Goodbye, Marketing. Hello, Trustcasting.

You hate marketing. So do we. The truth is that marketing has earned its bad reputation with every unfulfilled promise, every misleading claim and every disingenuous tagline it broadcasts to the world. Marketing’s presence is inescapable. Its attitude is one of disrespect, demanding our time and participation on its own terms. Its conversations are one-way and its relationships are self-serving. Its terminology is that of deception — slick, glossy, flash, spin. Its influence on our culture is subversive, promoting the shallow and the artificial. Its methods are rooted in laziness, always chasing the most gain through the least amount of effort. In a world ruled by marketing, loyalty is a commodity to be bought, not earned. The race comes down to who can spend the most, talk the loudest and be heard above the din of the competition. The day has come when marketing is no longer an immovable force standing between companies and their customers.Fortunately, the day has come when marketing is no longer an immovable force standing between companies and their customers. The methods of communication have been revolutionized, creating unlimited channels for conversations not only between one person and another but between people and business. Almost simultaneously, economic uncertainty has created a generation of discerning consumers that are no longer willing to passively absorb the web of lies concocted by marketing’s spin doctors. Together, these two major shifts have rendered the old systems of mass marketing ineffectual. It’s time to eradicate this insidious affliction from our culture. In the Trust Manifesto, we established that “In a marketplace founded by, built by and existing for the people, trust is the only fundamental currency.” If the new currency of business is trust, the new way to grow business is trustcasting. What is trustcasting? Simply put, it is the ongoing process of building and maintaining trust between a business and its customers. Following the first and most important principle outlined in the Trust Manifesto, trustcasting holds as its mantra that any and all resources dedicated to the promotion of business must directly or indirectly be founded in trust. Trustcasting approaches customers as people, not numbers. For those ingrained in the old practices of mass marketing, this represents a daunting ideological shift. The task of earning and keeping trust cannot be reduced to statistics or demographic segments. If the new currency of business is trust, the new way to grow business is trustcasting.As the world of business returns to operating at the human level, the crutches of marketing are stripped away. You can no longer gloss over serious issues with pretty ads; you can’t mask mediocrity with perfectly scripted commercials. In trustcasting, everything is centered around developing an authentic and reciprocal relationship between company and customer, a process for which no shortcuts exist. Trustcasting requires that you get to know your customers on a personal level and engage them in two-way conversation. Communication must be conducted in human terms and show human qualities — sincerity, candor, even humility. The quality of the interaction should demonstrate that you not only value their time and attention but have their best interests at heart. In all things, respect for the customer is paramount. Trustcasting recognizes that word-of-mouth is no longer a by-product of marketing but the primary medium by which today's customers are won. Therefore, rather than pouring untold sums into advertising, the real investment is made in the quality of the product or service. Listen to your customers and reevaluate what you have to offer. Strive to deliver a message they want to believe in, a product they want to own and a culture they not only want to be a part of but are driven to convince others to join as well. While the methods of communication employed by trustcasting agents may be revolutionary, the practices and principles of trustcasting are not. They are rooted in and based upon a timeless, proven approach to business development — the way business was done before marketing intervened in the relationship between companies and customers. When it comes to earning and keeping trust, there is no substitute for hard work, honest communication and real value. The time to begin trustcasting is now. Seek out an agency that is engaged in bona fide trustcasting practices, and launch yourself ahead of your competitors who are stuck in the old ways of marketing. At first glance, the new rules for doing business might seem formidable. In truth, trustcasting demands much more from companies than marketing. However, the payoff for the additional investment in time and resources required is getting and keeping the best kind of customers — true, dedicated fans that identify themselves with and become evangelists for your brand.

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Bridging the Gap: How to Integrate Social Media Into Your Website

Your website is the home base for your company. It’s where you turn visitors into leads and prospects into paying customers.

Social media sites are outposts for your company. They’re where you go to find your customers and prospects and maintain an ongoing dialog with them in the places where they live online.

All too often, however, companies treat their web development and social media efforts as separate and distinct initiatives when, in fact, they should be working together seamlessly to promote the growth of your business.

