause someone’s guard to go up. If a high-pressure salesperson has ever hassled you, then you already know the feeling.
What your marketing campaign really needs is marketing buzz, not hype.
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What’s the Difference Between Buzz and Hype?
Marketing buzz and marketing hype are two different things.
- Marketing hype is associated with making something appear better than it is: puffery.
- Marketing buzz is the natural, word-of-mouth publicity generated around something the public is excited about.
Marketing hype usually happens with paid advertising, sponsorships, or promotion. Marketing buzz, meanwhile, occurs organically without additional outside support and has a more positive connotation.
Here are some writing tips that can help you remove hype from your marketing materials and generate marketing buzz instead.
1. Be Straightforward
First, be direct and honest in your message. Marketing materials should be easy to understand, so don’t overcomplicate them.
When you start adding unnecessary content, readers begin to suspect manipulation or deception, and you’ll lose their trust. Let the message sell itself—which is what marketing buzz is all about.
Some marketers think their product will sound better if they use big words and long, complex sentences. The opposite is true. Short sentences with easy-to-understand language with no industry jargon will allow customers to identify with you more quickly and build stronger trust.
Straightforward writing will help you avoid hype around your product or service and focus on your core message.
Bottom line: Customers respond better to not having marketing shoved down their throats. Writing in a clear, direct way shows that you trust them to make up their own mind about your product or service and generate marketing buzz for you.
2. Have Credibility
News flash: Marketing hype is not credible.
Credibility comes from marketing buzz generated by satisfied customers.
Marketing hype uses exaggerated claims to sell products to people, but many people now realize that “hype marketing” is usually full of empty promises, and they quickly dismiss it. A term most people are familiar with is “clickbait.” Marketing hype is usually associated with clickbait because both use exaggerated claims to push readers to buy.
People need to identify with your product or service and with your company. There must be some level of trust between the company selling the product and the customer buying it. Credibility comes from being honest about what you’re selling, not plying them with empty promises.
Ask yourself these questions to be more credible in marketing campaigns:
- Why should the reader believe and trust me?
- Do I have data or testimonials to back up my claims?
- Do I have relevant expertise?
- What’s my track record?
Once you’ve answered these questions, you can start to identify the real reasons people should do business with you.
Include any social proof that lends credibility to your company, product, or service. People love to read reviews and recommendations—even if it’s just likes on social media. These social signals lend additional credibility to your marketing materials and make buying decisions easier.
Yet another way to improve credibility is to back up your claims with proof, such as data, scientific research, or other types of compelling information.
To further increase the credibility of your marketing, have your written materials professionally proofread and edited by Super Copy Editors. Our expert proofreaders will thoroughly review your copy and fix or improve your marketing content so it reads perfectly and sells effectively. Learn more about how we help marketing teams ensure success.
3. Provide Useful Information
When you produce marketing materials, you’re asking people to trade their time (and, with any luck, money) to read about your product or service. People’s time and money are precious, so your marketing better be providing something useful.
For example, if you write a detailed blog post or white paper that helps people solve a problem, then you’ve made your marketing useful.
Here are some quick tips to keep readers engaged long enough to hook them:
- Write a catchy but truthful headline
- Put the most important information first
- Write in clear, short, simple sentences and paragraphs
- Break up text blocks with bulleted or numbered lists and eye-catching images
- Have a clear call to action
Don’t include fluff (aka marketing hype) that wastes the reader’s time. By providing only helpful information in your marketing materials, you improve the overall quality of your message and make it authentic.
Don’t Miss: How to Write Headlines for Marketing Content That Readers Just Can’t Resist
4. Be Consistent
Nothing sends up red flags quicker or turns people off faster than errors and inconsistencies in your marketing. How will people trust you enough to give you their time and money if you contradict yourself throughout your message?
Inconsistencies in your writing are indications that your product or service is being hyped—in need of artificial inflation to get it sold.
To generate marketing buzz rather than hype, you’ll need to ensure your message is clear, concise, and consistent.
Shannon Streich, a graphic designer at Vivid Image, says, “This consistency will be perceived by people as your ‘brand identity,’ and it is what will differentiate you from your competitors.”
“Your brand identity gives your business a personality that others can relate to,” Streich adds. “By recognizing your business from consistent branding and messaging, people will begin to feel like they can be confident in understanding what they can expect from your business, products, and services, which will bring trust in your business and customer loyalty.”
If your writing is logical and consistent, then it’s more likely to be trusted and believed. It’s easy to miss inconsistencies when you’re writing, so it’s important to look for them as you are proofreading your work.
Don’t Miss: 5 Reasons Marketers and Ad Agencies Need a Proofreader
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Final Thoughts on How to Remove Hype From Marketing
Generating buzz around your product or service should be the goal of every marketer.
Once your product or service generates buzz, it begins to sell itself, making your job easier. The only way to do that is by being authentic.
Customers aren’t fools, and with social media and the internet, they can easily talk to one another about how good your company is. Hype marketing is not an effective way of selling to today’s consumer, who has many resources to check if your product is the real deal or merely hype.
Use the tips above, and you’ll be more successful at generating genuine marketing buzz with your marketing materials without resorting to hype. People want to read straightforward, credible, helpful information checked thoroughly for consistency and errors.
Having your campaigns professionally edited and proofread for consistency, tone, and spelling and grammar errors is an excellent way to ensure you convert as many readers as possible into buyers. At Super Copy Editors, our team has the experience and knowledge from putting the polishing touches on thousands of marketing pieces over the past 12 years. Get a free quote to have our award-winning editors review your marketing materials.
