Time to Get Real: Why Authenticity Should be at the Heart of Your Marketing

Authenticity is becoming an increasingly important part of marketing.

Glossy adverts promoting products or services are no longer enough; these days consumers want to connect with brands on a more personal level as well.

Along with cost and quality, how much a brand resonates with them and aligns with their values has been repeatedly shown to influence buying decisions and customer loyalty.

Take, for example, Dove’s ‘Campaign for Real Beauty,’ using real people instead of models or actors to connect with women sick of brands pushing unattainable beauty standards. The message is still relevant, and the campaign is still going strong, 20 years after its launch.   

For companies that aren’t already harnessing their authenticity, it might be about time to get real.

Behind the brand

How a company demonstrates its authenticity depends on the product or service that they’re trying to sell. 

Other beauty brands have piggy-backed on the success of Dove and social media particularly is now awash with videos of ‘real women’ testing and reviewing their products.

Retail lends itself to this kind of product testing, but what if the product or service you offer is in something like insurance or legal services? Being authentic might be more difficult but it's not impossible, with shareable content like client testimonials. Firms can also use the opportunity to showcase their company culture, for example, celebrating news from the business and the colleagues who make it what it is.

Attwells Solicitors is a mid-sized law firm that regularly amasses millions of views on video sharing platform TikTok by featuring a team who aren’t afraid to poke fun at themselves. The original aim was to attract more apprentices and it has succeeded in spades, with the firm reporting that they get many enquiries about vacancies from legal professionals of all levels who have seen them on the platform and think it looks like a good place to work.

While many competitors are more conservative in the type of content they produce, firms will generally find that showcasing their colleagues, their company culture, the contribution they make to their community, giving a ‘behind the scenes’ glimpse into how things work, and generally injecting a bit of personality into their posts is likely to get the best results. 

Don’t fake it

The first rule of being authentic – don’t fake it or force it, be honest and transparent. Authentic marketing can help start conversations with consumers and foster genuine connections, but it can just as easily alienate them if they think you’re pretending to be something you’re not. Consumers also won’t hesitate to call you out on it, and, in the era of social media, this can make or break a brand in a matter of minutes.

Identifying and understanding your target audience – who they are, what they like and don’t like, when and how they’re most likely to engage – will help you find your authentic voice. Connect with consumers in the right way and they will hopefully reward you with their loyalty for years to come.