Marketing Makers or Breakers of Trust

Marketers are the creators of expectations, the masters of needs and the makers of promises.  While there is great power in this position, as the superheroes in movies say ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’

The thing is, people place their trust in an organisation and its products and services based on three core questions:

• What can I expect?
• What do I need?
• What has been promised to me?

I formally define trust as the ability to rely on others (including people and things) to deliver an outcome. The outcome we want is embedded in those three things – I call them ENPs®.

While this concept applies in every situation, it is critical to the role of marketers. Every marketing plan is based on the needs of the target market – tap into those and we’re already past the halfway mark. Every promotion, packaging and advertisement creates expectations in the consumers’ minds about what their experience with our products and services might be like. It’s what marketers are masters at.

And then there are the promises. Marketers know how to promise exactly what the target market is looking for. The better you get at it, the more effective the campaign. But for how long? 

Recent research shows a shocking trend of Generation Y’ers who are far more cynical when it comes to traditional marketing methods.  In an era of abundant choice and brand names, Gen Y’ers are tech savvier, armed with the latest information, and clearer about what they need than past generations. They’ve been bombarded with a myriad of advertisements since childhood and too often found a disconnection between the brand message and actual customer experience. As a result, marketers and advertisers alike have become infamously labelled as spin doctors.

According to consumer research group Yankelovich, “people aged 12 to 24 have a declining trust in advertising”.  An Insight Express study further indicates “consumer trust in advertising has plunged 41 per cent in the past three years and only 10 per cent of consumers say they ‘trust’ advertising ads today”.  It all boils down to trust.

To reach out to this target market, we must start building trustworthy brands and organisations. Find out their expectations, discover their needs and then deliver on the brand’s promises.   Of course, we’re not just marketing the brand to existing and future customers – the brand is what often attracts future employees as well.

For example, let’s say your company promotes itself in valuing its people, possessing great customer service and being at the forefront of innovative technology.  You deliver a strong brand image and display advertisements that ooze sentiments like: “we go out of our way to help you”, “we care” and “we keep getting better”. To a Gen Y’er who’s just joined your organisation, their trust, their ENP® Wall, looks like this:

They tell all their friends. They blog. They write about it in Facebook, MySpace. They love this place, the products and what your company stands for.

That was Day One. Then reality kicks in. They have targets to meet and quotas to fill – they may be in trouble for spending too much time with the customers and not enough time completing the tasks they have been assigned. Even worse, they are told to “Follow the rules – it’s simple. We don’t pay you to think!”

Here’s what happens to their ENP® Wall:

Not only have you just lost an employee, your company has lost one of its best marketing tools. Worse still, the Gen Y’er shares his crash and burn experience with all his friends and internet contacts! And what of the customers he was trying to serve? What about the consumers who are being told one thing in the marketing and branding, only to experience something completely different?  Their ENP® Walls do the same thing!

There are definitely a number of challenges in building a trustworthy brand, yet even more rewards to be reaped.  Remember- trust is fragile. Handle it with care.

Vanessa Hall

Vanessa Hall is Australia’s leading expert on trust. Her business, Entente Pty Limited (www.entente.com.au) teaches and supports organisations and individuals to build trust in businesses, homes and communities around the world.

 Yankelovich Partners, Inc, a consumer research firm, quoted at Search Engines Strategies Conference Feb 27, 2006.

 Insight Express, quoted at Search Engines Strategies Conference Feb 27, 2006.