Stay ahead of the game and learn more about the new era and generation of branding – the Trust Brand Economy.
Until now, we’ve all comfortably understood and wrapped our heads around the idea of brand as product. From the cereals, soaps and cars of the 1950s, 1960s and beyond, brands were built to sell product. Steadily, the idea of brand relationships has grown and evolved. Small to medium enterprise businesses grew and became the cornerstone of many of our economies – this forced businesses to create relationship connections with people, so that customers would keep returning.
Brands no longer sell just products; they sell the entire service. Relationship branding is key to the success of this extension of product into service. New technologies, social media and the rise of the Internet mean that brands are now part of a global, not just a local village. While this opens up markets and opportunities for success on a larger scale, it also increases the competition. It means that as brands we have to lift our game, and provide more than just a product and a pretty logo – we now build and manage brand relationships to a global village.
The GenYs of our world, who are now entering senior management levels in our business communities, actively seek out brands that make a clear promise that aligns to their own personal desires. They are willing to accept opportunities to interact with brands and form relationships; but you only get one chance to make a good impression. If you fail to consistently deliver on your brand promise and fail to evolve and align to the changing nature of these desires, you will break the trust relationship and they will go elsewhere. We are breaking the norms of relationship branding and marketing by adding the elements of trust and respect into the mix.
To survive and thrive in the Trust Brand Economy, your brand must deliver on your brand promise to an outstanding level of performance and commitment. You need to continually delight your markets, by tuning in and tuning up your performances, your products and your connections. The Trust Brand Economy is about knowing what it is you’re passionate about, and being zealously true to delivering, committing and connecting to the expression and performance of that passion everyday, in a way that connects to the desires of your markets.
There’s no doubt, we’re at a tipping point of change in terms of how we think about branding as a cultural and strategic asset in business. However, there is an even more formidable challenge on the near horizon – the impact of the Trust Brand Economy on your personal brand. How will your brand adapt to succeed?
