I'm starting to see this permeate advertising. State Farm's current "I'll be There" t.v. commercials post the phrase "We all need someone to believe in. To rely on. To trust." Ally Bank, the new name for GMAC touts the fact that it's a bank "that values integrity as much as deposits." Their television commercials don't pull any punches in their depiction of "a typical banker" ripping off a child. Ouch!
Yet we're a more impersonal society than ever. So how do you translate this to a wired world. Online brands will become even more important than ever before. Those companies that solidify their brand value will accelerate their market share. Those that can't will fail.
How do you create a trusted brand online? Gorilla marketing word of mouth campaigns. People want to hear from other people, preferably those that are similarly situated (demographically, socio-economically, and even regionally). A prime example is Yelp, the website that allows people to review what they like and don't like. Angie's List provides another example. I believe these web based intermediaries will continue to grow as more and more people look for trusted sites they can use when navigating around the web.
What are your thoughts?
Brian, Good Stuff! I didn't know you were a fellow blogger. I too post a few ideas now and again. I'm writing a book (I'll share the title with you later), that you may enjoy. A summary of the Chapter "The Customer is Always Right" is posted on my blog here at http://startupmistakes.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteBrian, so true. What do you think will result? Will people care less about expertise and think they are all experts? Will they differentiate in some way in terms of when they actually care about expertise? What will an expert do? In the race to be an expert will expertise = popularity, regarless of qualification (like movie stars or political candidate)?
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