Here’s how to maximize your online exposure by bridging the gap between your home base and social media outposts:

Start with the basics.

Make sure you have obvious links to every social media site where you maintain an active presence in a prominent location on your website. The header or footer is a good spot for these links because they then become a universal element of your website that every visitor will see no matter which page they might happen to land on first, last or in between.

You don’t have to use the standard logo for these social media sites, either. Instead, you can style these buttons in ways that reflect the look and feel of your own site.

Keep in mind, too, that the point of these links is to entice web visitors to “like” or follow you on these social media networks so that you can continue your conversation with them long after they’ve left your site. Therefore, it’s important that you include links only to those sites where you maintain an active presence. Don’t add a link to any site where you are not a frequent participant because there will be no incentive for that prospective customer to want to continue engaging with you on that platform.

It’s also smart to have these links open in a new tab so that you don’t risk losing your hard-earned visitor to other distractions on Facebook or Twitter.

Empower your advocates.

Today’s culture of the Web thrives on people finding great stuff and passing it along to others.

Make sure it’s easy for your customers and fans to share the stuff they like on your site with their own circles of friends and followers.

Again, use some discernment here and don’t include sharing options for every social site ever invented. Just pick a few key options like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ so that these buttons can be large enough to be easily seen.

Also, don’t plop these buttons on every page. Make sure they’re present on every product page and blog post. But what are the chances someone is really going to share your About or Contact page with the world?

Finally, pay attention to how links look when they’re shared. For example, Facebook’s API displays page titles and meta descriptions for shared links, so make sure these elements that live in the underpinnings of your site are formed strategically so that the shared content is presented in the most advantageous way for your brand.

Use social media to feed your website.

If you regularly use social media networks to keep your customers and prospects apprised of special promotions or events, you might consider plugging a Facebook Like Box or Twitter widget into your website.

However, don’t exercise this option just because it’s there and it’s trendy. Think carefully about whether the content you share on Facebook or Twitter actually pertains to and is appropriate for your average website visitor.

Also, while it’s almost always best for your blog to be an integral part of your own website, if you do maintain your blog on a third-party platform like Blogger or Tumblr, make sure you pull an RSS feed from your blog into your website so customers can discover your great content.

Get visual.

If you have a helpful how-to video or a series of photos from your latest event that you want to feature on your website, consider posting them to social sharing sites like YouTube or Flickr and embedding them in your site from there.

This approach makes your content accessible to the millions of users who search these social platforms for videos and images, making it that much easier for potential new customers to discover your website and your brand.

For example, Pink Cake Box, a gourmet cake shop located in New Jersey, reports that about 10 percent of their website traffic each month comes from Flickr, where they regularly post photos of unique cakes.

Just make sure when you post your photos or videos that you include a link back to your site in the description so users have a clear path to reach your home base.

Get social with service.

It’s standard practice to give your customers the option to contact your company via an email address or by submitting a form on your website.

However, many companies are now encouraging customers to get in touch via Twitter or Facebook as well.

There are several benefits to this approach. First, it gives the person who wants to reach you a quick, convenient way to do so. It also gives your company the opportunity to field both praise from happy customers and complaints from dissatisfied buyers in the public eye.

While you might be nervous about the idea of having complaints aired publicly, consider this: these people are going to be talking about you anyway. It’s best to give them an outlet to do so in a way that allows you to provide a positive resolution to the problem at-hand while demonstrating to the world that your company cares about your customers and is dedicated to providing the best possible experience for them.

If you go this route, just make sure that you’re prepared to monitor and reply to any communication directed at you via social media right away. If a question or complaint lingers unanswered, it will reflect poorly on your brand. Also ensure that anyone who is tasked with responding behalf of your brand is well trained in how to handle any imaginable scenario in a way that demonstrates strong values and a commitment to providing excellent customer service.

By bridging the gap between your activities on social media networks and your own website, you’ll create an even stronger promotion engine for your business that will help you capture and convert more customers.

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