After reading an article by James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II, I am adding the word Authentic to my b2b vocabulary.  How true does this ring?

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet holds a message for the marketing world: To thine own self be true. With authenticity appealing more and more to customer sensibilities, those words could not be more important. Organizations today should be true to their own selves, while also being who they say they are to others, according to the authors of this article. Yet the customer experience of actual offerings often fails to live up to what marketers said about them. Now is the time to stop saying what your offerings are through advertising, and create places where people can experience those offers as they actually are.

Creating a relevant dialogue and content is more than just perceived relevance, it has to be authentic as well.  Here are a few ways to stay authentic and relevant in your content online.

• More thought leadership, less marketing – focus on finding individuals in the organization that are closest to the customer, that understand the actual problems your customers is facing and know ways to solve it.
• It’s okay if your content is raw – I know you want your content to be marketing driven and developed with the right “messaging”.  I understand – so do I.  But, if the content is raw and unfiltered, it shows authenticity.
• “it is what I say it is” – be honest with yourself and your customers about what you can and can’t do.  Stop with the B.S. and focus on your strengths.  Your customers will appreciate you for it.

I love the word authenticity, and it is actually convicting to think about.  Building my own personal brand, I need to remember “it is what I say it is” – I am going to strive to be true to myself.  Not a bad goal.

Related posts:

1. A practical example of creating a relevant dialogue