Authentic Marketing: The Driver of True Engagement

          Authentic Marketing: The Driver of True Engagement

What excites me most about this infusion of good into business strategy is that it creates a natural by-product of authentic marketing—the most powerful form of marketing I have witnessed in my entire career. Digital media and the Internet put us on this journey toward a more genuine form of marketing. These disruptive forces indelibly changed marketing from a one-way, shout-it-to-the-masses, no-listening environment, to a dialogue-driven, engagement-centric approach that put the power in the hands of consumers—where it belongs. The addition of moral purpose is the essential missing piece in this equation—the tipping point, if you will, that forges entirely new levels of engagement between companies and constituents.

Companies doing this new, deeper good will experience marketing that is far more transparent and organic, as it will be largely done at the hands of constituents who are eager to share positive stories across social channels. In this sense, they will serve to co-create companies’ brands. It unleashes the true power of earned (social and traditional) media—the most important media, in my opinion, and also serves up powerful narratives for owned and paid media. Most importantly, it helps companies establish trust

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with constituents—the fundamental component of engagement and brand loyalty.  provides the essential skills of an authentic marketing program.

Good Momentum

 Look around and you’ll see this form of good is starting to take hold across all industries—from agriculture to automotive—and all around the world—from Beijing to Bangladesh.

Fortune, for example, has been covering this business phenomenon for the past three years in its Change the World list (with help from its partners at Shared Value Initiative) profiling more than 50 companies around the globe that are “doing well by doing good.” These organizations use a profit model to solve a host of global problems, from climate change to world hunger. Companies are chosen based on three criteria: (1) measurable social impact on special societal problems, (2) business results of profitability and contribution to shareholder value, and (3) degree of innovation in its efforts and whether others are following the lead.
Among the companies in Fortune’s September 2017 list is Unilever, the $30 billion Anglo-Dutch consumer products giant. The article highlights that what CEO Paul Polman is most excited about is the 1.8 million people who apply for a job there

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each year, many of whom are millennials. What’s the appeal? You guessed it. Unilever’s Sustainable Living Plan and its “bigger purpose” as a business are the primary draws among roughly 60% of applicants, who feel it gives them an opportunity to make a bigger difference in the world than they could do on their own.

 This example highlights another critical outcome of having a social purpose. It has strong appeal to not only the population in general, but millennials in particular—an audience more than 80 million strong that accounts for an estimated $1 trillion of current U.S. consumer spending, according to an article in the HuffingtonPost.⁵ The article also notes that 73% of this generation is willing to pay extra for sustainable offerings. Moreover, a full 81% expect companies to make public declarations of their corporate citizenship.