Marketing is about building relationships… not selling a product

As marketers, we spend a tremendous amount of time fashioning and developing a brand. We work on clever ads, analyze the placement of media, diligently work every PR angle, plan super events, build a product website, and always look for new innovative ways to present our message to the consumer. And by doing all of this we think we can affect the brand, and we can. But all of this marketing activity is secondary to building positive relationships with the consumer. And positive relationships are based on trust. Do you have a brand that is trusted?

There is much talk currently about social media and how it is indicative of “pull marketing”. Social media requires authenticity and transparency and credibility. But this should be true about all of our marketing efforts, traditional and nontraditional. It’s true about developing and maintaining a strong brand.

Consumers are skeptical these days. They don’t want to be “sold”. They want a relationship with a brand. They want to trust the brand. Believe in it.

So do we earn their trust? Trust is earned by being sincere and truthful, by doing what is right, by truly earning the consumer, and by being consistent. When we deliver on those items, marketing is much easier. Marketing won’t be about shouting and screaming with shameless promotions.

Branding is about trust, being honest, delivering what we say and always keeping the well being of the customers as the top priority. When we do that we connect, we build relationships.

Marketing is essentially about building relationships. And relationships are built on trust. When we are successful building relationships, the rewards will be great.