12. Trust: How to Build, Manage and Measure Brand Trust

Christo Van Wyk is the Regional Director of Meltwater India and is leading it’s sales and customer success across the India and the Middle East region since January 2017. He has more than 10 years of experience in emerging markets. On the 2nd day of PRAXIS 2019, I got the opportunity to listen to Van Wyk’s speech on the topic “Trust: How to Build, Manage and Measure Brand Trust”.

When you see MS Dhoni’s picture on a speaker’s slide during a PR Summit, you know something interesting is about to happen. Van Wyk managed to receive the attention of his audience, beginning from his first slide itself. He began his speech by stating the fact that the world is increasingly expecting companies to solve problem by taking a stand. But it is also important for the society to change its thinking to bring about a positive change in the world. Talking about fake news, Van Wyk believes that fake news is on a continuous rise and has shown no signs of slowing down.

Van Wyk talked about four major points during his speech on ways to build trust. These are:

· It’s not about you, it’s about them: In this the speaker urges us to focus on solving customer pain-points, and not in promoting yourself. Positioning the brand is important in this regard.

· Be radically empathetic: As a communicator, it is important to understand what resonates emotionally with the customers. The most interesting element of Van Wyk’s speech was perhaps how he bought out into the light the fact that our perception of beauty is distorted. He talked about this in length with the example of a campaign by Dove

· Commitment towards improving lives: Meaning going beyond just turning a profit. This again goes back to how brands are now expected to be the voice of social change.

· Be real: Connecting with clients and speaking with the audience are two interlinked processes.

Van Wyk also talked about working with inspiring people that personifies one’s brand values. 

In his conclusion, Van Wyk talked about how it is important for brands to fulfil their promises with every interaction. If this cannot be fulfilled, it is very likely that consumers will turn around and find a brand that delivers on its promise. The need of the right technology can help a brand keep up with emerging trend. With corporate crisis emerging every other day, the need for trustworthy relations is greater than ever before. Hence, trusting the brands matters.