FinanceWriter

Blog

Archive

Tags

RSS

Keep up to date with our most recent blog posts.

Brand – encapsulating evidence

Choices based on brand recognition are no less worthy than endless “evidence-based” decision-making

To some, being asked whether a proposal is "evidence based" is the sound of middle managers covering themselves against being out on a limb if the idea goes pear-shaped.

To others - usually the originators of an idea - it is the sound of middle managers crushing entrepreneurialism, rejecting innovation or spurning initiative. Or are managers are simply being blind to the overwhelming favourable odds generated by the "gut feel" that is, of course, the abdominal calibration of success granted only to geniuses!

Spurious evidence

Accumulation of evidence is said to reduce the risk of failure. However, some "evidence" assembled to prove the case for projects has become debased or spurious. Some project managers are required to provide evidence just for the sake of providing evidence or so a decision can be deferred.

Firms pay considerable sums to recruitment agencies to find a suitably qualified applicants for a job; the firm itself does due diligence and has the recruit on probation. Why, when all this risk reduction process has been undertaken to ensure the applicant is a good fit, do managers require "evidence" prior to a decision - particularly on a subject on which the recruit is an expert and about which the manager probably knows, little or nothing?

Seeking failure

A client of FinanceWriter, whose wealth is publicly estimated in nine figures, actively participates in risk assessment on projects on which we work. He attends new project meetings demanding to know, "Why have there not been more failures"?

He wants "more failures"? "Yes", he says, "if some projects don't fail, you aren't running the risk of successful projects"!

He trusts the people he has chosen to take decisions – even if those choices turn out to be wrong.

Evidence or Trust?

Is evidence the same as trust? When conclusive evidence is delivered we trust it in its context. But trust is ongoing, it is rolling belief in evidence that that encapsulated in branding.

New clients commissioning financial copywriting for a suite of marketing materials, a new website, thought leadership articles or case study say they choose FinanceWriter because of the “evidence” they find on our website.

Of course, blogs, websites and the artful use of social media can declare “unrivalled quality”, “superior attributes” or “unsurpassed service”. But self-promotion with no reference point is not evidence that can be trusted.

What FinanceWriter clients say is that they rely on the evidence packaged in our brand: the experience, reputation and skills they find in our list of clients, our testimonials and our track record producing thought leadership articles, annual reports, marketing material and website content for some of the world’s leading banks, asset managers, commodities companies and corporations.

The essence of a brand or a person’s personal reputation embraces the body of evidence that equips them to do a job. It allows clients or employers to cut to the chase and commission a project without repeated trials gathering new evidence.

But for a branded firm or a personal reputation that branding is only as good as the last project in which they applied and upheld their brand values.

Back to Blog