A good marketing strategy includes knowing that you must not just build trust and credibility, you must maintain it.
I recently had an experience with someone in business who I've trusted for a while. It happened gradually. Here's what happened.
This person built trust and credilbility with me and I invested quite a bit of money into what this person was selling. I was very excited about this whole thing. That was a little over a year ago.
Since then we haven't had a lot of personal interaction. It's only been in a group setting. In that context, this person said they were going to do some things and there were other things they wouldn't do. I listened carefully - we all did. It was important to our futures.
Over time, it turned out that this particular person changed their mind. Things they were going to do didn't happen. Things they weren't going to do, did happen. The result is that one person spoke out. Others who were trying to be polite also spoke up. Some have been given things others haven't so they are alright with this person.
But this person has now lost about half of the original group and I'll bet that they are telling some of their people their story. It will be just a matter of time before they start telling the masses on the internet. All of the time that this person has spent building a company and reputation will be affected by this.
The moral of the story? You need to not only build trust and a marketing strategy, you must be sure that your business plan insists on congruity and living up to your promises.
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