I have a friend originally from Cuba who says Cubans are the ultimate spinners of fishing tales.  In other words, nobody ever caught a tiny fish in Cuba.

Fisherman exaggerating the size of their catch is a given.  The one that got away was always a whopper.

My friend explained that with Cuban fishermen, the expectation that you’ll exaggerate the size of your catch is so ingrained that everyone accounts for it when they consider what you actually caught.

You say you caught a 10 pounder, they assume you’re exaggerating, so everyone guesses you caught about a 5 pounder.  If you caught a 5 pounder and told the truth, everyone would assume you actually caught a 2 pounder.

As a Cuban fisherman, if you tell the truth about your catch, you’re underselling yourself.

All Marketers Are Liars

I recently told a friend that SEO work for a client was generating about 600 leads a month.  He replied, “So you’d tell everyone you’re getting about 1200 leads right?”

“What?” I asked indignantly.

“If you’re promoting this you’d surely tell everybody you’re getting 1200 leads a month,” he said as if it was obvious.

What a pity, I thought.  Why does everyone think marketers are liars?

Then it occurred to me.  Much like the Cuban fishermen, it’s ingrained in many people’s minds that marketers and advertisers exaggerate.  We claim buying the right car will win you love.  Drinking the right beer will make you cooler.  Owning a larger house gives you more status.

The exaggeration is assumed.  We add intangible value that’s often unconnected to the features of the product.  If you tell the straight truth, you’re selling your story short.

What, How, and Why

It’s not hard to see the illogic of Cuban fishing tales.  When the exaggeration becomes the norm, the facts – and real point – are obscured.

Needless to say, you wouldn’t want to buy fish from one of these guys based just on what he’s telling you.  Before you pay, you’re going to weigh.  You need to know what you’re really getting.

Online consumers fit this pattern. They’re task oriented and tend to get frustrated with content that takes them away from completing their task.

Still, intangible value is a vital part of your branding story, but it works best when that value has a plausible connection to your product.  It’s not necessarily an exaggeration that a new car will make your family safer, giving parents the satisfaction of feeling they’re doing a better job raising their kids.

If you take too much time on the intangible, you may miscommunicate about the central value, and that’s likely to cost with online consumers.

One helpful trick is to think of your marketing message in three ways that communicate what, how, and why you do what you do.

• What is the actual product and its features.  It’s the anti-lock brakes, roomy interior, and great gas mileage your new car gets.
• How is the benefit derived from these features, aka your value proposition.  You can stop safely on icy roads, have plenty of room for your family trip, and save money on gas compared to any other similar make of car.
• Why is your belief in how your product makes people’s lives better.  We live our lives in our cars, taking memorable vacations and watching our kids grow up.  A safe, reliable car helps families safely experience life together.

Why is your business story and intangible value add.

Like a fishing tale, it’s what gets people excited.  It’s an inclusive story that makes people feel nostalgic.  It reinforces what they believe about themselves and how they live their lives.  It’s a personalized voice that goes beyond the features and benefits of the product.

And – like the fishing tale – it’s a story with elaboration.  It’s not meant to be rationalized with logic because it’s based more on beliefs and feelings than facts.

The care you must take with online consumers is to not tell a whopper.  The story of why you do what you do will touch people emotionally, which is important in motivating action.  But online consumers also do a lot of research to pre and post-rationalize what they buy.  If they realize your whale was a minnow, it will come back to bite you.

Emotional value may be intangible, but that doesn’t mean it’s not real.  Communicating what you believe and why that motives your business model is as vital as having a useful product.  That value is the foundation of your brand message.

Today’s consumers are savvy.  They’ll know you’re tugging at their heartstrings, flattering them, or stirring their fears.  It’s a fishing tale, and we all know it.  It’s marketing.

But when the connection that story makes to our lives is plausible and resonates, it works.  We buy from people who believe what we believe.

We all expect branding to be a sort of fishing tale.  We know intangible value is part of a story.  But if that story feels right, we choose to believe it.

Everybody knows the big one that got away makes the best story.

Excerpts originally published on Madwire.