Yesterday, we had the unique opportunity of witnessing one of the great communicators of our time – the 44^th president of the United States, Barack Obama. No matter your political viewpoint, you can’t ignore the unprecedented millions who were personally inspired to get involved and ultimately succeeded in their mission to elect him president. President Obama’s followers truly trust him and they show it. From the 3,851,604 friends on his Facebook page to the record-breaking estimate of over 2 million attendees at his inauguration, it is clear President Obama is committed to communication – from traditional media to new media – and he has driven record-breaking results.

There are great lessons for all of us in business to take from President Obama and others leaders’ committed and innovative approaches to communication. Especially in these very uncertain times, business leaders have a unique and compelling opportunity to inspire employees and build trust, and as a result, lead their markets, strengthen their customer relationships, and beat their competition. Employees are at the heart of your company’s success – they are your most vocal and honest spokespeople, whether you ask them to be or not, and building trust and inspiring this community by empowering them to make the customer experience better than any other in the industry takes great commitment over a long period of time.

Herb Kelleher, co-founder and past president and CEO of Southwest Airlines said it best in an interview with Worth magazine in April 2001: “Employees come first, and if you treat them well, they treat customers well. That makes customers keep coming back, and that makes shareholders happy.” SWA’s performance shows how this commitment pays off, as Fortune magazine reporter Barney Gimbel said in March 2008, “Besides posting its 35th consecutive year of profitability, [Southwest Airlines] was the most punctual, lost the fewest bags, and had the least complaints compared with its peers.”

One of TREW Marketing’s most unique consultation offerings is executive and employee communications. We have led award-winning employee communications programs, and we know first-hand there’s not a silver bullet. We understand the best practices from years on the front lines and bring our collaborative, measured approach to customize programs for our clients, from new, innovative approaches employed by President Obama to the tried-and-true commitment of day-in and day-out global leadership communication.

This is a 2-part series – this post focuses on the founding of TREW and the importance of building trust, and the 2nd post will follow with examples of companies who are committed to building trust and the outstanding results they’ve delivered.

We get asked often about the founding of the TREW Marketing name and approach, so we thought we’d share the story. As we began the more serious discussions about starting our marketing firm – vs. just the “one day we’re going to…” happy hour banter – we kept coming back to two core values at the heart of driving results and differentiating ourselves: trust and authenticity.

While marketing practices continually change and provide new ways to drive awareness and efficiency– from e-mail marketing in the 90′s to social marketing today – people are still people. And if they don’t trust you, your company, or your spokespeople, or if they believe you say one thing but do another, no marketing program is going to change that.

Trust, just as with friendships or professional relationships, is built through consistent and constant communication and interaction over the long-term with all your stakeholders – employees and customers, donors and volunteers, partners and suppliers. So if it’s so straightforward, why did we at TREW see it as not only a core value, but a differentiator? Because we have seen marketer after marketer advise flash-in-the-pan programs with no long-term, comprehensive view that takes into account how all stakeholders are affected. In the end, this approach is not only unsustainable, but can actually threaten your company’s trust and credibility in the marketplace, and as a result, your organizational performance, from sales to fundraising to employee productivity and turnover.

Jack and Suzy Welch talked about trust and effective leadership in their October 27, 2008 WelchWay article, Trust in a Time of Turmoil in BusinessWeek, “Trust is the very foundation of effective leadership; it’s the grease of change…The more authentic a leader shows himself to be, the stronger the connections. Authenticity feeds trust.”

We believe this holds equally true to companies and organizations – large or small. We couldn’t say it any better, except we like to spell it a little funny to work in the “W” in one of the founder’s initials!  True or TREW – in the end, it’s all about building trust to drive results. For more information about our Trust Drives Results Workshop, visit http://www.trewmarketing.com/workshops.html

In a recent Welch Way column in BusinessWeek titled “Trust in a Time of Turmoil“, Jack and Susie Welch suggest that trust can be built, even in a time of crisis, by “taking strong action, provided that action is taken quickly, openly, and straightforwardly.” They go on to emphasize the importance of speed, transparency, and simplicity in responding to a crisis, and that by building trust with your stakeholders over many months and years, your chances of being successful (we would even go a step further and say your chances of strengthening your trust in the marketplace) in the midst of a crisis, is much greater.

This article really struck a chord with us at TREW Marketing since our company was founded on the core values of trust and authenticity. In our crisis communications workshop, we introduce customers to building up their “trust account” through strategic, consistent, and transparent communications programs, so when (not if) a crisis hits, they can begin their response from a position of strength and in some cases, even turn it into an opportunity.