If there is a car brand that is synonymous with trust it has to be Toyota.
Corolla, Camry, Hilux, and Landcruiser are all icons of reliability. When a brand oozes trust like Toyota you have a potent asset. The challenge for an advertising agency is to get the message across with flair and creativity. Here is one of my favorite Toyota adverts. It comes from Spain. We laugh because the underlying message that you can trust a Toyota resonates and rings true.
A 2007 report from the Economist, based on research of 311 executives on their companies engagement practices tells us the ‘winning differentiator is no longer the product or the price, but the level of engagement - the degree to which a company succeeds in creating an informative long-term relationship.”
The term “engagement” has been used to describe all manner of marketing, loyalty, satisfaction and retention practices. But engagement today is about taking a more strategic view of customer relationships. The bad news is, highly engaged customers are the exception, not the rule.
Of the respondents that were surveyed by the E.I.U. only 13% believe their customers are very committed to their product, while 44% believe their customers are only somewhat committed. If CEOs really believe this, then they need to move heaven and hell until they get the results they want.
Since businesses are in the promise keeping business, your brand is the promise you make to your customers.
So imagine the shock when it was revealed that the venerable BBC got caught lying to its Blue Peter audience of children.
The Blue Peter staff ignored the results of an online poll to name a new kitten. They rejected the winning name the kids chose of “Cookie” and called it “Socks” instead.
When customers found out the BBC had lied to its Blue Peter audience, they began to question the very integrity of the BBC.
The BBC has been one of the world’s most credible sources of trustworthy news. Think back to World War II when it transmitted news into Nazi dominated Europe.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius advises his son Laertes
“This above all, — to thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
In one insightful quote, Shakespeare tells us what it is to be real — to be authentic.
Shakespeare tells us there are two tests for authenticity
You have to be true to yourself
You must be what you say to others
James Gilmore and Joseph Pine, authors of Authenticity remind us there are only two tests for authenticity. Are you authentic? Are you true to yourself? Do your customers see you as real?
David Lewis and Darren Bridges, authors of The Soul of the New Customer - What We Buy and Why in the New Economy describe how the world has moved from “scarcity to abundance - from abundance to authenticity.”
So how do your customers see you or your brand? Do they see you as real or fake?
If you aren’t really what you pretend to be, you had better start addressing the issues that cause your customers to doubt your authenticity.
To succeed in life you have to be able to sell your case. In today’s media savvy world most of us understand this.
Persuasion in all its forms has become a multi billion dollar industry. A 1995 research paper by Donald McColoskey and Arjo Klamer published in the American Economic Review calculated one quarter of the gross domestic product of the USA is linked to persuasion.
So, why is it that ad agencies, PR companies and businesses continue to spew out so much double speak and bull?
Perhaps they have something to hide? That is certainly what the public thinks. Is it any wonder that surveys testing the publics’ believability, of the truth in advertising messages, continue to fall?
Persuasion starts with believability. And believability starts with words that are jargon free, clear, and full of meaning.
In the June 2007 HBR, Gail McGovern and Youngme Moon ask why companies bind customers with contracts, bleed them with fees and battle them with fine print?
Their answer is simple.
Confused customers make bad decisions and lock themselves into dumb deals.
The banking, health care and mobile phone industries are full of examples where customers lock themselves into long-term deals that make them angry and frustrated.
Beware!
Competitors who come up with customer friendly alternatives are making a killing.
Virgin Mobile USA has enticed millions of angry mobile phone customers away from incumbent carriers.
ING Direct, has quickly become the fourth largest bank by offering accounts without fees, without tiered interest rates and no minimums.
