88% of marketers will make trust in their brand a priority for 2019: iProspect

Businesses grounded in credibility, relevance and reliability across all their marketing channels will see trust at the very foundation for their success in the digital economy. This has been revealed in iProspect’s fourth annual whitepaper, ‘2019 Future Focus: Searching for Trust’. The whitepaper is built to help marketers navigate and master the notions of truth and authenticity in the hyper-sensitive global media landscape today. 

iProspect interviewed more than 300 global marketers and leaders across a broad spectrum of brands, including FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies, and used the real-time responses to outline key insights and priorities necessary for businesses to thrive in our fast moving, high expectation digital economy. The report also includes exclusive interviews with global leaders from businesses such as The New York Times Company, IBM, Microsoft, Hilton, The Economist, Rachel Zoe, Inc., and Accor Hotels. 

Feedback shows that trust is at the forefront globally, with 88 per cent of marketers making trust in their brand a priority in 2019. Marketers see gaining consumer trust as vital to business growth, with 76 per cent stating that trust is important to keep consumers buying their brand. Digital will play a clear role in this, with 34 per cent stating that Voice Search is their priority emerging marketing channel in 2019, and a further 60 per cent believing that the rise of AI will increase consumer trust as it allows for more relevant and personal experiences. 

“As businesses continue to transform in the digital economy, successful brands will be differentiated through their ability to establish unique relationships with their most valuable customers, ensuring time is well spent and value is equitably exchanged,” said Ruth Stubbs, Global President, iProspect. “As technology further blurs the line between information and value exchange, consumer trust is paramount.”  

Rubeena Singh, CEO, iProspect India, added, “In our latest edition of iProspect’s Future Focus, we examine how commerce is influenced by consumer experience and the ramification of personalisation. In our view, brands that focus on credibility, relevance, and reliability will be successful in establishing trust with consumers. Trust, we believe, is the foundation for successful brands in the Digital economy.” 

Building on iProspect’s 2018 research looking at the metamorphic rise of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, the 2019 Future Focus whitepaper focuses on the search for trust, including: 

• Credibility in The Age of Doubt: The role of purpose in the digital economy and how immediate benefits for brands will be bestowed to those who can use digital to build and reinforce their credibility in the eyes of consumers. 
• Relevance in the Age of Noise: The rise of shrinking consumer attention and an increasingly fragmented consumer landscape. Successful brands will be those who focus on relevant experiences, outplay the influx of digital content, and understand cognitive bias to improve consumer experience.
• Reliability in the Age of Convenience:  The rise of convenience as it intersects with the more traditional power of brand and highlights the subtle balance between building brands and designing highly convenient solutions.

In this latest publication, iProspect share their perspective on how brands can make changes across all elements of their business to harness consumer trust and be poised for success in 2019.