The Art of Building Trust: What Twenty Years as a Marketer Taught Me About Human Nature
I’ve spent almost two decades watching brands rise and fall and I’ve been a part of some of these rises and falls. I think the best way to explain this is to think about building a brand as a similar activity like arranging a marriage in an Indian household. Everyone has an opinion, the stakes are incredibly high, and if you rush it, you’ll end up with a disaster that your relatives will talk about for generations.
The early years as a branding and marketing professional
When I started working in 2006, I thought I knew everything about marketing – after all, I had a fancy MBA from an almost fancy college. On top, I had a penchant for making fancy PowerPoint presentations, and I could throw fancy buzzwords and had fancier confidence to fill the Arabian Sea. Then I watched a local Mumbai tea seller outperform a multinational coffee chain in his neighbourhood, armed with nothing but a smile, consistent quality, and the uncanny ability to remember every customer’s preferred sugar level in their cutting chai. Wanna guess who?
That’s when it hit me – branding isn’t about logos or color schemes or even your marketing budget. It’s about trust. Pure, simple, old-fashioned trust.
Take Amul, the dairy cooperative. Their utterly butterly girl hasn’t changed since 1966, despite every marketing consultant probably suggesting a “modern makeover.” Why? Because consistency breeds trust. When you’ve been telling the same thing (which becomes “truth”) in the same voice for over 50 years, people listen and they remember. Amul’s topical cartoons have done more for brand awareness than most companies’ million-dollar campaigns.
But here’s where most founders get it wrong – they think branding is something you can outsource to a marketing agency, like ordering takeout from Starbucks. “I’ll have one brand identity, one additional shot of personality, and an extra social media on the side.”
It doesn’t work that way. Your brand is like your fingerprint – it’s uniquely yours, formed by every decision you make, every value you uphold, and every promise you keep (or break).
The Experiments
I remember consulting for a tech startup that wanted to position itself as “the Apple of India.” They had the minimalist design, the premium pricing, and the whole works. But their customer service was about as responsive as that large PSU bank during lunch hour. No amount of clever marketing could fix that disconnect. After all, your brand isn’t what you say it is – it’s what your customers say about you when you’re not in the room. I think this is a quote from Jeff Bezos but I am too lazy to check 😀
The Digital Difference
The digital age hasn’t changed these fundamentals; it’s just amplified them. Yes, you need a social media presence. Yes, you need SEO optimization. But if your core values aren’t authentic, if your brand promise is hollow, all the keyword optimization in the world won’t save you.
Trust me, I’ve seen enough “viral marketing campaigns” die quicker than a smartphone battery at a wedding. As you read this, am sure you can think of 10 such campaigns. How many campaigns from Cred do you remember?
Here’s the truth about brand awareness – it’s not about being everywhere; it’s about being memorable where it matters. The local Kirana store owner who remembers your monthly shopping list has better brand recall than most Fortune 500 companies. Why? Because he’s relevant to your life in a meaningful way.
The best brands are like good stand-up comedians – they know their audience, they’re consistently authentic, and they’re not afraid to show their personality. Look at Paper Boat – they didn’t just sell drinks; they bottled nostalgia. They understood that in a market crowded with colas, people would pay a premium for a sip of their childhood memories. PS: one of the founders of Paper Boat went to the same almost fancy college as I.
After almost twenty years in this business, I’ve learned that the best branding doesn’t feel like branding at all. It feels like a conversation, a relationship, a trust built over time. Whether you’re a multinational corporation or a nukkad ka chai wallah, your success depends on one simple truth: Are you keeping your promises?
So before you rush to find the nearest branding agency or pour your budget into the latest marketing trends, ask yourself: What’s the one truth about your business that will remain unchanged in twenty years? Build your brand around that.
Because in the end, branding isn’t about being the loudest voice in the room. It’s about being the most trusted voice in your customer’s head. And trust, like a good cup of masala chai, takes time to brew perfectly.
Signing off,
Saurabh Garg
From the not-so-fancy MDI Gurgaon