Consumers naturally distrust corporations and brands, so you have to work to overcome it.
There’s a crisis of trust in the world of brand-consumer relationships; consumers are naturally distrustful of brands, and this is especially true of millennials. Due in part to bombardments of advertising and persuasive salesmanship, and in part to corporate corruption, any message perceived as coming from a company (especially one that isn’t well-known) is instantly treated with a degree of skepticism.
Knowing that trust is pivotal for securing new customers and new revenue, how can modern brands overcome this level of consumer distrust?
Inject Personal Brands
Personal brands are a lot like corporate brands, except they work for only one individual. For example, you might have your CEO or an upper-level manager posting content under his/her own name in addition to “company” content. People will be far more likely to trust personal branded content, and the association will strengthen trust in your corporate brand.
Cut the Advertising
People see advertising as white noise. It’s everywhere, and it’s intended purely to sell something, so people have adapted to ignore it entirely. To compensate for this, cut back on your ads—make your ads less “advertise-y” and introduce more organic forms of marketing, such as content, SEO, and social media marketing.
Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously
It’s vital that your brand not take itself too seriously. It’s good to have a strong ethos of history and reliability, but if you go over-the-top, you’ll distance yourself from consumers. Aim to be more personable, friendly, and casual; it will make you more approachable.
Beef Up the Customer Service
Customer experiences are made or broken at the customer service level. Do everything you can to establish a reliable, amazing level of service here.
With these strategies, you can secure greater consumer trust—both in new and existing customers. Your goal is to become less of a “corporation” and more of a person; people trust other people, so they naturally trust more personally relatable brands.
