Reputation to Revenue

The trust gap widens

The Better Business Bureau in the US released its latest BBB/Gallup "Trust in Business" survey results yesterday and the findings were not pretty. The percentage of respondents saying they trust the businesses they deal with on a daily basis fell in almost every category.

The survey covered 15 types of businesses, including banks, gas stations, drug stores, department stores, supermarkets, office supply companies, contractors, and real estate brokers. Trust increased in only one of the industries during the last six months (cell phone provides -- perhaps an iPhone-driven boost for AT&T?), and remained the same for health care insurers. The survey found double-digit declines in more than half of the industries.

As Steve Cole, president and CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus noted, "It is simply shocking that only 33 percent or less of Americans reports having a 'great deal' or 'quite a lot of trust' in 11 of 15 industries measured in the survey."

It's a sad statement about perceptions of American business -- and an interesting complement to a recent study of specific companies by the American Customer Satisfaction Council, about which I wrote last week, which found strong and increasing scores for innovative companies like Apple and Google.

Marketers can hardly control the actions of an entire industry, and no doubt many honorable companies suffer at least some guilt by association with less trustworthy peers. And not every company (to say the least) has the deep pockets of an Apple or Google to invest in the constant product innovation which helps drive satisfaction and trust.

But it is extremely difficult to build sustainable growth when a majority of potential buyers don't trust you, and this is certainly as true for B2B as it is for B2C. Fortunately, marketers have great influence over the two things that consumers say companies can do to increase their trust the most:

• Do a better job delivering on promises
• Stand behind your advertising

Is that so difficult?

MarketingProfs Gets the iPhone

I've been a fan (and member) of MarketingProfs pretty much since it started in 2001. It's an excellent resource for marketing tips, tools, and examples, with a useful bent toward what's new without going overboard on the hype parade.

Now you can get their Get to the Po!nt articles on search, email marketing, buyer insight and more with a new app for the iPhone. It's a nicely designed app with easy access to lots of content, and a great example of a small but value-laden gesture that is sure to build more usage and loyalty. As one of their own newsletters often says, "now that's inspiration."

Click here to download the app from iTunes.

Preaching what you practice: IBM's green consulting offer

A proven track record is one of the first things that business buyers look at when considering potential providers of high value services and solutions. Where have you done this before? Hence the importance of providing credible references, case studies, and testimonials.

All well and good, but how do you get those first clients before you even have a track record? At IBM, one of the most effective answers has been to use yourself. The IT giant's new Green Sigma consulting offer is a great example.

Like many IT services providers, IBM is preaching the virtues of green computing, and now wants to help clients reduce both costs and environmental impact by applying Lean Six Sigma principals to energy and water usage throughout their operations. It's a timely offer, and made credible at least in part by IBM's internal track record saving energy and cutting costs through the approach -- some $310 million in energy costs saved since 1990 with a corresponding reduction of more than three million metric tons of CO₂, according to company calculations.

In a world of skeptical buyers, practicing what you preach is table stakes. Practicing it first to work out the kinks, and then beginning to preach (with all the appropriate Web 2.0, conversational approaches, of course), is the better way to go.

Delivery plus innovation equals reputation

In a transparent world, poor delivery kills reputation fast. Excellent delivery of products, services, or solutions is the baseline for any corporate reputation.

But innovation is extremely important as well.

Today's evidence comes from the latest quarterly scores from the American Customer Satisfaction Council Index. They show Google and Apple surging higher in consumers eyes even as overall customer satisfaction remain flat.

An AdAge review of the Google score made the useful point that Google's surge in satisfaction tracks pretty closely with its increases in market share for search. Similarly, Yahoo lost ground on both measures while MSN remained flat. But Larry Freed, president and CEO of online satisfaction research firm Foresee Results, suggested to AdAge that Google has gained just as much from its continued introduction of new products and services, including the web applications that have gained substantial ground in the last year.

"On one hand, there's a simple and basic interface to search," he said. "But Google is also known as an innovative company and has other great apps that are slowly starting to gain market share. ... As they launch these things, sometimes it takes a while until users get to know it."

Of course good PR helps, too.

"Satisfaction in simple terms is a combination of what you get and what you expect," Mr. Freed said. "And expectations are formed by word of mouth, advertising, media and your own experiences. That there's such positive publicity about Google, and negative publicity about Yahoo and MSN of late, isn't going to help," he said, referring to the on-again, off-again bitter acquisition talks between Yahoo and MSN parent Microsoft.

As for Apple, hmm... great products, innovation, good PR? Say no more.

