Bob Meyer, our CEO, has been known to say this about advertising: "When all else fails, tell the truth." At Meyer & Wallis, we'd like to think the strongest story we can tell about your brand is a true one. It' the story most likely to connect with consumers. But this is proving to be more true than ever.

This afternoon, I got a call from my wife at home. A nice young man had come to the door, she said. He represented a home security company, and noticed that our house was on a very visible corner lot. Since they're looking to make their company more visible in our area anyway, his story went, he wanted to offer us a free security system and free installation if we'd just put a little sign representing his company in our front yard.

Since this is 2009, my wife asked him to come back later, so that she and I could "talk about it." And by talk about it, she meant research the company online. And what did we find?

They make the same offer to everyone. Free system and free installation, lovely corner lot or not. You know what else? They're one of the more expensive options out there. You know what else? Customer reviews paint them in a rather "sketchy" light, at best.

It's really, really risky to try to get away with this kind of thing as a retailer these days. Social networking has all but eliminated a large company from pulling the wool over anyone's internet savvy eyes. Now, when he comes back later tonight, I'm going to be more suspicious of his claims than ever.

Sometimes, your strongest marketing message is to just tell the truth. Even if it's not as great as you'd like it to be. If your claim can't be tested (and it will be), it's just not a safe claim anymore.