FUTURE Focus 2019: Searching for Trust, a research initiative of iProspect, a multinational digital marketing agency under the Dentsu Aegis Network, focuses on managing growth with integrity. It explores the impact of digital on trust in an era of unprecedented disruption, and the implications for us all, and has defined the trust equation to be: trust = credibility + relevance + reliability.
Credibility is the capacity to be perceived as competent and legitimate. Reliability is the capacity to provide an experience that consistently and conveniently meets customer expectation during every interaction with a brand. To discover if one of the parameters of the equation dominates the others, iProspect asked marketers to single out the most critical one of the three. Interestingly, the response across the three components is relatively even, reinforcing our conviction that the combination of the three components is essential for achieving trust.
Trust is the reason behind stability of global financial markets, the motivation for the rise of political parties, the human trait that makes placebo drugs effective. It has always been the foundation for durable relationships, the power at play in the development of every positive aspect of our societies. The mechanics of trust are deeply complex, influenced by macro-factors like wealth, economic equality, education and political stability, but also by micro-factors, such as personal relationships or individual moral values. Despite unavoidable local variations, many sources report that trust tends to erode globally. This is particularly true for interpersonal trust, and trust in media, in institutions and in businesses.
The rise of the attention economy
Human attention has become a scarce commodity. With information overload intruding on our capacity to interpret, process and remember what we see and hear, it is no surprise to marketers and communicators that our attention has never been so fragmented. This fragmentation of attention combined with the climate of trust increases pressure on the advertising and PR industry and is driving a renewed focus on truth, authenticity and responsibility. To build, nurture, or regain trust, brands need to adopt principles that respect, respond and value the scarcity of a person’s time.
The new forces redefining credibility
Is our brand competent? Is what it says clear? Are its words followed by concrete actions? Is the company that manufactures it transparent? Does it protect my data? Is the brand’s promise authentic? Does the product deliver on its promise? Does it respect consumer preferences? These questions, the ways brands address them, and the public perception of their responses have always played an important role in building credibility, the first brick of the trust equation.
Fake news and data protection
Over the last 24 months, two forces have collided with and evolved the notion of credibility: the rise of fake news and the new awareness around data practices. Fake news and misinformation are not new, but the current sophistication and scale in unprecedented. The formation of troll farms, the emergence of editing technology like “deep fake videos,” and the regular use of the term in the political sphere have all altered our notion of truth and helped feed the perception held by three in four people globally that their countries are divided.
Two important milestones have raised public awareness around data protection this year. First, the Cambridge Analytica scandal which was mass publicized in March 2018 revealed the company had harvested the personal data of millions of people without their consent by misusing the Facebook API. Following public outrage, several legislative bodies across the world investigated how technology platforms protect data, notably holding highly publicized hearings of Facebook executives.
Second, the enforcement of European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has created a global conversation around the protection of personal information. In this new context, consumers expect more responsibility, more transparency and more accountability before giving their trust.
Rising expectations
The positioning of a company’s higher purpose influences willingness—both of its employees and the consumers to engage with its offering and products. By 2025, millennials will comprise three quarters of the global work force. What a company stands for and how it goes to market matters. The majority of consumers around the world will buy from or boycott a brand solely because of its position on a social or political issue. They believe companies have a moral obligation to get involved in social issues, and they believe companies are credibly equipped to do so.
The evolution of social commitment
Traditionally, companies’ social involvement has taken the form of corporate social responsibility with varying levels of actual commitment, CSR often being secondary in the hierarchy of goals. The last several years revealed a considerable fatigue around CSR, where the primary purpose was to protect company reputation. More recently, however, we’ve seen companies focus increasingly on clearer and more meaningful definitions of purpose and purposefulness, with regards to their missions and brand propositions, respectively.
The importance of authenticity
An authentic company purpose is embedded within every layer of business and is a key component of its decision-making process. Beyond galvanizing the organization, companies will increasingly work with partners outside their core expertise to meet unforeseen consumer demands. They can deepen their customer relationship through a set of clear values, but a critical driver of success is always the quality of their product and customer experience. A company with purpose articulated clearly and delivered competently and authentically earns credibility.
The value of communication
Marketers and PR professionals believe the reputation of their brand is the main source of their customers’ trust. In the digital age, consumers are increasingly empowered to verify what brands communicate. People say social platforms now make brands easier to monitor. This consumer empowerment demands more valuable and transparent communications from brands, and more are willing to play by these rules. If what a brand says is not aligned with its actions, that brand will quickly find itself out of the consumer’s consideration set. Strong communication is a priority for brands seeking to increase consumer trust in 2019.
Content, search and social
These are three of the marketer’s top priority channels for 2019. The central role of content makes it a key factor to build and nurture consumer trust. The best amplification tactics in the world are useless—and potentially harmful—if the content they are based upon is not legitimate, clear and connected to consumers. The first step toward credibility is legitimacy. Too many brands fall into the trap of entering spaces where they lack ownership. Consumers easily see through that and it can heavily tarnish the brand.
Conversely, when brands properly evaluate their legitimacy when developing content, consumers trust them, resulting in strong business outcomes.
Search presents the unique opportunity for brands to build trust by responding to customers’ intent at the specific moments they’re looking for answers. When managed properly, a paid search message can transcend being merely an advertising message and deliver the content the user is seeking.
Users on social platforms demand total transparency from brands
This is particularly true during PR crises: 85 percent of people are more likely to stick by a business during a brand crisis if it has a history of being transparent, and 89 percent believe a business can regain their trust if it admits to a mistake and is transparent about the steps it will take to resolve the issue. This highlights the importance for brands to have a crisis management plan in place so they can act quickly and credibly turn social media on and off. Transparency is also a day-to-day matter as 81 percent of people believe social media have increased accountability for brands. In that regard, brands can generally do a better job at clarifying their relationships with influencers.
Keeping people and brands safe
The major technology platforms are multiplying initiatives to nurture consumer trust. Apple, Facebook and YouTube have all launched initiatives to help users better manage the time they spend with apps and devices. Users can visualize how long they are connected, turn off their notifications temporarily, or set daily reminders to disconnect from these platforms. Technology can also help brands safeguard themselves from appearing in any context that may reflect negatively on them through ad verification.
Relevance is paramount
Being relevant in an age saturated with pixels is not an easy task, and marketers will have to obey certain commandments to truly resonate with consumers. Brands need to acquire and maintain a thorough knowledge of their audiences’ behavior and preferences. Relevance cannot be approached in silos. To be trusted, brands cannot offer pertinent solutions on their web sites, but irrelevant in-store services to the same consumers. Consistency between environments is critical.
Marketers put convenience and reliability first
Several factors can explain why consumers sometimes push convenience and reliability into the background when they shop. As discussed earlier in this report, it could be because of deep personal motives, for instance, if a brand better aligns with the consumer’s humanitarian or environmental beliefs. What started with millennials, but has now become more mainstream, is the significant increase in expecting a “moral compass” to come from brands, as human-rights efforts and political views have pushed that consumer focus into the limelight.
Future Focus 2019 explores how brands can build and nurture trust in the attention economy to sustain their growth with integrity. The report indeed examines how experience, personalization and commerce can help brands deliver solutions that are time well spent for their consumers.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier organization for PR professionals around the world. Bong R. Osorio is a communications consultant of ABS-CBN Corp., SkyCable, Dentsu Aegis Network and government projects among others, after retiring as vice president and head of the Corporate Communications Division of ABS-CBN.
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