Authenticity Archives - Write Approach Marketing

Damage control

There’s a lot of damage control going on lately. Cambridge Analytica blames the media as they move towards bankruptcy.

Closer to home, AMP Limited is likely wishing they’d never heard of the Banking Royal Commission, whilst Executives ‘remove themselves’ from the scene.

Whether proven ‘guilty’ or not, the damage is done.

Damage to those businesses, but also to something I consider much greater.

Damage to trust.

It’s a long road back once trust is lost.

So, how can we ensure that we don’t end up losing trust?

Empathy.

Seeing the other side

If we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, we view things from their position, it’s different. It’s perspective. It’s enlightening.

When we lose sight of how the people around us view things, that’s when things can get really tricky. We risk becoming insular. We take the risk that we only have input from our own (often limited) worldview. We can learn plenty from those around us.

Imagine being a customer of one of those big entities now – perhaps you are one – how does it feel?

I imagine I’d be angry (class action kind of angry, perhaps)…

And on the other side of the coin, imagine participating in a meeting, office cram packed with staff, and being the one brave enough to put your hand up in front of all these people and say:

“Actually, no… We can’t do this to our customers – we can’t charge for stuff we don’t do, we have to find a better way to deal with it. Let’s stop charging them fees and let’s help them deal with this change in circumstances. Our integrity is on the line here…”

That sounds simple enough, but tough to do. It’s tough to have the courage to stand up to your peers and supervisors (over and over again).

That’s the person I want working for me though.

That’s probably the person that your customers want working for them too. The person who can see things from their point of view, who has empathy for their situation.

Taking the time to do this, working ethically, considering others, communicating even when it’s uncomfortable, building relationships that are valued, is hard work.

Building trust is hard work.

Losing it takes a lot less effort, so much so that it can happen without us even noticing.

The building of trust

To future proof our business, to protect our customers (who are, let’s face it, the reason we can be in business) we have to be deliberate about acting with integrity. Our marketing is an essential part of this. If we offer a service, that’s what we have to do. If things go wrong with those plans, we must be accountable for them and communicate openly and honestly. How would OUR customers feel if they were paying for a service they didn’t get…

We may be on a smaller scale than those in the news, but we are not so different as we might think. We face similar challenges, risks and everyday things that can go wrong, and it’s our choice to behave in a way that is deserving of our customer’s trust.

If we want to build a resilient business that serves our clients/customers and has them as its focus, it’s time to start damage control now.

Damage control starts at Day 1 by showing up and being worthy of trust, and it goes on every day until it’s natural.

Go, be inspired. And inspiring…

Heather x

Make it personal

To make a difference, make it personal…

If you want people to engage with what you’re sharing, build a connection to it.

If you’re sharing it, you are the connection.

So, if you’re connecting others to something (a story, a page, a cause, a fundraiser, a blog or a friend) tell them why you care enough to share.

If you don’t want to share your connection perhaps that’s an opportunity for reflection … why ARE you sharing it? Are you sharing out of obligation? Has sharing just become habitual? If you don’t want to be personally associated with it, why not? Why don’t you want to be connected to it? What has you feeling that you SHOULD share but you don’t want to commit your own words to it? Does it put you ‘on the hook’ for something, making you accountable? Perhaps it’s that you don’t really believe in it… The reasons are likely to be as unique as you are.

“Without strategy the content is just stuff, and the world has enough stuff.” *

Our strategy is our reason why… If we don’t have a reason for sharing something, should we? Isn’t the world already full of “stuff” … aren’t our news feeds and our emails already overfull with things we may not actually care about?

So, you’re saying Don’t Share?

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not writing this to discourage you from sharing, I’m writing it to admonish you to make what you share meaningful in a trifecta of ways – to you, to the person you’re sharing for and to the rest of the world. Your personal connection may just be the difference between people scrolling on by or stopping to check it out.

If you’re not sure what to write when you’re sharing ask yourself: Why am I supporting this cause/friend/whatever? What is important to me about this? What is it about this thing I’m sharing that means something to me?

Chances are if it means something for you, it might also mean something significant for those who you are sharing with. Chances are people will care BECAUSE you care, and even if they don’t, that’s OK. It’s not for everyone.

Be generous. Make it personal.

I, for one, am always keen to know what’s important to you and why.

Heather x

PS. To clarify, I’m talking here about sharing other people’s posts, pages, causes etc, because I see so many of these pass me by without a note of explanation as to why people are sharing them. That said, it applies to whatever you write/post/share really… 🙂

*I’ve seen this quote attributed to many different people, and I don’t like using quotes without crediting the author, however I’ve not been able to pin down the true author. I’ve seen it credited to Arjun Basu, Seth Godin and others. I’ll thank each of them here.

It’s about trust

It’s a pretty big rule – in life, and in marketing, and it’s about establishing trust.

Do what you say you’re going to do.

Your words are your marketing.

If you offer to deliver 4 items, provide 4 and delight people with another one.

Don’t leave them wondering where the 4 are and whether they are ever going to get them.

Also, there’s no point delighting them with an extra, if they didn’t get the 4 you promised.