A study by the Edelman Trust Barometer found that 67% of consumers trust “company technical experts,” while only 43% trust CEOs.  

We see far to many CEO's who still think that 'social media' is something for the family, or is something that's done by the girl with the tattoo or the guy with the beard in marketing.

To have strong customer relationships, your company’s communications need to be innovative enough to stay relevant but stable enough to always be identifiable as coming from your brand instead of a competitor’s.

As most of the wisest CMO's are now learning the rise of ad tech and with it the adoption of 'programmatic' machine gun style, fraud ridden advertising has managed to dilute the brand message in favour of high volume, low cost 'reach' tactics'.

It's also one of the key drivers that's now disrupted the traditional media buying industry.

So if your a relatively unknown brand it's all just background intrusive digital noise.

Over the years I've been privileged to work with a number of international media agencies who took the time to get under the skin of the brand in order that they can add value, increase efficiencies for all related parties.

Above all they recognise that great brands build relationships.

I see a lot of companies (and consultants) that still see social media including Linkedin as a medium to simply broadcast their 'BUY NOW" messages, it's all very much one sided and still all about them.

Your brand’s messaging platforms include all the ways your company distinguishes itself and tells prospects why they should choose to work with your company. Which messaging platforms will be determined in your branding process and will depend upon the agency you work with.

But above all it's not just a bottom up (employee) strategy it's most definitely a top down led initiative.