Say what you mean...

And mean what you say. A rule that we should all live by. So why do the marketing types feel that they have to come up with some "fluffy" message to make me feel better about parting with my hard earned money. Wal-Mart's new slogan "Save Money. Live Better. Wal-Mart" is a perfect example. I went there yesterday. I did not save money, and I certainly didn't live better. (I could go off on a tangent here and this could become a rant about Wal-Mart, but I'll leave that for another day.) I did however leave there yesterday extremely frustrated, and have reached the point now where I won't go back there to buy anything. They didn't deliver on their message that they are constantly preaching to me.

I work as part of a creative team for a church. We are responsible for the image, branding, illustrating, marketing, production, etc. of this church. We have a powerful message we want to convey to people. But if we come up with some silly statement that doesn't represent our true message or tell people what they are really going to get, will people get fed up with us too and not return?

Whether it's saving souls or saving money, make sure that what you say really does represent what you are delivering. Be direct and give the people what you are promising. Otherwise they won't be back.