Be Transparent

The commercial opened with two beautiful draft horses pulling a wide, covered wagon through the snow. Santa was seated prominently in the front behind the driver, and wreaths were hung around the wagon, adding color and a festive look. With the snow swirling around, the entire scene was enticing. My interest was piqued. What was this about?

Watching further, I saw Santa and Mrs. Claus, fresh-cut Christmas trees, and kids decorating cookies. The announcer said, “This Christmas, start a new tradition by getting your fresh cut Christmas tree and enjoy horse-drawn sleigh rides, cookie decorating for the kids, and visits from Santa and Mrs. Claus at Vino in the Valley.”

“Nice commercial,” I thought. “It’s very well done. Where is Vino in the Valley?”

The commercial never told me. It’s only information was vinointhevalley.com at the end. “Where is that?” I wondered. “Did I miss the location?”

The next time that the commercial aired, I missed part of it and thought that I must have missed the location once again. The third time that I caught it, I made a point to run it back and watch it all the way through. The only information it contained was vinointhevalley.com.

That’s not enough.

I was reminded of a consumer who told me that she wanted to go to a store, but the store never gave a street address on its commercials. It only stated the two cities where the stores were located. The consumer refused to go the extra step to find the store’s location either online or from a phone book. “I’d like to shop there,” she said, “but if they won’t tell me where they are, I’m not taking the extra time to find out.”

Her reaction surprised me initially. After thinking about it, I realized that she had a point. Why should she have gone to extra effort to find the store? What was in it for her?

As I mulled the Vino in the Valley commercial over, I thought about an ad that I was given recently which completely lacked an address. There was no address, no phone number, and no Web site. I assume that was a mistake.

Was that ad any different from the Vino in the Valley commercial?

Out of curiosity, I finally went online and checked out vinointhevalley.com. I quickly realized why the commercial directed viewers to the Web site. The location was off the beaten path and required lengthy directions. These directions could not be given on a commercial. However, leaving the location off the commercial completely was a mistake. Expecting consumers to take the extra step to find a business likely won’t happen.

As the lady I referenced earlier indicated, people are too busy to investigate. Give them the information that they need to make a decision. Vino in the Valley would have been wise to indicate its general location. By not doing so, I felt that something was wrong. Either they had forgotten or were cloaking it for some reason. The latter made me suspicious. The lack of the location irritated me.

Perhaps the Vino in the Valley people thought that because they couldn’t give all the directions, they should avoid directions entirely. Or, perhaps they thought that telling the general location might be a turnoff for some consumers. If that was their thinking, they were probably correct. However, revealing that information after a consumer has taken extra time to go to a Web site will have the same result. If the consumer wouldn’t be interested by the general location, she won’t be interested by the specific one, either. Having interrupted her schedule to go online, her disinterest may be coupled with irritation.

In your marketing, be transparent. Good marketing piques interest but does not hide or neglect important information. Give consumers what they need to know to find your business.