Have you built trust with your customers?
Building trust with your community and your customers will set you apart from the noise in the market. It will also make it easier for you to maintain credibility since in many crowded industries, customer service is the most important differentiator. Leadership sets the tone for the way companies treat their customers by the way they treat their employees. Companies that champion customer service often have high employee engagement and satisfaction.
As a storyteller and marketer, I believe we have great responsibility when we create story arcs and marketing messaging. We’ve witnessed the rise of fake news and stories in the media and beyond that promote scarcity for the sake of exciting people based on the lowest levels of human emotion — fear and anger. Some of the most well-known companies lose credibility and trust in a matter of minutes after spending decades building their foundation and products people trust.
Be interesting. Tell the truth. And if you can’t tell the truth, change what you’re doing so you can. In other words, live the truth.
— Jonah Sacs, Winning the Story Wars
In marketing, there’s a balance between exaggerating the truth and telling a blatant lie about your product roadmap. Never lose sight of the truth, and insist that your teams always tell the truth.
Sometimes marketers get excited about a product roadmap and announce a product earlier than the launch date. In some cases, a top-of-funnel marketing strategy where companies create momentum before a launch might make sense, but not every industry and product is created equal. In other cases, you can lose credibility with customers if you over-promise and under-deliver, or if the wait period is beyond reasonable.
I leave it to you to decide, but personally, I respect companies and leaders who are transparent about what they’re building and why, and announce products and news when they are certain the product is available. I also think it’s a good idea to announce products as close to the launch date as possible or after so it gives companies room in case operational issues come up at the 11th hour.
Over time, I think it will become more and more important that companies hold themselves to the highest standard and tell stories that are authentic and generative. Many products have the power to encourage, motivate, and educate, as well as help us relate to and understand each other.
By continually holding to your mission and purpose when building your marketing story, your message will continue to inspire those in your market.
Stories have the unique power to connect people, and that connection can foster a relationship that transcends transactions. Great stories — the ones we revere and remember — center on authenticity. A real story is more powerful than you think. We forge connections with people who proudly wear their honesty, vulnerability, and integrity.
Consumers want to know who you are and what you stand for. Are you the brand that cares about sustainability and zero waste? Are you centered on making sure you value your employees as much as your customers? Move past what your product or services offer a consumer and tell them how it makes them feel and how they can be part of the story.
— Felicia C. Sullivan, Let’s Talk About How to Create a Content Strategy
I’d love to hear from you!
If you found this useful, and you’d like to learn more about Product Marketing, stay in touch!
My latest book, The Launch: A Product Marketer’s Guide, is now available on Amazon. I also wrote the book “Product Marketing Debunked. The Essential Go-To-Market Guide” which you can purchase on Amazon.
If you’d like to become a member of Medium to get access to awesome content, you can check it out here. If you are serious about learning about the go-to-market process, check out my go-to-market workshops.
