The traditional top-down business model is completely wrong for the 21st Century, and marketers employing tactics from the last millennium are in danger of following the dinosaurs into extinction… along with their companies.

At Duxton we talk a lot about putting the customer at the heart of a Company. Few Companies that we talk to disagree with that philosophy. Unfortunately few Companies are also prepared to make the changes and commitments that true customer centricity requires.

We recently talked about niche brands and how they needed time to establish trust and long term growth. Becoming a niche brand can be a result of a specific marketing strategy, or it can happen by accident. Sadly, many brands become niche players by accident.

We’ve recently been talking about the importance of trust for a brand. High levels of trust lead to greater loyalty, preference and advocacy. But some brands we have measured have a high trust score, but are failing to attract new users. Why?

In the past, when I worked in the ad biz, we spent a lot of time with clients discussing the functional benefits of a brand versus non-functional attributes. Rational versus emotional. Getting this balance right was essential for great communications.

My tracking study tells me that brand awareness went from 92% to 93%. Wow! Big deal. It’s also telling me that perceptions and attitudes towards my brand haven’t really changed over the past 3 months. Or in fact, the past 6 or 12 or 24 months. Hmm…

Market management consultants Stefan Grafe and Alan Fairnington provide Research News with their thoughts on segmentation, bringing a three-pronged perspective – as a client, user and supplier.

During the course of a recent Duxton Trust Study in Malaysia, a rumour was spreading that McDonalds and Starbucks were funding Israeli aggression against Palestinians. This rumour significantly affected trust in those brands among Malays.

Trust is multi-faceted creature. A strength in one area doesn’t necessarily result in a person or a brand being trusted in other areas. Most people and brands are trusted for certain things, like the competence to do a certain job, or having a great vision, or delivering an excellent and reliable personal benefit.

Vision is a key driver of trust. It provides customers of a Company with the reassurance that both they and the brand are walking along the same path, and heading in the same direction. Vision isn’t a statement of corporate objectives, it is more about the principles and ethos of a Company. The things it is committed to, and what it believes in.

Malaysian consumers are a diverse bunch of ethnicities. The most successful brands are trusted by every different ethnic group. Their trust ratings are similar on every dimension, regardless of race.

Trust is a fundamental driver of human relationships.

Some people we know well and we trust. Others we don’t know as well, or we don’t trust because of their past behaviour. 

We often talk about the internet and technology changing the way businesses works. 

What we should really be saying is that the internet and technology are changing the way that customers behave.