Your marketing message shouldn’t be like a bad Tinder date

Have you ever swiped right on a profile that promised the world, only to find yourself sitting across from a completely different person? That’s how a lot of us feel about marketing that doesn’t deliver its claims. Just like a bad Tinder date, spurious marketing can leave your brand deflated in the eyes of its consumers/users.

Here’s what we can learn from the online dating world to improve our marketing efforts.

Fake it 'til you make it? Not anymore

Remember that person on Tinder who alleged to be a world traveller, a gourmet chef and a certified fitness instructor all at once? 

Yeah, that’s a red flag. Similarly, marketing that overpromises and underdelivers is a major turn-off for customers, as they are getting smarter in today’s consumerist society and can spot marketing that is all bark and no bite from a mile away. 

Instead of communicating and posturing your brand as something it is not, embrace your brand’s unique personality and value proposition—if you have one, and you should have one. 

Please! Let your brand’s story shine through in everything. If your brand is big on simplicity, don’t try to be the next Versace. If your product is a luxury, don’t pretend it’s budget-friendly.

From my decade-long experience as a marketer, I vividly remember being the Product Marketing Manager for an identity management product about to be launched in the European market, so I had to craft the messaging and clarify the value proposition. As a general good marketer’s housekeeping rule, I decided to share the messaging and strategy for the intended product marketing campaign with members of other teams to get their input, only to be called out on multiple fronts about my interpretation of the product's capabilities. I had overstated what the product could do.

Hypothetically speaking they said, “Tokoni we said the product could walk and talk. We do not have functionalities or features for it to sing melodiously and give a presentation.” 

You catch my drift?

For example, your product is only a cross-border payment platform if it can facilitate payment across two different countries. And even at that be cautious of labelling it as a product that helps people ‘send money across Africa or the world,’ when it can only do so across two or three countries.

In the same vein of wanting your Tinder date to come as they claim, by all means, make your marketing as true as steel. 

We all love a good mystery, but when it comes to relationships and marketing, honesty is still in vogue. Don’t hide your inability. Be upfront about what your product can and can’t do. Customers appreciate genuineness and it builds trust.

Blockchain and cryptocurrency startups in Africa, like those in the broader global market, can sometimes lack transparency regarding their technology, financial practices and regulatory compliance. The fast-evolving nature of their industry often leads to unclear marketing communications about how funds are managed, how projects are funded and how regulatory challenges are addressed.

I recently used a fintech product that lays claims to allow the African continent to experience borderless payments. The catchphrase that had me sold was, “We aim to drive the cost of payments to zero.” So tell me why I was getting charged at the end of the month on a virtual dollar card even when I had made no transactions on the card in the last four months. It was giving, “monkey dey work, baboon dey chop” vibes – this is usually said when one person unfairly enjoys the fruit of someone else's labour. After getting the incessant charges in my email month after month, I decided to delete my account. Guess what? I couldn’t without contacting customer care. The drama that ensued afterwards was exhausting, and now, they have one less dissatisfied user with a vendetta to worry about. My point remains, we can do with a whole lot of transparency when communicating the value of our products to users.

Let your marketing be open about your products, services and most certainly, your inability. Transparency is appealing. It can help you build a loyal customer/user base that will stick with you through thick and thin. Piggyvest is one stellar brand I can think of that steadily enjoys the fruit of transparency. I am sure they are not without faults, but one thing they have gotten right is authentic marketing that makes them one of the most-loved in a very turbulent ecosystem.

Swipe Right on Fidelity

So, what can you do to avoid these marketing pitfalls? It is simple! Be honest. Be credible. Just like a good Tinder date that makes for a good story on socials ten years down the line, your marketing should be genuine and relatable. Focus on all the things your product or service can do and how it solves your customer’s problem.

Tokoni Larry-Parkins is a Senior Business Development Specialist at inDrive, an international mobility company, headquartered in California. She is passionate about building impactful brands and driving growth for world-class products.