The Relevance of Credibility in Marketing

Advertising/marketing/communications that informs or is newsworthy often performs better than traditional brand advertising. Why? Because human beings like what’s new and tire of the old. It’s a fact.

Another, often overlooked marketing gem, is this: Relevance, specific to your target audiences, will help your advertising sell more of your products/services. This truism applies to all media, new and old, social and not-so-social.

Look no further than two recent examples of relevancy gone bad and the negative impact it has had on the brands: Tiger Woods and Toyota. With the loss of credibility came a loss of sales. Both of these examples continue to play out as stories that fascinate and captivate us and, as such, we respond by no longer buying what these brands are selling.

Both the T’s (Tiger and Toyota) lost credibility in the eyes of consumers and their poorly planned crisis management PR campaigns only added fuel to already raging fires.

Properly executed public relations can help reverse the course of negativity and tell a counter-story to the one(s) that are damaging the brand. Of course, social media in the form of blogs and twitter can help, as can microsites, e-mail and Web site posts.

The lesson here is to make sure you have a comprehensive PR plan, including a crisis communication plan to help you be better prepared in case of an unexpected marketing emergency. Think back to how Tylenol handled their crisis in 1982 when it was reported that people had died after taking their product.

Conversely, a brand can become much more credible, and thus relevant, by employing some good old-fashioned direct marketing know-how into its plans, namely offers and guarantees.

Brands like Lands’ End, Omaha Steaks and Harry & David know the power of the offer combined with a great guarantee and have used this tactic very effectively for years.

Hyundai Motors America has grown in this recession. They’ve done it by touting a convincing offer in the form of their Hyundai Assurance Guarantee. Because of it, their vice president of marketing was quoted as saying: “Consumers look at us differently because of the offer.” And importantly sales have increased.

GM took note and came out with a money-back guarantee. Then, they watched as sales increased. Direct marketers know that it’s usually the case that the stronger your guarantee, the less you have to use it, and the more it helps to drive sales. However, if you have a sub-par product or service, the guarantee or offer will not typically lift relevance and will create more headaches than it’s worth. Great marketing cannot save bad products/services.

Assuming you know your target audiences, the offer is the most critical component of any campaign. Why? Because it defines the relevancy that’s required in this over-communicated, less-than-trusting day and age.

Orange juice purveyor “Simply Orange” is now offering a guarantee that if its juice does not taste just like freshly squeezed, they will offer you a free bag of the competition—oranges.

While these are a few of the many examples being employed today, it would be nice to take this credibility to the next level.

For example, Hyundai setting up a portal where they are actually helping those who have lost their jobs and demonstrating that they are truly looking out for their customers. That could lead to other types of marketing support groups on Facebook and the like that are driven by the purchasers who then share real, newsworthy stories of how the automotive company did actually try and help them.

So what’s the delay? Go ahead, start testing offers and guarantees right now and position them as new and newsworthy. Once you do and your bottom-line prospers, you can take your marketing to a whole new level because it will become more relevant and credible.

Grant A. Johnson ([email protected]) is the founder and creative director of Johnson Direct LLC.