It’s said that the brain cannot process a negative. We can prove this with a simple example: Under no circumstance should you think of a pink polar bear. Do not think of a pink polar bear.
Of course, you just thought of a pink polar bear.

At the peril of using negatives, I want to give small businesses advice on how not to treat their customers. In the following examples, imagine how your customers would respond if you tried these bad tactics.

Don’t offer customers a make-believe loyalty program.

Any customer can tell that buying six smoothies in a month in exchange for a free one is not a good deal. If you insult their intelligence, customer disloyalty will skyrocket.

Don’t try to trick customers with sneaky advertising.

A company named Sneaky Advertising tried to post a spam comment on my blog. I visited their site, and took the screenshot shown below.. There’s no such thing as stealthy profits, because no one is fooled by those haphazard advertisements. If you trick customers into viewing your advertisements, two things can happen: they ignore it, or they get angry about it. If your customer gets angry at your advertisement, that means they are really angry at you. Only advertise to your customers in ways they find acceptable.

Don’t act like a large company when you’re not.

Small businesses can offer customers things that large companies cannot. Use your size to your advantage– don’t try to hide it. Large companies have many faults that small businesses must avoid such as unnecessary bureaucracy, unwieldy communication and treating customers like a number.

Don’t talk negatively.

Remember the pink polar bear example earlier in this article? Speaking in negatives is not an effective way to communicate your message. Focus more on your strengths than your competitors’ weaknesses or jabs. Just try to read the following excerpt from DirecTV’s website without focusing on, “NO!” and “ONLY!”

All of these points have something in common and can be summarized in one statement:

Don’t treat your customers like they are stupid.

Your customers are smarter than ever, have access to more information than they did a year ago and grow more discerning with every sales pitch they hear. Most importantly: they can tell if you are trying to trick them.

Use your marketing budget to treat your customers as the intelligent, discerning people they are. If you do, you will have the opportunity to grow loyalty, sales and referrals.