By: Donald Lee Pardue – CC BY 2.0
Why Brand Trust Is So Critical Today
Abraham Lincoln once said, “With trust everything is possible. Without trust nothing is possible.”
The decline of trust is epidemic around the world. Brand trust is a function of many critical emotions – e.g. integrity, credibility, reliability, comfort, authenticity, and the desire for predictability and engagement. All are essential for developing a bond with customers, and become the foundation for strong brand equity and customer loyalty.
But these values have suffered from extensive corruption in government and business in most countries. Trust in Wall Street has declined by 58% since 2001, for example. Transparency via the Internet has accelerated this lack of trust. Only 6% of millennials consider online advertising credible, and 92% say “trust” plays a key role for influencing them. Trust is vital in healthcare, yet 49% of Americans believe waste and inefficiencies are a result of leadership and their lack of responsibility. And trust continues to be a key barrier for building cross cultural business relationships.
This trend presents a major challenge for many companies and brands. The intangible value of brand trust for companies is a significant contributor to a firm’s valuation. Estimates indicate that intangibles like trust accounted for 30% of the value of a company in the 1930’s, but is closer to 62% today. Studies show that trust is the most important emotion (73%) for buying decisions, but only 14% trust advertisements. In particular, 92% of millennials identify trust as the most influential for purchases, and 95% say friends are the most credible, trusted source of information.
There are answers for this challenge. They involve creating new ideas and content that are relevant, distinctive and credible. Today’s cynical younger consumers, for example, respond positively to genuine messages that promise new socially responsible programs, environmental improvements, meaningful innovations, local community actions, and leadership that is authentic. They want inspiration, and their intelligence and aspirations to be respected. Content marketing that offers a credible, relevant, compelling and “buzzworthy” message is essential.
Our Customized “Brand Trust Model”
The Pathfinder Group offers a modular program and special took kit for diagnosing and improving a company’s “brand trust”. It starts with the customer and ends with a new compelling message or content that will resonate and rejuvenate sales. Creating innovative ideas, the new currency in business, is the heart of our program to address these client challenges. Depending on each client’s situation and needs, this model consists of the following components or steps:
- Current Brand Trust Assessment – combining years of diverse experience in branding with a fresh professional perspective to conduct new-age research and prepare a comprehensive and objective audit, reflecting:
- Emotional drivers that would shape customer perceptions
- Relevant insights that will help generate new ideas
- Key metrics to monitor and measure future brand trust development
- New Content Marketing – messaging that will leverage the emotional drivers necessary to build brand trust
- Planning and Execution – Diverse Communication Platforms – we have hands-on, proven capabilities for every type of marketing initiative, traditional and digital, ideal for small-medium companies
- Training/Workshops, Customized for Each Client – transforming a company’s culture to become more innovative and customer centric starts with professional, interactive seminars and workshops.
- Cross Culture Expansion – for companies seeking growth beyond their borders or overcoming cultural barriers for solidifying local brand trust
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