PUBLIC RELATIONS
Building Trust In The Digital
Age
By Irene Mbonge
A
nyone
working
in
today’s
marketing arena will contend that
undesirable brand experiences can
quickly negate years of brand-building,
a hard-gained positive reputation, and
perhaps most importantly, the trust a
consumer places in a brand. and a brand is just as important as any
other relationship. When a brand is able
to make a genuine, truthful connection
with a consumer, then an incredible thing
happens; it creates brand loyalty and
this connection provides the basis of a
consumer-brand relationship.
Before customers make a purchase from
you, they need to be able to trust you.
They need to trust that your messages are
accurate, that what you are selling matches
up to what you say it is and that if anything
goes wrong with the transaction, that you
will support them. Over the past decade, social media
has changed the way consumers and
brands interact, giving consumers more
opportunities to make their voices heard,
while placing higher demands on brands.
Consumers are increasingly demanding
authenticity, quick and accurate responses
to their concerns, accountability and
even that they (brands) take a stand on
relevant social and cultural topics. Clearly,
consumers’ trust has become more crucial
It takes work, it takes time and it takes a
few tricks up your sleeve to get the trust
you want. The trust between a consumer
It takes work, it takes time and it takes a few
tricks up your sleeve to get the trust you want.
The trust between a consumer and a brand is
just as important as any other relationship.
When a brand is able to make a genuine,
truthful connection with a consumer, then an
incredible thing happens; it creates brand loy-
alty and this connection provides the basis of a
consumer-brand relationship.
20 MAL27/18 ISSUE
for brands’ success.
Price
Waterhouse
Coopers’ latest
consumer research points to the soaring
importance of social media -shoppers
trusting the collective opinions of
strangers - and the challenge, for brands
and retailers alike, to be seen as authentic
and trustworthy. Trust is also top of
mind for executives as they consider
how to deploy new technologies and
services to bolster customer experience
while protecting the security of an ever-
expanding trove of customer data.
Interestingly, the study established that
brand trust ranked among the top three
reasons for more consumers than ‘good
location’; and it was only slightly less
important to respondents than ‘being
able to find items they wanted in stock’.
Other reasons, such as loyalty programs
and knowledgeable sales associates, were
cited much less often. In fact a resounding
majority cited brand trust as the number
one reason (other than price) why they
shop at a specific retailer. This is a result
that resonates and is replicated across
diverse markets such as China, India and
South America.
As earlier indicated, building brand
trust is not a small task. Understanding
individual consumers and consistently
meeting their expectations is essential to
making it happen. For example, Kroger, a