Startups…please think about your marketing messages… re: Comcast, Verizon, Monster, Delta, Technorati

The longer I have been in marketing, both product and interactive, the more I see how important it is to think about your marketing messages critically before launching anything. Whether it's poor word selection, changing the voice to suit your needs, or just lying, it keeps happening. And it seems like it mostly happens with the bigger companies (who I guess can afford to screw up). Here are some recent examples.

Yesterday we learned that Comcast cuts off customers with too much usage though they won't post an actual amount and have told me numerous times there is no limit and that my plan is "unlimited".

This comes on the heels of Verizon and their "unlimited" but limited wireless data plan. I don't get this because they suck every possible cent out of us anyway, but again, users are being turned off for exceeding the limits of their unlimited plan.

Last week, Yahoo announced that their Mail app will now offer "unlimited" storage of email. I immediately questioned whether this unlimited is more unlimited than the previous two examples.

Here is another example from a radio ad that Monster ran last year. I wish I had a recorded in my car :) — anyway here was the ad… "People who post a resume on Monster are xx% (i think it was 57%) more likely to get a job." Sounds amazing. At the end of the commercial in mouse type they say, "The numbers quoted are compared with people who did not submit a resume and those who did." Now this was a line of horse crap in my eyes. Naturally if you submit a resume you have a better chance of getting a job. DUH.

Now, let's look at another example from the airline industry. For as long as I have been alive, carriers always quoted their pricing as "round-trip" pricing. So for example, a fare from NYC to Paris might be quoted at $500 round trip excluding taxes. Then about 18 months ago, one of the domestic (US) carriers decided that there must be a better way. And so now what do we have? We have "O/W fares". So the example would be NYC to Paris for $250 O/W. Sounds great, certainly makes the customer see a lower price and that's eye catching. Oh but wait, there is a catch. The fare is only valid if you purchase a round-trip ticket. So why not show the round-trip price? Because I am guessing many people don't realize it is one-way until they are already in the booking process. This is disappointing to me because it is somewhat misleading.

My last example might not be perfect but it is a good example of picking your message. Dave Sifry published his report on the State of Technorati yesterday. In it he shows how much bigger (and better) Technorati blog search is over Google blog search. I posted my thoughts on this yesterday where I explain that his comparison is not accurate. I can only guess that someone at Technorati must have thought the same thing as I. What Dave could have included was a note that basically said what I did yesterday. In fact, last night, my post about the opening of a CSS job at Apple brought 200 visitors from Google finance and the AAPL stock quote page. I don't think he lied or said something grossly incorrect, just did a direct comparison. I guess I can't fault him for that. 

Let me make an example up to show you how I can craft a message to do whatever I want. CenterNetworks is bigger than TechCrunch.*

So here is my mesasge to you and your startup. Think about your marketing messages. The best sounding messages might not be the best overall messages. And try to stay away from terms such as: Unlimited, Infinity, forever, never-expires, etc. Please be careful as these slipups can hurt and sometimes take a long time and lots of effort if they are to be overcome.

*CenterNetworks is bigger than TechCrunch with the male rabbit demographic when the rabbits are between 12-12.5 years old, live in northern canada, and eat only grasshoppers. See what I mean?