Articles from Livingstone Associates
The following article was authored by Greg Heydel, president of Livingstone Associates, Inc., and published in the October 20, 2005 issue of RainToday's "Rainmaker Report," an online publication aimed at professional service firms and consultants:
TEN DO's AND DON'Ts OF BUILDING BRAND TRUST
Brand Trust as Your Marketing Strategy
It is proven principle that successful relationships are based on trust. And the customer-provider relationship is no exception. It is not surprising research shows that there is a growing trust deficit between customers and businesses given the high profile corporate scandals led by Enron and WorldCom. Where consumers and customers used to give businesses the "benefit of the doubt," today they require their trust to be earned.
Professional service firms and independent consultants share this need to earn and build trust. In fact, with smaller numbers of customers, the stakes are even higher for these enterprises. This trust must attach to your brand as a key attribute. You have a brand as much as Coca-Cola has one. Building your brand with a trustworthy reputation is the most important marketing strategy you can have given the cynical mood of the marketplace today. Here are five "don'ts" and five "do's" to guide your efforts.
Five Don'ts
1. Don't hype your brand. Despite the temptation to do it -- to put a glossier sheen on your brand than is reality; to build your brand's reputation faster than it takes through actual performance and delivered promises; and to exaggerate claims -- it is better to throttle back and build your brand by delivering promise by promise, customer by customer, one "stone" at a time. This builds a credible brand that can be sustained over the long haul.
2. Don't fail to invest in your brand's identity. It's amazing the amount of investment that is put into office space, computers, telephones, web sites and brochures but the most precious asset -- a brand's position in the marketplace -- just sort of "happens." Don't be fooled. Your brand will be defined with attributes, characteristics and a reputation. You have the opportunity to build your brand distinctively based upon trust -- a real advantage in today's marketplace.
3. Don't make excuses and avoid accountability when something goes wrong. Whether bad news impacts an individual customer/client or a group, it is best to get the bad news out as quickly as possible, apologize if appropriate, say what is being done to avoid the problem in the future and move on. Owning up to your mistakes and moving on quickly brings the matter to an end and gets the operation back to what it should be doing.
4. Don't fail to protect and defend your brand's reputation. Like any reputation, your brand's takes a lifetime to build but only a few minutes to destroy. Defending your brand's reputation should be the responsibility of everyone who represents it, but especially the CEO. Earlier this year, ChoicePoint, an information management company, faced a reputation crisis when 145,000 confidential consumer records were criminally breached. However, it took four months for ChoicePoint to disclose this breach and the CEO said he did not know about the breach until several months after it had happened. You had to wonder why the CEO, who is "Chief Brand Trust Officer," hadn't been in the loop sooner considering that ChoicePoint is in the trust business. With regulatory and legislative actions underway, ChoicePoint is now paying the price for failing to protect and defend their brand's "franchise," -- its trustworthiness.
5. Don't position your brand to look like you are only in business to make money. While this is a primary function of your business, customers and the public require a higher purpose (even shareholders understand this!). And this purpose should not be based upon hype (see "Don't" #1). Wirthlin Report's April 2004 survey showed that corporate citizenship of a company is influential in the buying decision (82% of the public say it has some/a lot of influence). You can be expected to be held to a similar standard.
Five Do's
1. Do communicate with transparency and authenticity. Transparency does not require you to "tell all." It does mean to communicate in a way that demonstrates you have nothing to hide. Of course Sarbanes-Oxley rules define full disclosure for publicly-held companies. Transparency communicates beyond the government's rules and reflects a brand characteristic that is above-board. Likewise, your communications should be authentic. It should reflect honest and real expectations of deliverables and promises. Every claim in your messaging should be backed up by at least two "proof points."
2. Do communicate regularly with your customers in those areas that are important to them. Most newsletters lack impact because they fail to communicate information that is relevant to the customer. Nor do they build the brand's identity and position. More effective communications are targeted to the customer's interests. In addition, asking your customers for feedback on your performance in meeting their expectations is a trust-builder. But be ready to take action based upon the feedback; don't ask if you are not.
3. Do define your brand identity and deliver on your brand promise. Investing some resources on defining your brand and position before communications starts flying out the door will pay huge dividends. First, it will ensure that all communications are focused on building the brand as it is defined. Second, it will set customer expectations on what the brand promises. Aligning your brand promise with what your operations can deliver will ensure that your customers' expectations are managed and achieved.
4. Do have a crisis plan and be prepared for the CEO to defend the franchise. The franchise is your brand essence. Things will go wrong -- even things that you did not cause or deserve. But you can't hesitate while feeling sorry for yourself. The first 24 hours are the most crucial in a crisis. Be prepared to respond to worst-case scenarios that are the greatest threat to your brand's "franchise" and make sure that the CEO will lead the defense.
5. Do link your brand promise and identity to social responsibility and corporate citizenship. Find a social responsibility platform that is meaningful to your company or firm. It does not have to be an expensive initiative, and in fact, should be tied to volunteering by your employees. There are many quality causes to choose from; make the partnership strategic to your business. Emphasize making a difference using the distinct attributes of your brand.
Be a proactive trust-builder
As you can see, many of the "Do's" are the flip side of the "Don'ts." In this trust-depleted marketplace, simply not doing something isn't enough. Customers are looking for trust-building action so be proactive with your brand. Earn their trust. Build a distinctive brand.
