There are many ways a company can promote its brand. Some of the more obvious touchpoints are dealing directly with a company salesperson, classic advertising and social media. But there may be over a hundred such touchpoints for each enterprise and some of these may be much more relevant and subtle than others. A touchpoint is “all of the different ways that your brand interacts with and makes an impression on customers, employees and other stakeholders.”¹

We firmly believe each touchpoint plays a critical role in a brand’s ongoing evolution regardless of its relation to the company product or service. It has the power to build or break trust in that brand – as such we like to refer to them as “Trustpoints“.

Earlier this year we conducted a survey of a select group of industry experts and senior marketing executives within service-based companies and asked them about Trustpoints, what they think about them and whether they use them in building and evaluating their brand platform. Our conclusion have been published in the following whitepaper entitled: Trustpoint Dynamics. The results give a better understanding of where their companies use or mis-use Trustpoints within 5 specific marketing channels. The paper contains both quantitative data as well as qualitative insights. A must-read for anyone interested in understanding how understanding touchpoints can drive focus into your branding initiatives.

Dave Carroll, leader of the band Sons of Maxwell, has single-handedly created a disaster for the United Airlines brand with the release of the first of his tri-part single named “United Breaks Guitars”. By Wednesday his video became #1 on YouTube with more than 160,000 views. His popularity has grown ever since. He even made it onto CNN:
CNN: Man Goes After United Airlines On YouTube [United Breaks Guitars]

Why is this a part of our blog?

Because it points to how easy it is for a company’s brand to be tarnished by a single act that breaks client trust. Actually in this case, more than one trustpoint has been abused.
1) The baggage handlers were seen throwing Mr. Carroll’s $3,500 custom-made Taylor guitar which is a travesty in of itself.
2) United Customer Service refused to immediate action to rectify the situation – a 9-month battle ensued between the customer and United with Mr. Carroll turning to music for justice.

Regardless of who is responsible, the results are clearly in Mr. Carroll’s favor – United is all of a sudden cooperative with the intention of saving their reputation. There’s even talk of this case acting as catalyst for industry-wide change.

I conclude by mentioning that this can happen to any company at any stage of their development. Managing client / customer experience is essential in building positive intent and long-term trust.

“It takes a lifetime of effort to build a good reputation, but only a moment of stupidity to destroy it.”
Shiva (taken from www.enlightenment.multiply.com)