By Robert Wheatley

Validation at the core of our new brand belief system

Last October I did a post on Trust and why it matters to brand growth and development. Recently I’ve been thinking about the relationship between that issue and the fundamentals of why the marketing communications landscape has shifted to make earned media (Editorial media, Web and social content) communications vital to brand success — not just a nice icing-on-the-cake thing to “add” to the mix.

Where there’s Trust, there’s engagement. And where Trust does not exist there is no relationship. And without any relationship is the absence of “mattering.” And when you don’t matter, you’re irrelevant. And when you’re irrelevant you’re a commodity — and people won’t take the time or mental energy to listen to what you have to say.

Spam is an interesting term that for most people simply means those annoying e-mail solicitations you can get for products you don’t want or need. The word, however, has broader meaning. I think it might apply to brand communications where Trust and therefore “mattering” are absent. Whether off line or on, communication that is pushed from brands lacking in Trust is a shotgun blast of Spam-like info that will probably fall on deaf ears.

As is my habit, I like to cast ideas in the form of a visual that helps convey the concept. Below is the Brand Trust Ladder. The point is to help cast the relative power of various forms of communication in the context of how brands become trusted. Trust precedes engagement. And engagement means the intended audience has opted in to listen.

Download this image as a PDF: brandtrust.pdf

At the top end of the ladder we find Validation. This concept is true to the age in which we live because it expresses the inescapable fact that consumers want information on products and services they buy to be “vetted.” We look for outside third-party sources – both expert and laymen – to corroborate what we think we know about brands.

These are the building blocks of brand trust – the more independent, valued and believed sources agree with what brands attempt to convey, the more we determine they are trust-worthy.

It is the mission of public relations strategies to identify the sources of credibility a brand can leverage. Then to develop communications that helps build linkage with the community of validate-ors who can confirm ideas, positioning, information and reputation about brands.

If brand communications spending is truly about changing attitudes and behaviors, then this idea is mission critical to achieving your ROI objectives.

Your thoughts?