Sh***y marketing… SHAMMY marketing of course. 

You don’t want to sound like a snake oil salesman.
But you also don’t want to undersell something that genuinely works. 

It’s a tension almost every genuine business owner feels. 

So, you pull your punches. 

You tone down your results.
You soften your claims.
You avoid strong guarantees.
You hope people “just get it.” 

And then your marketing feels flat. 

Here’s the truth: 

Most scammy marketing isn’t a problem because it’s too hyped.
They’re struggling because they don’t know the difference between confidence and exaggeration. 

Let’s fix that. 

First: What “Shammy” Marketing Actually Is 

It’s not about emojis.
It’s not about exclamation points.
It’s not about enthusiastic headlines. 

Shammy marketing is about misalignment with reality. 

It usually looks like this: 

  • Highlighting the best-case result as ifit’severy
  • Hiding the actual work required to achieve the outcome
  • Making empty promises
  • Making promises that technically aren’t lies, but leave out key details 

Nothing is outright false. 

But the full picture isn’t there. 

That gap is where trust breaks. 

People have really good BS detectors. 

And they can feel it. 

Effective marketing doesn’t exaggerate the upside and hope no one checks. 

It reduces uncertainty. 

It makes the decision feel safe and rational. 

It shows them exactly how your product will give them solutions. 

Less flashy flashy, more honest and raw, and ironically, far more persuasive. 

Because people don’t buy when they’re hyped up hard enough. 

They buy when they know your product will solve their problems and take away their headaches. 

BUT I need to give you a warning. 

Many business owners are so afraid of sounding scammy that they swing too far in the other direction. 

They: 

  • Remove bold claims completely
  • Avoid talking about results
  • Downplay how their product changes lives
  • Talk about features instead of outcomes
  • Say things like “this might help” when they know it works
  • Price themselves far lower than they deserve 

That’s not integrity. 

That’s fear. 

If your product genuinely solves a real problem, staying vague isn’t ethical. 

It’s avoidance. 

You are not more trustworthy because you whisper your results. 

You are just harder to understand. 

And confusion kills conversions faster than hype ever will. 

Kerry x