You could sing that line to the tune of the the Bo Diddly or George Thorogood song “Who do you love?” to get you thinking about who consumers trust when it comes to marketing, advertising and product/service recommendations.
I was reminded again today of a Neilsen Global Online Consumer Survey from April 2009. The survey researched the forms of advertising in which consumers trust “somewhat” or “completely.”
Focusing only on U.S. consumers, it’s no surprise that the most trusted form of advertising is “recommendations from known people” at 90%.
You wouldn’t recommend a product or service to a friend that you didn’t enjoy or trust yourself. You’re putting your own reputation on the line every time you make such a recommendation to someone you know personally. That’s why recommendations from known people score so high.
Consumer opinions posted online are the next most trusted at 70%. This score has likely slipped over time since more and more consumers realize that these online consumer opinions and product reviews can be easily manipulated.
Brand websites and editorial content are also at 70%.
Brand sponsorships score at 64%, and are more trusted than TV, newspaper, magazine, outdoor and radio ads at 62%, 61%, 59%, 55% and 55% respectively.
Opt-in emails score at 54%.
What’s troubling for digital marketing is the fact that search engine ad results (41%), online video ads (37%), online banner ads (33%), and text ads on mobile phones (24%) score so low. These scores could be the result of digital marketing being fairly new to the marketplace, or they could accurately portray a lack of consumer trust in digital and mobile marketing.
The biggest gulf in the survey results lies between 90% trust in “recommendations from known people” and 70% trust in “consumer opinions posted online, editorial content and brand websites.” Social marketing tries to capitalize on consumer trust in friends and family. This is why business is moving so quickly to social media hubs hoping to take fullest advantage of consumer trust in “known people.”
The real answer for business is to have a brand that consumers want to tell their friends and family about, a brand that consumers want to spend time talking about online and offline, a brand that consumers make a part of their own identity and, to some extent, stake their reputation on.
That’s a big deal.
