Trust In Digital

In digital we trust, right? Or, as headlines and sentiment continue to reinforce, maybe not so much.

As a business agility advocate and agile marketer, many elements of trust outlined in this article present marketers with the urgent need to establish real change. Through a shifting mindset and the ways in which we manage our practices, we must meet these challenges head-on.

And, overcome the erosion of trust across the board in our industry.

EVERYTHING IS NOW DIGITAL

Digital touches every part of our lives, both personal and professional.  Putting aside consumer trust for now (which is a whole other topic), let’s consider our levels of confidence and faith as marketers, communicators, and business leaders. 

Stands to reason we need to assign a high degree of trust given the stage we are at. 

Early adopters and practitioners have been at this for a long time, finding ourselves in a world where digital is now everywhere, pervasive, and continuing to grow at light speed. This should be a good thing.

However, for all that has been accomplished, fundamental questions and issues remain. And it boils down to one word: Trust.

CAN WE TRUST ALL THINGS DIGITAL?

Is keeping pace with platforms, tools, media, formats, content, and suppliers causing us virtual vertigo?  Has all the marketing talk been backed up with the walk?   Are we delivering valuable consumer & customer experiences with results we can quantify? Do we still believe in the promise?

It’s not dire or bleak. That is not the point. But it is messed up. Perhaps it is time to step back. Observe, assess and question things as our dependence on digital accelerates and our quest for digital mastery takes focus.    

TRUST HAS BEEN AN ISSUE FROM THE START 

A while ago I was invited to speak on the state of digital marketing to the CMO Council at the Conference Board of Canada. I was asked to highlight what marketing leadership and executive needs to take under careful consideration in our current environment.  

The result was not a glossy rah-rah about digital and what they should do. It was quite the opposite as I framed the macro issue of “Trust in Digital” with the hopes of some shock and awe. 

In other words, I was not interested in evangelizing digital.  

Why? Since the early days, marketing was the vanguard for digital adoption within organizations across industries.  It held exciting potential and dot-com hype was everywhere. Then it crashed.

In the time period after the crash, digital was linked to disappointment, disillusionment, and distrust. Marketing and leadership were given a license to ignore, discount, or hide from it. Marketing budgets reflected market opinion in ways we are still dealing with today.

But, we forged ahead establishing and building incrementally.

For evangelists, advocates and practitioners alike, we had to grow a thick skin.  It was an uphill battle mixed with hope, enthusiasm, and self-reflective skepticism to keep things even-keeled and demonstrate real value to avoid a repeat cycle. Bringing others on-side as we evolved was the path to follow.

From the client-side, it was not easy. In fact, it was the wild-west.  We were inundated with snake oil, vaporware, clueless chest-puffing agencies, and vendors pitching the unknown and unneeded that multiplied by the minute.  It was an era where FOMO ushered in solutions looking for problems.  Trust was rare.

Unfortunately, knowledge or experience on the client/buy-side to separate the good from bad, or tactic from strategy and assess return on digital investments was also rare.  

But what about now? With everyone having found digital religion and adopting hyper-focused attention, it is still not rosy. Actually, seems worse than better and whatever trust we regained and built up along the journey seems to have waned. 

CRACKS IN THE FOUNDATIONS

Why has distrust accelerated?  What has caused the cracks to widen when we should have moved beyond? Ask yourself if you have trust in:

-        The digital media duopoly of Facebook & Google (with Amazon on the horizon to challenge)

-        Big agencies versus big consulting battling it out

-        The black-box nature and mess of programmatic

-        Influencer marketing, non-disclosure, or worse, fraud

-        Brand safety in a world of unknown trafficking and placements   

-        Proliferation of mar-tech & automation with the cadence of lack-luster content that alienates more than it attracts and acquires

-        Hamfisted re-targeting and ad-tracking

-        The leadership gap in digital analytics while praying at the altar of vanity metrics

-        Facebook consistently changing the rules of the game and on-going measurement mishaps

-        Lack of transparency in agency relationships

-        Social media reduced to being just another advertising channel 

-        Chasing bright shiny objects while overlooking use (or improper use) of “traditional” digital elements

-        The role of procurement reducing everything to the lowest common denominator

-        Self-appointed digital ninjas, gurus, Jedis, and disruptors (or other made-up monikers) intended to persuade us that someone holds all the answers. 

-        Thinking tactics are strategy and failing to map real business objectives to digital efforts

-        Etcetera.  Etcetera. Etcetera.   

CAN WE REBUILD TRUST?

Yes.

And, to be clear, this is not a call to tear it all down to build it up again. Nor is this an indictment on the many who are doing great things with awareness and avoidance of the above.

However, in our digital life-cycle, we have rapidly progressed from infancy to toddler and through preteen stages. We are now firmly in the grind of our teenage years. And, better parenting is a skill that is more important now than ever.  This is not Lord of the Flies.

We can’t forget the foundation for success includes flexibility to adapt, experiment, learn and grow without getting too carried away. It also must be governed by discipline and rigor in our efforts, setting goals, and having a plan to get there and achieve.   

TRUSTING OURSELVES

It starts by trusting ourselves.  It must come from within.  

Trusting that we know how to ask the right questions.  Trusting we can filter options and opportunities. Trusting we know when we are dealing with the real thing. Trusting we can call B#$T when we see or hear it without fear.  

Trusting our tech.  Trusting our processes. Trusting we will make the right decisions for the right reasons in our businesses. 

Most importantly, trusting our people.

Creating the right conditions by providing the opportunities and platforms to create managers that can properly manage and leaders that can properly lead in digital with confidence. In themselves and their efforts.  

The path to digital maturity and mastery is not about more information. It’s about gaining and applying knowledge and wisdom.  It is about values and the demonstration of those values in each and every behaviour.

Brings to mind Friedrich Hegel’s quote that I hope we can avoid. “The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history." 

We can (and must) do better.

What are your thoughts on the state of trust in digital?