Are you a Trinidadian or a Trickydadian? Overusing Tricky Sales Tactics on Social Media

It's been a long, rough week. You visited the mechanic twice. Those three meetings you sat through could have been emails. You forgot to pack lunch today, so you grabbed a flaky pastry and it was a waste of money. ‘Tasteless’ now has a new definition.

Thankfully, that’s in the past. You arrive at your apartment and after a nice shower, you plop down on the couch for a cozy evening of doomscrolling. Just what the doctor ordered. As you flip through, there is nothing to talk about, but then comes that one video that stops you immediately.

"This house can be yours for only $90k."

You sit up in shock. The visuals are clean and captivating. $90k…in TTD. In this economic climate? ‘It’s time to lock down that deal’. You quickly run mental math in your head. A few months of sacrifice, and it can happen. You can own that property. It all sounds too good to be true.

You listen to the ad for more details, "...$90k- an instalment, with monthly payments” - for what can only be described as the rest of your life.

Ah boy, there’s the catch.

The curtains, the cutlery, and that colour palette, are already fading with the fantasy. You want to pitch your phone out the window, just as the sales pitch threw you into disbelief.

If only you could charge this business for the thirty seconds of your life! The dopamine hit was great, but coming down from the high was rough, and those thirty seconds felt worthless. 

This tricky tactic gets mistaken for compelling content. It is an attempt at gaining short-term attention vs. real content creation for long-term gains.

Leaning excessively on the tricky sales tactics can get you attention, but not sustenance. 

We must prioritise authenticity over performance, connection over conversion, and perspective over recycled marketing language. This is not just about ethical practice; it is also effective because it sells with trust and the promise of a business relationship, rather than, ‘Ah selling something’.

True Trinis Know ah Trickydadian When They See One

Trinis are smart, experienced and they spot tricks quickly. Think you can rinse and repeat tricky tactics repeatedly? Think again!

Audiences are not passive content consumers. The moment customers spot too good to be true tactics, they scroll. They have the experience of being fooled one too many times, thus there is no guilt, no second thought, no coming back. Go easy on the excessive hooks designed to catch immediate attention and focus on building truth in the world of unreliable artificial content.

Authenticity beats noise every time, and the brands you trust rely on authenticity to sell. Effective brand communication, especially in the digital world, requires frequency and value.

Just think about it, you can be the next legacy brand if you lean into that model:

●       Breeze

●       Crix

●       Kiss

●       Carib

●       Pennywise

●       Royal Castle

A legacy brand is born and nurtured when you offer a genuine insight, a useful perspective or an honest moment.

We Love Ah AI, eh But Doh Let AI Do All the Work Alone

There are few examples of how the use of AI was meant to be. It was never meant to be a replacement but rather a tool to complement creativity and ingenuity.

If you need an example of what we mean, let’s look at Carnival 2026.

Freebird Fete’s Field of Dreams came alive online, through videos that used AI transitions to pull the viewer into a digital carnival spectacle. We were all flying through heavenly clouds before landing in the food line then into the middle of the dance.

Freebird’s team used AI with real intention. It was clear that before technology came in, there were conversations and creative vision. They got it right!

Conceptualize on paper and then let AI bring YOUR unique ideas to life.

AI led content is technically competent and completely forgettable. Command the creativity to generate content that people screenshot, share, and talk about the next morning.

Six Tips to Sell like a Trini to Trinis

There’s a basic rule to dating, business and communication strategies: Act sketchy, and people get turned off.

The brands you buy from, recommend, and return to, did they corner you? Did they hit you with urgent timers and a countdown clock? Or did they simply make you feel understood and worth paying attention to?

Here are six tips to get you selling without over relying heavily on the tricks:

Avoid Excessive Gimmickry

Say it like it is, starting with your sales pitch.

Manufactured urgency, bait-and-switch hooks and hollow promises actively damage your reputation. Once people label you a Trickydadian, once they sense you like business bacchanal, people pull back.

In a small market word-of-mouth will sell your business on your behalf. You want to capitalize on truth and authenticity. Let the quality of your product or service do heavy lifting. Let your communication speak to the value that it brings and how it can help improve your customer’s life. Think of how the offering can help your customer. Brands that people love and return to are brands that always deliver and solve the problem.

What we mean is: just be a Trini for the Trinis, nah. 

Get On Like a Trini

We have a real nice way of saying thing, eh?

A true Trini voice sounds warm and inviting, but a Trickydadian voice? Well, it sounds overly impressive and too persuasive.

People could tell the difference.

Embrace local language as much as you can by using it in your content. Let your audience feel seen. Let them feel like yuh talking to them direct. Brands that come from the culture should speak like the culture. Build trust and relatability by using words and phrases that people can understand, and more importantly, feel.

Talk Upfront: Be Clear as Possible

If your communication is unclear, then people stop listening. Get clear on your message before you put pen to paper.

A Trinidadian will say what they meant the first time. A Trickydadian does talk in circles.

Think:

1. Who is my audience?

2. What do I want people to know? (e.g. your offers, products & services)

3. What do I want them to do with this information? (e.g. make a purchase, click on a link, sign up to a service…etc.)

Know Where Yuh Come From

Know your context and your cultural calendar so you can start planning your communication strategies around that.

Think: Carnival. School breaks. The traffic started. Election Season. Dry season. Wet season. Christmas time. Easter. Divali. Phagwa. Eid….Bago dawg!

Use our shared vocabulary and a collective sense of humour to create a genuine conversation. Cultural relevance isn't tokenism. Trinidadians speak from inside the community. Trickydadians speak outside of it.

Be Patient: Trust Builds with time.

There’s a saying that goes, time tells all. This is true for the success of your communications strategies and cementing your business in the culture.

We all know, Trini people don’t just hand over their loyalty. You must show up enough times for people to say, “nah, dem is the real deal.” Trinidadians move with confidence.

Trickydadians are trying to fake it till they make it, and even then, they never make it at all.

Rather than fight the culture, lean into it. Show them who you are, what you stand for, and your willingness to be consistently present to become a household name.

Believe in Your Brand

If you do not believe in your brand, you cannot expect others to do the same. If your brand or business is failing the way you intended it to, this does not translate into failure or regression. It’s the very reason why you should persevere.

Giving up on your business, brand or model because the short-term outlook did not meet your expectations is the work of a Trickydadian and it shows in the lacklustre approach to content creation that has no heart.

The biggest businesses and brands were once a start-up, and they had many setbacks before they saw the success that they experienced today. Keep your belief strong and persevere, the results will be phenomenal. At the end of the day, Trinidadians know that it rough, but it won’t be rough forever. They do ride it out to the end.

Final Thoughts

The real cost of misleading brand communication is the damage to your reputation that compounds quietly and quickly over time until it shows up in profit loss.

When dealing with your audience, clarity, honesty and integrity will get you further than your competitor.

Start thinking about how to stand out based on what you have to offer, what your audience genuinely needs and values, and how to get to the heart of your message without compromising your brand in the process.

Be a Trinidadian, not a Trickydadian.