Copyright: Livingstone Associates, Inc. 2005
All Rights Reserved
To subscribe to periodic updates on how to build a trustworthy brand, click on
TEN DO's AND DON'Ts OF BUILDING BRAND TRUST
Brand Trust as Your Marketing Strategy
It is proven principle that successful relationships are based on trust. And the customer-provider relationship is no exception. It is not surprising research shows that there is a growing trust deficit between customers and businesses given the high profile corporate scandals led by Enron and WorldCom. Where consumers and customers used to give businesses the "benefit of the doubt," today they require their trust to be earned.
Professional service firms and independent consultants share this need to earn and build trust. In fact, with smaller numbers of customers, the stakes are even higher for these enterprises. This trust must attach to your brand as a key attribute. You have a brand as much as Coca-Cola has one. Building your brand with a trustworthy reputation is the most important marketing strategy you can have given the cynical mood of the marketplace today. Here are five "don'ts" and five "do's" to guide your efforts.
Five Don'ts
1. Don't hype your brand. Despite the temptation to do it -- to put a glossier sheen on your brand than is reality; to build your brand's reputation faster than it takes through actual performance and delivered promises; and to exaggerate claims -- it is better to throttle back and build your brand by delivering promise by promise, customer by customer, one "stone" at a time. This builds a credible brand that can be sustained over the long haul.
2. Don't fail to invest in your brand's identity. It's amazing the amount of investment that is put into office space, computers, telephones, web sites and brochures but the most precious asset -- a brand's position in the marketplace -- just sort of "happens." Don't be fooled. Your brand will be defined with attributes, characteristics and a reputation. You have the opportunity to build your brand distinctively based upon trust -- a real advantage in today's marketplace.
3. Don't make excuses and avoid accountability when something goes wrong. Whether bad news impacts an individual customer/client or a group, it is best to get the bad news out as quickly as possible, apologize if appropriate, say what is being done to avoid the problem in the future and move on. Owning up to your mistakes and moving on quickly brings the matter to an end and gets the operation back to what it should be doing.
4. Don't fail to protect and defend your brand's reputation. Like any reputation, your brand's takes a lifetime to build but only a few minutes to destroy. Defending your brand's reputation should be the responsibility of everyone who represents it, but especially the CEO. Earlier this year, ChoicePoint, an information management company, faced a reputation crisis when 145,000 confidential consumer records were criminally breached. However, it took four months for ChoicePoint to disclose this breach and the CEO said he did not know about the breach until several months after it had happened. You had to wonder why the CEO, who is "Chief Brand Trust Officer," hadn't been in the loop sooner considering that ChoicePoint is in the trust business. With regulatory and legislative actions underway, ChoicePoint is now paying the price for failing to protect and defend their brand's "franchise," -- its trustworthiness.
5. Don't position your brand to look like you are only in business to make money. While this is a primary function of your business, customers and the public require a higher purpose (even shareholders understand this!). And this purpose should not be based upon hype (see "Don't" #1). Wirthlin Report's April 2004 survey showed that corporate citizenship of a company is influential in the buying decision (82% of the public say it has some/a lot of influence). You can be expected to be held to a similar standard.
Five Do's
1. Do communicate with transparency and authenticity. Transparency does not require you to "tell all." It does mean to communicate in a way that demonstrates you have nothing to hide. Of course Sarbanes-Oxley rules define full disclosure for publicly-held companies. Transparency communicates beyond the government's rules and reflects a brand characteristic that is above-board. Likewise, your communications should be authentic. It should reflect honest and real expectations of deliverables and promises. Every claim in your messaging should be backed up by at least two "proof points."
2. Do communicate regularly with your customers in those areas that are important to them. Most newsletters lack impact because they fail to communicate information that is relevant to the customer. Nor do they build the brand's identity and position. More effective communications are targeted to the customer's interests. In addition, asking your customers for feedback on your performance in meeting their expectations is a trust-builder. But be ready to take action based upon the feedback; don't ask if you are not.
3. Do define your brand identity and deliver on your brand promise. Investing some resources on defining your brand and position before communications starts flying out the door will pay huge dividends. First, it will ensure that all communications are focused on building the brand as it is defined. Second, it will set customer expectations on what the brand promises. Aligning your brand promise with what your operations can deliver will ensure that your customers' expectations are managed and achieved.
4. Do have a crisis plan and be prepared for the CEO to defend the franchise. The franchise is your brand essence. Things will go wrong -- even things that you did not cause or deserve. But you can't hesitate while feeling sorry for yourself. The first 24 hours are the most crucial in a crisis. Be prepared to respond to worst-case scenarios that are the greatest threat to your brand's "franchise" and make sure that the CEO will lead the defense.
5. Do link your brand promise and identity to social responsibility and corporate citizenship. Find a social responsibility platform that is meaningful to your company or firm. It does not have to be an expensive initiative, and in fact, should be tied to volunteering by your employees. There are many quality causes to choose from; make the partnership strategic to your business. Emphasize making a difference using the distinct attributes of your brand.
Be a proactive trust-builder
As you can see, many of the "Do's" are the flip side of the "Don'ts." In this trust-depleted marketplace, simply not doing something isn't enough. Customers are looking for trust-building action so be proactive with your brand. Earn their trust. Build a distinctive brand.
Copyright: Livingstone Associates, Inc. 2005
All Rights Reserved
To subscribe to periodic updates on how to build a trustworthy brand, click on
