According to PR agency Edelman, 2015 is the year that online search results will be more trusted than journalists. Speaking about their latest trust barometer report, Edelman also claimed that 80% of people distrust businesses, governments or both.
These facts are not to be under-estimated by marketers, because as the speed of business gets faster and faster, the danger is that we become too quick to seek a sale, and too slow to build a relationship.
As we all know, lasting relationships are built upon trust, and when people trust companies, they are more likely to buy and pay more for their products, as well as recommend them and defend them. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff was speaking at the Davos World Economic Forum last week with a similar message, explaining how “The (business) world is currently in the middle of a trust crisis”.
The tough reality is that consumer trust is low, and despite the amazing advancements in marketing technology, not enough businesses understand their customers well enough in order to know what they want or when they want it. As a result of this, the temptation is to rely on advertising as the most direct way to capture a customer’s attention.
