The New Currency of Marketing
Marketing today is different. Reviews are just as important as advertising. Advertising needs to be more authentic and look less like advertising. Real photos are replacing stock imagery. Real stories are more effective than an “actor portrayal.” Transparency is replacing hidden fees and pricing.
There are new driving forces in marketing — trust and affinity.
- Trust is “Do they understand my problem? Do they care about me? Do they come through when I need them? Do they make me better?” Strong relationships are built on trust. Truth builds trust. Reliability builds trust.
- Affinity is “Do I like them? Do they fit my ethos? Does the association improve my brand?” Affinity is built with empathy, kinship and harmony of ideas and beliefs. It’s reinforced with understanding.
Some have described these two concepts as the “new currency” of marketing and sales. Trust disappears when you find out that the “lowest price of the year” was just the same as the Memorial Day sale price or that a store raised its prices before offering a 40% markdown. Affinity is lost when you put yourself before the customer or when you brag too much or switch your mission. What you trust and like about people are now the same for brands.
Trust and affinity. You need both. They now bookend brand.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle. After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant. He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.” Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.” One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College. Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board. Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.
