200,000 civilian's dead.
It's 1945, and the Allies hit Dresden, Germany, with an airstrike in the middle of the night.
Dresden was a major retail city and the capital of Saxony.
By death toll, this should have been a big win for the Allies. But it wasn't.
Media outlets were outraged that the Allies would kill so many civilians by targeting a non-military city.
Why? The outrageous death count.
But it wasn't true.
Only 20,000 to 25,000 civilians died. Germany spun it to show the cruelty of the Allies to the world.
Joseph Goebbels was the architect behind this marketing, or should I say propaganda.
He added an extra zero to the initial count of 20,000. A small change that led to great marketing.
Germany became a victim while they were burning Jews at an unbelievable rate.
That's not marketing, though. That's propaganda.
And that's today's focus:
Are you marketing or using propaganda?
"We work with hundreds of companies to improve their branding."
(Only have 76 clients)
"Join our community of thousands of developers to learn code together."
(Only have 1,001 coders in the community)
They are minor changes to the truth. But a subtle lie is still a lie.
Propaganda uses lies to manipulate people. Marketing uses truth.
Look at your website, sales assets, and anything else you deem marketing, and make sure you're honest.
Instead of being "honest," aim for radical transparency.
When I promote my newsletter, I don't say, "join hundreds of marketers!"
I say, "join 48 marketers."
This lesson has many legs to it, but I want you to focus on the fact that padding the stats is not marketing.
It's propaganda.
🧠 // JO