What does it mean to your organization and what you should do about it?
Trust is at the core of any interpersonal relationship. Politicians campaign to capture their constituents’ trust and voting power. Consumer brands strive to earn their consumers’ trust and become the product / brand of choice. Service firms work hard to establish themselves and their professionals as “trusted advisers” and “partners.” Trust can be very fragile, and once earned can be easily lost no matter how much time and money were spent earning it.
As has become my custom, here’s a brief overview of the recently released 2015 edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer and my interpretation of the findings.
The bottom line of the 2015 Trust Barometer: trust is on the decline, yet again. Studying four main segments: NGO’s, business, media and government, government is the only institution with a slight uptick in trust (hard to believe, right?).
Overall trust in the media is on the decline. Search engines are the most trusted and the first choice of locating general information. Content is more trusted if it is created by the subject matter experts, as opposed to journalists. Not surprisingly, business references coming from family members or friends are the most trusted. Marketing professionals take note: revisit and potentially increase your spending on SEO’s, raise authentic authorship content and review testimonials to include some of trusted referral sources.
Businesses are losing trust for the first time after the Great Depression – perhaps an indicator that the recovery we’ve been seeing is slowing down. The survey outlines four factors that impact trust in business: industry, enterprise type, country of origin and leadership.
Technology remains the most trusted industry, yet with the numerous security breaches, hacking stories, etc. trust is decreasing both for the technology products and the industry overall. Don’t take it for granted: continue to ensure your clients and shareholders of the security of their information, reinforce the value of your products / services and their positive benefit to society (see more on that below).
BRICs are still among the most distrusted countries of business origin, while Sweden, Canada, Germany and Swiss are the most trusted (well, at least until the most recent Swiss HSBC banking scandal). Family-owned businesses in the developed countries are the most trusted ones, while big businesses are trust leaders in developing countries. The reputational risk closely tied to where you and your clients do business is still very much alive. Think of the healthy longevity of LuxLeaks, SwissLeaks and other tax related headlines in the international media. I hope that these finding will encourage you to review your current geographic development strategy and adjust it accordingly.
Academics, industry experts and technical experts remain the most credible spokespeople. In most cases, CEOs are not viewed as credible spokespeople, though that again varies between developed and developing countries. Another question to marketers: who is addressing your clients? Consider raising the profiles of technical experts, and partnering with academic institutions to validate your thought leadership.
One of the most interesting findings of this year’s study is that rapid implementation of technology seems to depress trust and directly influences trust in innovation overall. The continuous stream of newly minted technology millionaires presents innovation as being driven by greed and not necessarily good for society. Then again, trust in innovation is far higher in the developing world than in the developed one, as the "developing markets are more open to change." Organizations that see innovation as critical to their competitiveness need to recognize that consumers fear the unknown and should emphasize education during the sales process. Transparence and third-party validation, perhaps by academic institutions and NGO’s, are essential for earning credibility and trust.
“Knowledge and understanding beget trust”. Edelman has identified integrity, engagement, products and services, purpose and operations as the key ingredients in building trust. Integrity is the leading criterion, closely followed by engagement, both of which encompass activities such as “ethical business practice, taking responsibility to address issues, having transparent and open business practices, listening to clients’ needs and feedback, treating employees well, placing clients ahead of profit, and communicating frequently on the state of the business.” So what does this mean to you? Be transparent. Communicate with your stakeholders and clients often and with purpose. Connect with academic institutions. Get involved in solving the problems of the community. Work to earn and keep the trust of your key constituents.
Trust matters. Clients purchase products/services from companies they trust. Keep in mind that now, more than ever, clients/consumers are vocal. They will recommend organizations they trust and equally, share criticism of the ones they distrust.
For a copy of the 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer visit:
http://www.edelman.com/insights/intellectual-property/2015-edelman-trust-barometer/trust-and-innovation-edelman-trust-barometer/executive-summary/
© 2010-2015 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved
By Mira Ilieva-Leonard | Mira.ilieva-leonard@istile.com
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