Reaching new buyers with cause-related marketing

I've always been a big fan of cause-related marketing, so perked right up when I saw mention of Patagonia's new Vote the Environment campaign (see also here, here, and here) The premium outdoor clothing dealer has always put a strong environmental sensibility at the center of the business, but typically has marketed itself to the over-30 crowd. In a new push at younger consumers, Patagonia is taking a strong cause-related approach and the campaign deserves mention for several reasons.

First, of course, it's true to the brand. Lots of companies attach themselves to worthy causes (in this case, getting young people to vote in the upcoming US elections and providing them with information about environmental issues), but it's difficult to do this well if you don't have a credible record and story about the cause to begin with.

Second, it's a nicely integrated campaign, geared appropriately to the audience -- combining traditional advertising, Web presence, and in-store promotion with youth-oriented social media initiatives on YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, blogs and other relevant platforms.

Third, it puts useful and interesting content way above promotion. Pushing product in all the right places for the audience might sell a few more items near-term. But getting people engaged in the issues as brought to you by an enlightened sponsor is far more likely to build buzz, enhance reputation and pave the way for more substantial sales a bit later on.

Finally, the company is taking a stand that may be controversial among some customers, partners, or other stakeholders. It's easy to shy away from controversy as a business, but, if done well, the benefits of standing out from the crowd and giving your advocates more reason to spread the good word  can more than outweigh the potential downside.

PR: on the rise or becoming obsolete?

The declining effectiveness of advertising in recent years has inspired many marketing professionals (and PR firms) to suggest that PR should lead the way in the digital age. With so many ways for potential buyers to tune out unwanted messages, the theory goes, companies need to earn the attention of credible media sources by providing ideas and information worthy of journalist coverage. Forget the paid ads on in BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, or CIO magazine; focus instead on feeding them stories on the editorial side.

I certainly agree with the gist of the argument. The problem, of course, is that it's much easier for PR folks to blast out generic pitches than take the time to really help individual reporters with stories that matter.

Now comes uber-blogger Steve Rubel wondering if the rise of digital in general means the death of PR. Bemoaning the never-ending flood of useless PR pitches he now receives as a leading blogger, Rubel suggests that the best journalists and bloggers are much happier finding stories on their own than relying upon PR pros to guide them. "The thrill of the chase" combined with the online accessibility of just about everything could mean that PR itself is becoming irrelevant. Unless PR changes dramatically, according to Rubel, the end is near.

Rubel's post sparked numerous comments, ranging from "right on" to this is old news to good PR has always been about thoughtful and constructive care and feeding of the media. For me, the real story here is that PR folks, to the extent they realize the problem, are just joining the rest of us marketers in accepting the reality of the participation economy. Buyers don't want irrelevant ads, sales people don't want irrelevant marketing collateral, and journalists don't want irrelevant pitches. But they're all interested in serious content -- and conversation -- that's relevant, engaging, and useful. Without that, we'll all become obsolete.

"Did everyone hate me then as much as I hate them now?"

Wow. I've been working on a research project on how services companies build their brands and, although the project is confidential, I couldn't resist posting this line. It comes from a woman in her first field marketing job after spending years at the corporate/headquarters level. We were talking about the inevitable tensions between corporate and the field when it comes to messaging, advertising, and the like, and she just came out with this.

We always talk about the conflicts between marketing and sales, but this is a great reminder that those between corporate and field marketing, especially in large organizations, can be just as corrosive. Amid the race to do more with less, it's important to set aside the time to build collaboration and relationships across the organization. Brands reflect their people a lot more than any manufactured message or tag line, and "hating" across organizational lines is not exactly a recipe for success.

Lead generation tips from MarketingSherpa

A MarketingSherpa webinar yesterday on B2B lead generation was a refreshing change from the normal blah-blah that characterizes too many of the genre. For one thing, it was only 30 minutes instead of the usual 60, so much easier to take the time to listen. For another, it was surprisingly specific, with very concrete recommendations rather than the normal high-level directional "advice" that one often hears.

Several of founder Anne Holland's seven tips particularly hit home for me, including:

• Drop as many registration barriers as possible that get in the way of prospects getting your content. The data you gather is not worth the hassles you create and the people you lose along the way. I've had a number of debates with colleagues on exactly this point, so was especially gratified to hear the data from MarketingSherpa on this one.
• High impact lead nurturing requires a multimedia approach. The biggest mistake that B2B marketers make is relying too much on email alone for nurturing which many prospects never see it or respond. Using webinars, phone calls, and postal mail is critical for a more effective approach.
• Rapid response to web triggers, such as white paper downloads or webinar registrations, is absolutely essential. MarketingSherpa data suggests that even responding within 24 hours is not fast enough; telemarketing responses within five minutes is substantially more effective. As Holland noted, this should be shocking to marketers, but the data seem clear.

Holland also had useful tips about search engine marketing, content development, postal mail, and measuring lead quality. You can listen to the archive here.