What does authenticity look like for your business?

Authenticity. We all strive to be authentic (or at least we hope you do) but how can a brand be authentic? And does it make a difference when it comes to business?

Buyer journeys are changing as the collective 139 million individuals that make up the Millennials and Gen Z generations become more established in the marketplace.

For these buyers, there are so many more factors when it comes to making a product/service selection. And one of the most significant impacts on decision-making is how your brand measures up in the world today.

Why does authenticity matter?

The modern customer focuses on making smart research-backed decisions. Before making a purchase, they will compare brands, read reviews, and weigh all options they can. While having a quality service/product is still a key decision driver, a company that has an established authentic brand will always have a leg up.

Buyers want to know that they are supporting a company that cares about their similar interests. In fact post the pandemic, 88% of consumers say authenticity is key when deciding what brands to support.

What makes an authentic brand?

Authentic brands offer a higher level of transparency when it comes to topics like sustainability, accessibility, and general business practices can take your brand from a transactional purchase to a long-term relationship. So how can you take things to the next level? 

We have a few tips to help you get there:

1. Live up to your promises and not just because it’s trendy to do so. Changing your corporate LinkedIn profile picture is not enough. Stay focused in your commitments to do and be better. The modern buyer is quick to pick up on performative activism. In fact, in a study highlighting greenwashing, 48% of buyers who felt a company was not living up to its sustainability claims would buy their services as little as possible.
2. Curate and promote user-generated content when and where you can. 79% of people say that UGC highly impacts their decision-making. Seek those client testimonials asap!
3. Get your internal teams involved. Having buy-in from the top down makes for a cultural shift for the better and ensures authenticity is felt inside and out of the company. Your employees are your biggest asset.

Brands that do a great job of this already

There are already many B2B companies that do a great job of this already. One, in particular, is headspace — their B2B initiative places an emphasis on the idea of happier workers = a healthier business.

This can even be authentically shown in their language throughout the site but even in how they took action in response to larger world issues like the pandemic in which they rolled out a workplace resource guide and even offered free membership for a year to anyone who was laid off as a result of the crisis. This led to millions of impressions and news articles allowing the company to make a huge impact during a time of need. This is an excellent example of how a company can live up to its mission.

Connect with us if you’re looking for some help crafting a brand that lives authentically — and take a look at what we’re also doing to put our money where our mouth is.

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(Header photo: moren hsu on Unsplash)

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