The New Way To Win Customers For Well-Established Brands
"I'm not a businessman. I'm a business, man".
Jay Z
Somewhere between Fake News, Covid-19 government failings, and the Black Lives Matter movement, our world has been hit harder than ever on the trust front. As buyers, we're seriously burnt-out by brands and their thinly veiled attempts at trying to win our trust and our money. As humans, we're skeptical about the world at large.
I can't think of another time in recent history when consumer trust has been so low. After all, if you can't trust the government, the news, or your social media feed, how can you expect new buyers to trust your company?
The simple, obvious answer is, you can't, especially if you are a legacy brand - meaning your business and reputation has been well established for a long time.
It used to be that the size of a business was the best measure of its trustworthiness.
The bigger the brand, the more you could trust it. The older the brand, the more proven it was. Think of mega legacy brands like ATT and even Tylenol. Both used to dominate their market because of company size and track record in the industry.
Today that is no longer the case.
Just think of how many companies have flooded the cell phone and internet service market. ATT has tried (but so far failed) to make its brand more trustworthy by appearing friendlier, smaller, and more personal. They even launched their own ATT branded line of merchandise (did you know you could buy an ATT hoodie complete with blue sparkles featuring retro corded phones?)
Image ATT.com
Winning The Trust (and Business) of Millennials
Tylenol, another mega legacy brand has also found it a struggle to stay relevant.
Known as “the gentle, safe and trusted pain reliever, Millennials weren't buying it.
Why? Because its messaging (step 2 of the Client Stampede Formula®) wasn't cutting it.
Here’s why: Millennials don't avoid pain – they embrace it.
Whether they're indulging in extreme sports or getting a full sleeve tattoo, this demographic identifies with pain.
Tylenol had to reinvent itself, strategically pivoting its messaging to "claim pain." It created a "black and blue" special edition version and started sponsoring extreme sports athletes who became the "faces behind the brand," completely reinventing its value messaging.
Only then did Millennials begin to trust this iconic pain reliever.
So how can you ensure that your brand stays relevant, and builds trust in an increasingly non-trusting world?
There are hundreds of different trust-building strategies, but here, by way of cliff notes, are two of the most effective:
Trust Building Strategy #1 Humanize Your Brand.
We, as consumers, now want to know the true drivers behind a business. We want to buy into you — your story, your ambition,— and we want to relate to the person behind the service we're paying for. A good example of this is Delta's dramatic brand reinvention powered by its CEO Ed Bastion which elevated Delta to market leader status through innovation and being the airline that cares most about its people. Could Delta have achieved this status without elevating Ed? No. Many airlines have tried this positioning but without humanizing it. Instead, by bringing Ed to the forefront consumers get to see the person who is putting his own reputation on the line every time he makes a public statement. This is a powerful trust builder.
Think of other CEOs who have built their empires based on their own personal brand from almost day one. Elon Musk. Richard Branson. Oprah Winfrey. Warren Buffet. You can read more about the rise of personal CEO branding in this article I wrote for Entrepreneur magazine.
Trust Building Strategy #2 Use Lead Generation Tools That Allow Buyers To Get to Know Your Business First And Add Value With, (Gasp), No Sales Pitch Or Offer.
Examples are a series of explainer-style videos that build upon each other, helping your prospect reach the correct conclusion that your company cares about them making a good decision.
Another of my favorite trust-building tools is a short, pithy book written to address the single biggest question your buyers are thinking about.
By short I mean it can be read in 60 minutes or less, or listened to on the treadmill during a morning work out.
Few companies bother to provide this kind of free tool to their prospects - or if they do, they make it a thinly veiled sales pitch or a poor quality read.
Final Thoughts
In the years ahead, WHO we buy from will become even more important than WHAT we buy.
As entrepreneurs we have to work harder than ever to build new relationships with buyers, especially if your business is an established legacy brand. There's never been a better opportunity to regroup and reflect on how your brand speaks and shows up. And there's never been a better time to use creativity and value-adding tools to build trust.
