A Matter of Trust and Consistent Communication
Kirsten Zapiec, Senior Vice President, TNS Brand & Communications
Peter Ludwig, Global Equity Leader, TNS
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Trust Is Crucial For Every Brand’s Market Success
Marketers have long known that trust plays a very important role for brand equity and market success. In a recent Fortune interview, Jim Stengel – Procter & Gamble’s Chief Marketing Officer, said that trust is the most important trend and “the biggest thing going on with U.S. consumers...”. Consumers “... want to be understood, ... want to be respected, ... want to be listened to. They don't want to be talked to.”1 Also in other categories and industries, managers of successful brands widely agree on the fundamental importance of trust for their businesses and brands:2
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“In our business, there’s no question that trust is the most essential aspect of our brand. We are asking our customers for the ultimate display of trust: to accept that their VISA card will work safely, securely and increasingly, with direct access to their money. What could be a greater example of everyday consumer trust?”
Alex Craddock, Senior Vice-President of Marketing for VISA CEMEA |
“Trust may be the most important ingredient in the NIVEA brand. Millions of people throughout the world trust NIVEA to fulfill their needs without disappointment. This trust for NIVEA has become a major component of brand loyalty, which is crucial for a category like skin care.”
Ms. Franziska Schmiedebach, NIVEA’s Manager of International Brand Unit for Skin |
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“The relationship between brand and consumer is increasingly emotional, rather than rational, and trust is an extremely important part of that equation. Customers don’t want empty promises.”
Tapio Hedman, Nokia’s Vice-President of Brand Management |
Furthermore, market research results confirm the high importance of Trust. Trust related aspects are in most industries and categories among the top brand and purchase drivers. However, for many marketers the meaning of the term ‘trust’ is not very clear and they therefore often struggle to come up with clear actions to increase trust.
Trust Connects Consumers’ Heads and Hearts
Based on a broad literature review and several years of experience in empirical trust research, TNS defines brand trust as a positive attitude, which
- contains the expectation of reliable performance, competence and honesty
- is accompanied by positive feelings and emotional attachment towards the brand and
- supports purchase behavior (i.e. the willingness to buy the brand).3
Trusting a brand involves judgment (i.e. the “head”), since it is based on rational expectations that the brand protects consumers against specific negative consequences (i.e. perceived risks) that they anticipate that could happen. For example, consumers might expect from their trusted brands that they deliver high quality products, good value, convenient packaging and that they won’t get any negative comments from their neighbors or family members when using the brand.
However, trust in a brand involves also emotions (i.e. the “heart”), since consumers who trust a brand, feel protected and safe. Trust makes them feel covered against negative consequences that they might experience with other brands. Since avoiding negative consequences leads to positive emotions, trust is also an emotional concept. People like brands that treat them positively and that help them to avoid risks. Thus they will start getting emotionally attached to the brand that they trust. If they switched to another brand, they would have to face negative consequences again. So why should they switch if they feel well, safe and protected with their current brand?
Our research results show that trusted brands have much higher market shares and much stronger brand equity than low trusted brands. Consumers who are emotionally attached and believe that a brand delivers upon all its promises are more likely to buy the brand. Moreover, consumers tend to generalize their positive trust attitudes to other brand characteristics and features. It is therefore no wonder that marketers constantly strive for earning trust towards their brands.
Earning Trust Is More Difficult Today Than It Was In The Past
However, earning trust in today’s world is getting increasingly difficult. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, big companies’ bankruptcies like the one of Enron, the Iraq war and current recession in the US, the social preconditions for building trust have worsened. Moreover, today marketers are being challenged like never before to earn trust with consumers in a world that:
- Is bombarded with marketing communications across more & more media platforms
- Is increasingly global, yet the individual is more powerful and in control as to where and when they will converse with brands and products
- Is quickly adopting new technologies that enable a new type of socialization (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube) that can have immense and uncontrollable impact on brands
- Is more cynical and less believing; yet still searching for authenticity. As people no longer believe what the government, news media, and corporations/advertisers tell them they are placing their trust in those close to them (friends, family, peers).
This new world permanently changes the roles of marketers. In his “Swarm Theory”, Chuck Brymer; CEO of DDB Worldwide compares the herd mentality of traditional marketing and advertising programs – communicating to people who passively sit in front of TVs and radios and read newspapers and magazines – to today’s far more active digital swarms. He points out that “the heard is passive; it lacks intelligence”. “The swarm, on the other hand is about actively sharing intelligence – and this is a huge distinction. While you can lead a herd, you cannot lead a swarm. You cannot issue instructions to a swarm. A swarm in not an audience in the traditional sense and it’s not looking to marketers for guidance.”
Taking this concept of a digital swarm and adding to it a lack of trust in institutions and a rise in trust in those close to us – it is a very powerful combination – a combination that is having an immense impact on marketing. So how can marketers navigate this new world? They need to understand:
- what they can control vs.
- what they can just influence, and
- how the level of trust that comes along with each might impact the relationship people have with their brand.
The chart below summarizes the scope of media in today’s world.
Marketers must respect the impact of this new world, accept loss of control and learn to become effective influencers. This new world is about inviting consumers to a dialog and to interact and collaborate. More than ever before it is about earning trust through forming and nurturing the people – brand relationship.
Conclusions
In today’s world marketers need to understand how they can earn trust through developing such strong people-brand relationships. In order to do that, marketers should communicate via the “right” media channels that are highly prone to nurture a close and trusted relationship with the brand. However, these media channels are in most cases not under control of marketers.
In order to develop their communication strategy, marketers should understand:
- Which media are most trustworthy and thus have the most potential to impact their target?
- How “uncontrollable” media are creating opportunities or vulnerabilities for their brand.
- If opportunity; what is driving the motivational power of the media?
How can they incorporate this into their dialog with consumers via the media that they can control?
- If vulnerability; what is, in effect, causing the vulnerability and how can it be managed?
- In order to earn trust, the message needs to be consistent. This requires that the communicated message is aligned/synchronized across all media channels – both that can and that cannot be controlled.
Only a message which is consistently played back via all media channels will be successful in earning trust and building a strong relationship with consumers. Only consistency will tie everything together – particularly when uncontrollable forces are pulling messages apart.
Sources:
1. Fortune Magazine article "Selling P&G"
2. Reader's Digest Trusted Brands
3. Peter Ludwig: “Vertrauen beim Online-Shopping“, Pabst: Lengerich, 2005.
3. Peter Ludwig: “The changing role and nature of trust in online-purchase decisions”, summary of doctoral thesis, University of Cologne (Germany) and HEC Paris (France), 2004.
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Kirsten Zapiec may be reached at kirsten.zapiec@tns-global.com.
Peter Ludwig may be reached at peter.ludwig@tns-global.com.
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