Don’t sugarcoat who you are. Own it and expose it. Exposing is about honesty and authenticity. It’s obvious that integrity is important. Almost every company has a version of it as part of its core values.
Yet, few companies are able to live up to it.
There is power in being straightforward and candid. Especially when traditional marketing involves highlighting the positive and obscuring the negative.
For example, the message on a bag of Domino sugar explains that “sugar is a 100% natural simple carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are an important part of any balanced diet. Sugar contains no fat or cholesterol and has 15 calories per teaspoon.” They make it sound like the perfect food.
Domino’s strategy seems to make sense. Why tell customers about what’s wrong?
However, there’s a major problem with this approach. We all know that sugar isn’t the perfect food and that undermines our ability to trust Domino. They aren’t being honest.
Counter to Domino, IT’SUGAR practices exposing. Instead of trying to pretend that sugar is healthy, they put all of the negatives right on the label. Honesty is in their name.
What do they sell? Sugar. What’s the main ingredient? Sugar. They sell Gummy Bears the size of your head.
Takeaway: Be brutally honest. Expose.