Editorial
The Gist
- Buyer shift. Increased risk aversion and self-service habits require brands to lead with awareness, transparency and brand trust.
- Awareness gap. Many companies underestimate the importance of brand awareness and perception in the decision-making process.
- Strategic focus. Invest in end-to-end positioning, awareness, content, digital marketing, and PR strategies to build and maintain brand trust.
More than halfway into 2024, it’s undeniable. We’re smack dab in the middle of “the year of the brand crisis.”
It holds true for virtually everyone — from those seeking to compete with established market leaders to market leaders hoping to maintain their status. Brands find themselves standing atop shifting sands. The dynamics of buyer decision-making have dramatically shifted. That means that vendors need to lead with awareness, transparency, and, most crucially, brand trust.
Buyers are relying much more on their own prior experiences, and they’re much more risk averse — they’re taking longer to purchase, they’re watching more demos, they’re consuming more content, and they’re forming larger and more senior buying groups. Brand trust has become a critical factor in their decision-making process.
They’re also driving their own customer journeys. Self-service is the name of the game, whether that comes through seeking independent proof points from peers, seeking out up-front and accessible pricing without having to talk to a sales person, or getting access to self-driving demos or trials.
All of this points to a single fact: If you want to end up on a prospect’s short list, they better know who you are — or you better make it real easy for them to find out.
This was brought into stark relief through the 2024 Buying Disconnect Report, recently published by TrustRadius and Pavilion. A central takeaway? Far too many companies drastically underestimate the importance of brand awareness and perception.
Buyers have an overwhelming number of product options to choose from. There are over 14,000 martech products that currently exist. Even the modern AI stack, encompassing only the most well-renowned providers, has more options than is reasonable to research. Marketers are at a disadvantage unless we know how buyers are making decisions.
According to the Buying Disconnect Report, 78% of buyers creating short lists reported selecting products they had heard of before starting their research. For enterprise buyers, that figure rose to 86%. Meanwhile, 63% of short lists only include two to three products and almost all of them — 96% — have five or less. Buyers also skew toward market leaders, with 66% of buyers saying they preferred established, leading products, ahead of 19% and 11% for new and niche, respectively.
This portends a challenge for all brands, especially newer ones, but all is not lost.
What You Can Do About Brand Trust
Enterprise marketers are starting to realize that if you stop investing in brand awareness, you’ll lose, both in the short term and the long term. The path forward? It comes through end-to-end positioning, awareness, content, digital marketing and PR strategies. So, where do you invest, and how?
Related Article: Customer Trust: The Backbone of Digital Age
1. Go Back to Basics: Brand to Demand
Sharpen your positioning by focusing on a specific ideal customer profile, then segment and win over that segment (or maybe two).
Next, implement “always-on” brand campaigns. Run banner and display ads targeting the entire buying committee with your core positioning and differentiators. These paid brand campaigns need to be always there to remind your buyers that you are the best at what you do.
Related Article: Do Your Customers Trust You on AI, Data Collection and Customer Experience?
2. Double Down on Your Customers
Your customers are your best asset. Leverage their successes via joint marketing motions such as educational or case study webinars, through customer referral programs, developing case studies and publishing the results of using your tech, as well as the outcomes and ROI. Importantly, place them at the center. Showcase their success, but don’t spend all of your real estate proclaiming the value of your products and services — your readers are smart enough to put two and two together.
3. Leverage PR for Brand Awareness and Demand Generation
Amid tightening belt buckles, PR budgets have often been slashed to focus on demand generation. But PR is a strategic weapon that can serve you on multiple fronts. Start by creating innovative content for your field, implementing SEO that is cognizant of AI search engines and building media and influencer relations.
- Thought leadership and executive talk tracks: Establish industry influence, drive meaningful conversations and engage key audiences.
- Company and product launches: Drive excitement and market buzz through strategic launch planning and execution.
- Newsjacking and commentary: Capitalize on hot news events to provide commentary that enhances brand relevance and industry authority.
- Data reports and data-based storytelling: Transform data into compelling narratives to showcase industry expertise and emerging trends.
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4. Flex Content Strategies That Build Brand Trust
Content is the glue holding awareness campaigns together. But creating content that engages isn’t always easy. It takes a few key ingredients:
- Focus on good, educational content: Create content that educates and informs rather than just sells, positioning your brand as a thought leader. Educational content provides value by addressing pain points and challenges of your target audience without directly pushing a sales agenda. This includes whitepapers, how-to guides, industry reports and blog posts that offer insights and solutions.
- Authenticity and storytelling: Amid a glut of mediocre AI-created content, it’s worth remembering that the art of storytelling is, in fact, still an art. Authentic storytelling is a well established means of creating a connection with the audience and building trust.
Turning Brand Doomsday on Its Head
In the year of the brand crisis, brand trust is the currency that makes or breaks a successful brand. When buyers are more cautious, informed and self-directed than ever before, catching them at the top of the funnel and establishing brand trust is about the most critical initiative you can undertake.
The trust challenge? It's significant. But the path forward doesn't have to be difficult.
As we navigate this period of change (and get ready for the next period of change that will inevitably follow in its path), the brands that will thrive are the ones that adapt and double down on trust.
By understanding the evolving dynamics of buyer behavior and implementing strategies that prioritize transparency and authenticity, you can turn this crisis into an opportunity for growth and long-term success.
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