Trust & Marketing

For some reason, keep seeing this quote:

“People buy from people they trust”

Put simply, this goes back to the beginning of time (and marketing).

If you have ever taken a class or looked at early marketing, there were “Doctors” who endorsed a product — because, you could trust a doctor, right?

And now, we see doctors everywhere endorsing products, which has led to us no longer trusting doctors (especially when it’s someone who has a doctorate in education, but is pushing a new medicine).

And then we saw actors and athletes start to endorse products. From Joe Namath (in the 60’s) to too-many-to-count pro athletes today — or actors and actresses. When it first started, back in the 50’s and 60’s (using an athlete), it was new, exciting, and trustworthy — because no one would put their name behind something unless they believed in it.

But today, it’s the money, not the product. Of course, there is an athlete or actress that believes in the product, but so rare, it’s hard to determine who is being honest about the product and who’s doing it for the money.

And then there are today’s influencers — who are making money because they are pushing something. And people “trust” them to tell them the truth. Not sure if I trust a twenty-something to tell me the best deodorant to use or exciting video game to play (are they endorsing it because it was fun or because they got the game for free?”.

Lastly, we have reviews (of products and/or services). People used to trust them, before we learned that the product companies were a) suing those that left bad reviews and b) removing those bad reviews through money or underhandedness (like paying people to post 20 good reviews for every bad review).

In other words, everything has become dishonest and untrustworthy. Except for a few companies out there that welcome that (trust and honesty). But it’s hard to find those ethical and moral companies anymore.

WalMart used to be like that — when Sam Walton ran it. Same as the early days of Amazon.

Trust is not something easily earned — and unfortunately, trust is now just a commodity that is easily traded in once it’s broken. It’s easier to rebrand then it is to really try and earn the trust again.

But back to the quote. “People buy from people they trust”. Of course they do, but how many people do YOU trust?

There’s that quote out there that “you can count on one hand” those in your life that will drop everything to come and help you in your time of need. I.E. You can count on one hand your best friends.

You trust them.

But why should I (or we) trust someone because they are on an ad on my social media platform saying “This game will help you increase your IQ” or “I’m a doctor and if you take this drug (even though it’s not FDA cleared), it will help you lose weight”. Because they have 10K followers? Because they were in a movie or on a tv show a couple of times?

Remember those old beer commercials where an everyday guy was surrounded by beautiful women. That was one of my first experiences (or is it understandings) of what marketing does. If you drink this beer, you will be able to have all the beautiful women that you can handle.

That’s when I learned not to trust advertising, or marketing.

If Julia Roberts wears a perfume and there’s beautiful music and she’s in a beautiful dress, great. Is she saying “Trust me”? No. Is she saying that if you wear this perfume, you can look like me? I don’t think so. I think the intent was to say “Wear this perfume and you can feel beautiful”. I may be wrong. But, it’s not saying “Trust that this perfume will make you beautiful and put you in a nice dress”.

Do consumers say “Well, if Julia Roberts is endorsing this product, it must be good”. Yep.

And that’s where I think the disconnect is between many marketers and consumers.

People do buy from people they trust. But, the people that are trusted in this world are minimal, at best.

Should you trust someone you don’t know? Do you trust the man that pulls up in a van and says “Get in, I will drive you to whereever you are going”. Nope.

So why should you purchase that car, or that phone app, or that sweater, because someone you don’t know tells you that you need to purchase a product or service? You shouldn’t.

Why say that then? Where did this quote get any substance or footing out there?

For me, as a marketer, it’s because trust, as used in what I described above, is more (or less than that). In other words, it is being redefined.

If a beautiful woman comes on screen and says “Trust me, this product works”, do I? No. But, I do pay attention.

Or that good looking man saying “Buy my coffee, it’s the best”. Is he saying trust me? No, but he is pulling on the emotions and feelings of the viewer.

“She’s hot!”

“He’s so handsome!”

Trust is turned into feelings.

“He was so good in his last movie, he has to know that this product is good.”

“She was so funny on that TV show, I can see why she is pushing this product.”

In other words, when we use people who are famous, they are relatable. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be famous. We feel like we have something in common, thus, we feel like “If I knew him, I know I could trust him, he’d be a great friend”. Therefore, the trust, even though not real, becomes a feeling and belief. It’s the same with most influencers — they are young and the audience (also young) says “I can relate to this guy/girl, because I know they are just like me! I trust them.”

I sit with my mom and watch tv with her. Every other ad, she asks me “Who is that? Is he famous?” Some I know and can tell her about, others I can’t. But she always asks me “Is the product good?” I always respond with “I don’t know mom — do you want to try it?” And the response is always “If you know of someone who uses it, please tell me what they think about it and if it’s good, I will buy”.

And wallah! There’s the answer. Back to reviews — at least it’s a “commoner” who is telling us what they think about the product, and not someone being paid millions or getting a free bottle of shampoo.

And there’s the kicker — the quote that says “People buy from people they trust” and the fallacy behind it. Will I buy from Patrick Mahomes because he says I should? No. Will I pay attention to the ad? Maybe, if I was a fan of his. But would I trust him? Nope. Anyone over the age of 30 and has been burned by life and “trusting” someone that they shouldn’t have, knows better.

Last thoughts. I started a business (of the three I’ve started in my life) which involved making cakes, pies, etc. All of my acquaintances bought from me, but once I started to branch out, sales became difficult. Did they know me? No. Did they trust me? Why should they — they don’t know me. If I had hired a famous personality, would they become to trust me? Probably not. But, some took a chance and bought a pie from me, liked it, gave me a great review, and I got more sales. Did I now gain their trust? I like to believe that I got a bit of it. And every time I delivered an excellent product, I got them trusting me a bit more.

But initially, they didn’t. So yes, I will buy from people I trust, but, that trust is earned and not given freely (don’t care if you won the World Cup or World Series or won an academy award). Will that personality make me lean one way or the other — it may — and that’s what marketers are hoping for.