Trust me, I’m in marketing
I was on LinkedIn the other day and noticed an article about how marketing agencies might gain the trust of new or prospective clients.
A great subject I thought, and I read on eagerly…but was pretty disappointed by what I found. It was the usual list of ‘Top 5 tips’ and/or ‘7 industry tricks/hacks’.
I mean, COME ON!
I’ve had a long and interesting career – the first 20 years working at traditional ad agencies (across a number of roles) and almost 15 as a consultant/freelancer/fixer who parachutes into agencies at times of crisis (their crisis, not mine).
So I know a thing or two about account management (I’ve very much ‘got the T-shirt’ on that one), and I know how to develop a meaningful and productive working relationship with a client.
And the magic ingredient is…TIME.
Think of how we make friends socially. Yes, we may be completely dazzled by somebody when we first meet them, but first impressions can be deceptive (and notoriously shallow).
The truest test of a friendship takes much longer – it is how people behave when you need them most. They have to EARN your trust. It’s a complex, cumulative process based on a simple principle – treat them as you wish to be treated yourself. So you need to be consistent, considerate, thoughtful and honest. Moreover the same principles apply with the client-customer relationship too. It takes time for marketing messages to really make their mark – because what you say you can do really HAS to match what happens in reality. And that all takes time.
Yet we live in a world where we’re told technology makes things happen in an instant, and that that is a good thing. We all need to get used to it, yesterday is history, look at my shiny new toy, etc. Well that simply doesn’t apply to trust.
Trust isn’t about words, it’s measured in deeds/actions. It’s CX in a bottle. I mean, who has EVER trusted someone who says: “Trust me…”