What Consumers Need to Trust A Brand, In My Humble Opinion.

Now that the outcome of the US presidential election is finally over, I’ve come to the surprising conclusion that I’m going to miss some of the outgoing president’s infamous ‘Trumpisms’.

We were spoilt as 2020 progressed; every press briefing preceded by delicious anticipation, coupled with a not-so insignificant sense of dread, for what we might be about hear.

Despite the continuous tirade of unsubstantiated claims, dubious medical assertions involving everyday household cleaning agents (much to the visible pain of the administration’s scientific advisors) and relentless contradictions about what was or wasn’t said in those tweets or that conference, the one ism from Trump’s four-year term that stands out to me as a brand and marketing strategist is fake news.

For two seemingly innocuous four-letter words, their power, when combined, has contributed to a subtle shift in consumer mindset that no marketer can ignore. To fully appreciate what this shift is, and more importantly how to respond to it, we need to go back in time. Twice.

Social proof is a powerful influence

The last few years of the Twenteens saw some marketing trends of arguably seismic proportions. One of them, influencer marketing, looked to be fundamentally changing the way brands communicated at scale to their target markets. Another threatened to counter this force, as the unpredictable behaviour of human influencers clashed with algorithm-driven, programmatic media placement, causing the industry to collectively wince at the term brand safety.

Why were (and in many cases, still are) influencers so effective? Why is the brand safety scandal of 2017/18 significant in this context? And what the hell has this got to do with Donald Trump and fake news?!

The answer lies in our second need to time travel and the insight provided by social psychologist and author Robert B. Cialdini in his analysis of the psychology of persuasion, Influence. Specifically, the third of the ten forces of psychological jiu-jitsu used by agents of compliance, social proof.

Marketers, the ultimate agents of consumer compliance, are no strangers to social proof

For decades they’ve have used it relentlessly to compel potential customers to choose their brands over their competitors’. From apparently surprised real-life mums asked by a B-celebrity on their doorstep to take a laundry challenge and then profess that no other powder/liquid/tablet (delete as necessary) gets her whites this white, to assertions that 8 out of 10 cats really do prefer it (how did they get those cats to complete the survey???), consumers are continuously exposed to social proof-powered campaigns designed to trigger copycat (ahem!) behaviour.

And not surprisingly. It’s a potent force, not least because the effects on behaviour are so subconscious. As Cialdini points out, social proof is suspected of being behind several infamous examples of herd behaviour, such as the somewhat comical, yet disturbing, account of alien-whisperer Dorothy Martin’s ability to convince 200 of her followers that they were about to be whisked away on a flying saucer from a flood-doomed Planet Earth. Or the chilling murder of Kitty Genovese, from which the term ‘Bystander effect’ was coined, in which 34 witnesses of the murder failed to help or even call the police, simultaneously demonstrating social proof in two contexts: failure to help if no-one else helps first and assumption that someone else will have already acted (in this case, call the police).

The death of trust?

Yep, social proof has been the old faithful in many a marketer’s armoury. Unsurprising then that the combination of digital influencers, social media and 24/7 access to vast networks of global followers provided such success. With a veritable tsunami of brand awareness, product endorsement and low-cost conversions, digital marketing addiction quickly set in, driven by insatiable affiliate programs and outstanding ROI metrics.

Alas, as with most good things, you can always count on human beings to f*ck them up.

Back to 2017, and the cracks start to appear

Brand safety scandals rock the advertising world; a range of high-profile influencers are mocked for blatant product placements, prompting consumer protection organisations (and one or two traditional media giants) to call for regulation of the sector. Fake product reviews undermine consumer trust and major aggregator brands are outed as manipulating price and customer review data to favour those partners who pay them the highest commission.

And all of this while the leader of the free world repeatedly says, “fake news, people. Fake news.”

Social proof will continue to influence human behaviour. Yet be in no doubt, as consumers, humans are starting to figure things out. Or at very least, question them. After all, who can they believe?

Don’t be a Marketing (oxy)Moron

Brands can no longer rely as heavily on the tried-and-tested tricks so often creatively recycled. The cat (not again!?) is out of the bag. When we see that review, notice that price drop or hear that brand promise we’re no longer subconsciously absorbing it as effectively as generations past. Now, there’s that little nagging voice of doubt at the back of the mind.

So, what’s a brand – or, more specifically, it’s marketers and agency partners – to do? In some people’s humble opinion, it’s time to be…er….humble.

Brand humility. Possibly the most under-the-radar marketing buzzword of the last decade is starting to be noticed.

This is impressive, as it’s possibly the most counter-intuitive concept for any marketer to perceive.

Think about it; as marketers (and particularly in the context of selling), we relentlessly try and push our products and brands, above those of our competitors. As do they with ours. We revel in USPs; we wax lyrical about value propositions. We’re paid to instil the virtues of our brands in our customers’ hearts and minds; we’re KPI’d on their ever-improving conversion performance and net promoter scores. We eat, sleep and breath strategy and tactics designed to elevate our brands in their markets.

Hardly the perfect recipe for humility

This is, perhaps, one potential reason for the many failed attempts at brand purpose in recent years. For marketers programmed to seek out ways to elevate brand awareness and sales figures, articulating some kind of socially-relevant purpose that’s going to be believable in the mind of the consumer is a pretty tough ask.

Add in an increasingly sceptical consumer who’s been exposed to a myriad of fake news, and it’s even harder.

And yet – here we are. Evolution hasn’t worked. In fact, it’s turned into something more like devolution. Consumers are, unsurprisingly, fed up.

Time for a change. Brand humility may be about to come of age. It’s going to take real distinctive strategy, creativity and, not least, bravery. Marketer’s changing their own behaviour in order to influence their customers is, perhaps, the greatest challenge. The brands that can manage this, establishing a different kind of relationship with customers and generating newer, stronger forms of social proof, will be the ones that succeed.

Key Takeaways:

1.

The last five years have seen consumer/social trust eroded through fake news, fake reviews and rejection of institutional narrative.

2.

The marketing industry’s over-reliance on social proof has been exposed.

3.

Marketers must come to terms with the fact that ‘chest-beating’ in the pursuit of market share is now counter-intuitive.

4.

In order to elevate your brand, true brand humility must be perceived by your customers.

5.

Achieving this, and creating the desired customer behaviour (brand choice & advocacy), starts with marketers rejecting their comfort zones and changing their own behaviour.

Life isn't a full stop.​

Forage further:

1.

The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton

2.

The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

3.

Thinking, Fast & Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Rich Woof.
Brand Strategist. It’s the thought that counts.

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