Polished Authenticity

You may have noticed that transparency is all the rage. Some say transparency is the new marketing. But do you really need radical transparency to be a good business? More importantly, do your customers need to know everything about you to be your customer?

Transparency

Transparency means disclosure, I agree to a certain extent. But you don't need you to disclose everything. In this age of transparency, many believe that the line between personal and professional is erased. I say keep that #2 eraser in your desk. There are times when transparency gets in the way of your cause, or your message. Too much transparency can hurt you. Customers don't need to know everything about you to do business with you. They just need to know what's important, and they need to know you're who you say you are.
Don't be transparent, be authentic.

Authenticity

Fakery doesn't work, and least not for long. This is why most advertising is ineffective. In the world of advertising, every business is perfect. It's filled with big boasts and claims of perfection. Too much hype is not part of authenticity and grows old quick.

It's authentic intent that earns trust and loyalty from customers. Businesses that struggle with customer trust should examine their intent. Do you just want to sell stuff to customers or do you have a greater mission in mind? There's nothing wrong with just wanting to sell stuff, it's what Wal-Mart does. But it's inauthentic to declare a higher purpose when there is none.

Real authenticity comes from communicating and delivering your values in everything you do. Take an inventory your customer interactions. Are you communicating what you're really about? Do your values show through? Authentic companies have a customer family that can accurately describe the heart and soul of that business.

So authenticity means being real, but it doesn't mean you have to be boring. You should polish your authenticity.

Polished Authenticity

Being polished means not letting things get dull and scuffed. Time to inventory your business again.

Are you presenting your authenticity in an appealing way? While you gotta be you, you should be the interesting you. What can you do to make your authenticity shine? Start with your your values and your mission and apply some theater. Look for innovations and new ways of doing things. If you're mission is to provide the best customer service, apply some polish to your customer service system, like Best Buy did with TWELPFORCE.

Customers don't need to know everything about you, they just need to know you're for real. You can be authentic without being too transparent, and you can be authentic without being boring.

Are you authentic? More importantly is your authenticity polished?

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