Just 3% of customers trust advertisers ...

...only second-hand car salesmen are rated worse!

That is according to research that the Chartered Institute of Marketing quote in their guide to morality in marketing (which you can download from the link on the right).

The issue of trust is often judged by potential customers in an inverse proportion to your size ... the smaller your business the least they trust you by default.  And that means that you, as a small business, have to work even harder to gain their trust before making the first sale to them.

Make it easy to trust you

We live in cynical times.  If we as a potential customers think that a supplier isn't telling us everything about their product or service we assume that they 'have something to hide'.

A significant factor here, especially with the internet as a quick and easy comparison vehicle, is price.  If you're not upfront with your pricing there are groups of potential customers who will assume that it is because it's very high.  And that assumption may lead them to not even ask what the price is.  They'll just go elsewhere.

As a rule I always advise my clients to publish prices openly (or at least pricing illustrations if the service is hard to price), including on their website.  I also advise publishing just about every other piece of information that that have about their company, products and services, customers, and so on.  'Open the kimono as wide as it goes' is the mantra.

I often get a lot of push-back from those clients. 'But what if my competitors go on the website and finds out all of my pricing?'.

My answer is simple.  If you competitors really wanted to know pricing or other information about you, then they'd find a way to find it out (mystery shopping, talking with your ex-customers, applying for jobs with you ... and so on).  In practice, your small business competitors are too busy doing their own thing to make a detailed assessment of your business (as you are theirs, no doubt).

I'd rather that a competitor found out about the pricing than turn away a potentially profitable customer by appearing too secretive.

Keeping the trust

Once you've acquired a customer it is essential to maintain that initial trust level, and to build on it as you start to deliver your products and services.

Openness and honesty go a long way. People are generally ready to accept that mistakes can happen.  The 'oops!' factor strikes us all from time to time.  How we respond to that situation and what interactions with have with the customer are the difference between building further trust or destroying what bond already exists.  Owning up and being proactive to rectify the issue are generally viewed positively by the customer over time (though not always at the time!).

But we also need to think about actively building customer trust when things go right too. Just delivering a good product or service may not increase the trust that your customer has.  After all, they paid you for the service and you delivered it ... exactly what they had expected.

What if you were able to add a sprinkling of extra value in that service?  Maybe some additional information.  Maybe a telephone check-up a short time after to see if everything is alright and so on.  Those extra interactions tell the customer that you don't just deliver a service, but you demonstrably care about the quality of that service and its value to them as the user. And that builds more trust.

Memorable marketing

Thinking and working pragmatically like this will help you to make your marketing work better for you in a more memorable way. This means that your target customers will be able to differentiate your products and services from those of your competitors and clearly see the value in buying from you.

If you would like some advice on memorable marketing techniques for your own business, or you know someone at another business who might need help, then please contact us. The sooner you start, the sooner you will benefit.

Morality in Marketing

Download this handy guide which explains some of the latest thinking on how to get the best from your marketing in order to improve business effectiveness.

Written by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as part of their Shape The Agenda series, this document makes easy reading for business people of all experience levels.

Marketing Effectiveness Assessment

A free service to small businesses in the Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire area, the Marketing Effectiveness Assessment delivers a professional audit of how a business is using the tools of marketing to communicate to existing and potential customers. It also includes a series of simple and cost-effective marketing activities that the business can implement immediately and at low cost.

Download the factsheet now.

Useful Links ...

Adduce Marketing

Chartered Institute of Marketing

Marketing UK (information portal)