m-cause

A few years ago, Seth Godin wrote a great book called All Marketers are Liars. Indeed, the American public apparently agrees with Seth’s book title. Several recent studies show that trust in advertising is at an all time low…

A MAN LIKE ME + THE RULING INFLUENCER CLASS
With the explosion of Web 2.0 tools, e-Commerce, forums, ratings, etc., consumers are increasingly finding ways to connect with other consumers. Trust in “a person like me” is growing tremendously. I have been noticing this trend more and more in my own behavior…my wife & I will rarely pick a hotel that is rated poorly on key measures we consider important in an online rating forum.

In addition, consumers believe information coming from key endorsers & articles much more than they believe information coming from advertisements…the power of influencers is rising!

TRUST IS BUILT VIA…
–Great Products
–Sustainability/GOOD activities & awards
–Great Customer service and consumer attentiveness

IF YOU BUILD IT RIGHT, WILL THEY REALLY COME?
Indeed, products and services need to be extremely remarkable today to “deserve” Word of Mouth (WOM) & buzz. But even great products/services need kick-starting and credibility from influential people…there is some good discussion on WOM in the latest Six Pixels of Separation podcast hosted by Mitch Joel (Note: Mitch’s show is a weekly “must listen”…)

THE CHALLENGE
Building a remarkable product and then leveraging influencers to help kick-start the buzz is a great way to go, but it is not as easy as pushing out a controlled message. Building relationships with the media, consumer associations, and key consumer inflencers, etc. is delicate business and takes time…there are no quick fixes today.