Authenticity: The Future for Marketers & Affiliates

Jeff Molander

We live in a world of quiet wars. A world where affiliates are assaulted by merchants, cut out of innovative deals with portals by networks. These are just a few examples. There are many other similar wars going on and many are being fought quietly. Being an affiliate (value added pre-seller) or a retailer isn’t easy. In either case you’re pushing someone else’s product and you’ve got all kinds of competition coming at you!

So how to be different, stand out, earn customers’ attention and ultimately their trust? Simple: Be authentic.

Recently, I suggested most marketers are quite content to be less experimental when it comes to reinventing their business model. Duh. Yet I also believe that re-invention is NOT necessary in most cases. One can still transform his or her business without gutting it. All it takes, in many cases, is a shot in the arm. Never underestimate the power of being perceived as authentic.

Elements of new models (i.e. crowdsourcing) are powerful enough to be blended with existing marketing models to create a one-two “authenticity” punch. I’m not alone in seeing things this way.

According to media analyst and blogger Jeff Jarvis (Buzzmachine.com), the kind of entrepreneurial happenstance that crowdsourcing feeds on is what marketers should be noticing. As media companies and marketers debate over whether it’s content or distribution that is king, Jarvis points to the real issue:

“Trust is king in the kingdom of conversation. You want to participate in what people want to do on their own. You don’t want to extract value, you want to add value. You don’t want to build walls, fences or gardens to keep people from doing what they want to do without you. You want to enable them to do it. You want to join in. And once you get your head around that, you’ll see that you can grow so much bigger so much faster with so much less cost and risk.”

It’s all about authenticity and creating “real” experiences that serve real purposes (those which customers WANT and WILL do with or without your help!).

Let’s look at how one big company does this. As much as it probably would like to, auto insurer Progressive Corp. doesn’t ask its customers and prospects to stop comparing policies and prices. Rather, it boldly offers them assistance in doing so on its Web site. Progressive’s executives realize that prospects WILL shop around no matter what. In accepting this fact Progressive is able to enter a new, innovation friendly mindset. They’re less afraid of being authentic. They’re given more confidence in their product/service. In fact, it lites a fire under the rears of product development staff!

Bottom line: if price-shopping is the goal of their target market — if it’s “how they shop” by nature — then why not take action to help them achieve it? Indeed.

Kelly Mooney, president and CEO of Resource Interactive, an interactive marketing and technology firm, and author of Open Brands and The Ten Demandments: Rules to Live by in the Age of the Demanding Customer, is a proponent of keeping customers loyal through winning their hearts. She says:

“With the rise of the Internet-empowered consumer, brands are increasingly co-created with consumers, whether brands are on board or not. So it’s best to begin engaging your consumers and their communities.”

In the end, helpful acts earn both trust and increased purchase consideration. They’re remarkably authentic and breed good experiences. Participating, in an authentic way bonds otherwise fickle customers to your brand.