Cramped in seat 17F somewhere 30,000 feet over Texas, I’m reading Business Week’s 100 Best Global Brands issue and trying to square the circle of David Kiley and Burt Helm’s article “The Great Trust Offensive,” outlining how companies are bringing trust back to the forefront of marketing to boost consumer perceptions (and ostensibly, profits). Earlier this month, I heard 20 B2B CMOs from major Fortune 500 firms agree that ‘trust’ was merely table stakes, a common benefit all customers expect. If you don’t have it or can’t build it, you might as well pack your bags. Yet none of them were staking their future growth on it; none saying it was their unique differentiator.
What stuck out in the article was Arcature CEO Larry Light’s comment that “trust is what drives profit margin and share price.” If only it were that easy. Certainly in some industries (I’m talking to you, financial services), there is a Sisyphean mountain ahead in the trust game. And sure, I suppose you could say that Net Promoter Score and similar metrics don’t rise without some degree of customer ‘trust.’ But the mad dash by marketers to trust, relationships, ease of doing business, and every other feel-good business term produces practically the same lack of differentiation in value proposition. So everyone is trustworthy again. Now what? There has to be a parallel strategy to building trust that simultaneously boosts differentiation. You have to find those unique capabilities that customers clearly identify with your company, and your company only.
MLC Members, this short overview of our latest B2B research will show you why delivering a unique benefit will put you ahead. Trust is replicable, as it should be. Find something more.
