Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction • What Was Naive Is Now Necessary 1

PART ONE • PRACTICAL INTEGRITY 7

Chapter 1 • Convincing the Unconvinced

Practical Integrity and a Better Way to Market 9

Chapter 2 • Practical Integrity Works

Five Companies with Something to Teach Us All 25

PART TWO • TRUE STRATEGIES 51

Chapter 3 • Be the One They Can Count On

Build Equitable Partnerships, Fused with Integrity 53

Chapter 4 • My Product, My Self

That’s Not a Product You’re Marketing, That’s Your Word 71

Chapter 5 • Win the Credibility Race (and It Is a Race)

Grab the Leadership Share of What Customers Believe In 96

Chapter 6 • Promote Honestly, Not Just Legally

No Weasels Allowed 120

Chapter 7 • Be There When They Want You There

In Their Mind, Not in Their Face 143

Chapter 8 • Putting Trust Back into Value

It’s Worth More if They Trust You More 159

PART THREE • MAKING IT HAPPEN 181

Chapter 9 • Integrity Team Building

Convince Your People and They Will Convince the World 183

Chapter 10 • Benchmark Against a New ROMI

Achieving Return on Market Integrity 203

Chapter 11 • Preparing for a Better Way to Market

Integrity Planning and Training 219

Chapter 12 • A Final Thought 239

Appendixes 241

Notes 257

Bibliography 271

Index 273

About the Author 279

About the Author

Lynn B. Upshaw (San Rafael, CA) is an internationally known brand and marketing consultant to major corporations. He is also the author and coauthor of two highly-regarded books on marketing strategy, and a member of the MBA faculty at the Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley.

Reviews

." . .relying on truth in your marketing can pay you back richly with greater customer loyalty, lower costs and other benefits." --Entrepreneur

"Filled with examples, Upshaw's work demonstrates how a company can secure trust by instilling 'practical integrity' throughout the marketing mix..." --BusinessBookReview.com, Vol. 24, Issue 36

"The strategies Upshaw presents are clear, interesting, stimulating. If you want to know more about the "new" basics of marketing and communications, you should read this book... This is not a one-sitting read. It's a one-chapter-per-sitting read so that you can absorb Upshaw's simple, stark advice. Very readable. It made me question my marketing fundamentals. I hope it does the same for you." --Counter Point Communications Newsletter

"This book is both a great read and a very useful tool for marketers in an increasingly skeptical age" --Choice

"Building reliable trust among consumers is crucial for business to be successful in today's highly competitive market environment, but how can firms build such trust? [Truth]....provides us a very good solution... This book succeeds in expanding our understanding of how the approach of integrity provides key insights into marketing science, and it once more demonstrates the truth that honesty is the lifeline for all businesses. As such, the current reviewer thinks that this book has definite appeal to students and professors in marketing, as it aids understanding of the contextual underpinnings of marketing principles and strategies. Moreover, this book represents a useful 'how to' guide for both marketing practitioners and educational professionals on how to put into practice an integrity marketing approach. Clearly it represents a useful resource for anyone who looks to understand the significance of the integrity in marketing as well as for those who search for the practical values." --Journal of Consumer Marketing

." . .relying on truth in your marketing can pay you back richly with greater customer loyalty, lower costs and other benefits." --"Entrepreneur"

"Filled with examples, Upshaw's work demonstrates how a company can secure trust by instilling 'practical integrity' throughout the marketing mix..." --BusinessBookReview.com, Vol. 24, Issue 36

"The strategies Upshaw presents are clear, interesting, stimulating. If you want to know more about the "new" basics of marketing and communications, you should read this book... This is not a one-sitting read. It's a one-chapter-per-sitting read so that you can absorb Upshaw's simple, stark advice. Very readable. It made me question my marketing fundamentals. I hope it does the same for you." --Counter Point Communications Newsletter

"This book is both a great read and a very useful tool for marketers in an increasingly skeptical age" --Choice

“. . .relying on truth in your marketing can pay you back richly with greater customer loyalty, lower costs and other benefits.” --"Entrepreneur"

"Filled with examples, Upshaw's work demonstrates how a company can secure trust by instilling ‘practical integrity’ throughout the marketing mix..." --BusinessBookReview.com, Vol. 24, Issue 36

"The strategies Upshaw presents are clear, interesting, stimulating. If you want to know more about the “new” basics of marketing and communications, you should read this book... This is not a one-sitting read. It’s a one-chapter-per-sitting read so that you can absorb Upshaw’s simple, stark advice. Very readable. It made me question my marketing fundamentals. I hope it does the same for you." --Counter Point Communications Newsletter

"This book is both a great read and a very useful tool for marketers in an increasingly skeptical age" --Choice

Well, Honestly! Truth in marketing spins in a new direction. By Mark Henricks ] Entrepreneur Magazine - August 2007 Spam blockers and do-not-call lists are a challenge for marketers who want to contact customers, while consumer backlash against commercially buzzed or intrusively marketed offerings makes it difficult to gain customers' trust once you do reach them. In Truth (Amazon.com, $24.95), marketing consultant Lynn Upshaw shows how integrity-based marketing can overcome these obstacles and win new customers. If you're the sort of entrepreneur who considers a marketing claim or strategy acceptable once it passes your attorney's critique, you'll need to ramp up your standards to satisfy Upshaw. Stretching the truth legally doesn't pass muster. He doesn't even like so-called "weasel words"--like saying a food is "virtually fat-free"--that some marketers use to exaggerate claims or minimize weaknesses of products and services. Marketing with integrity, Upshaw says, requires recruiting everyone in the company to adhere to a high level of truth and honesty in all customer interactions. He also prescribes a comprehensive approach to measuring your investment and return on integrity-based marketing. Apparently, virtuous marketing doesn't come easy. But, as the numerous anecdotes and studies he quotes illustrate, relying on truth in your marketing can pay you back richly with greater customer loyalty, lower costs and other benefits. Virtue, it seems, is not the only reward when it comes to marketing. Mark Henricks is Entrepreneur's "Staff Smarts" columnist.