Creating a Transparent Brand

By Jeana Anderson, Manager of Social Media

Between website updates and work binges, we spend our time talking about the kind of company we’d be proud to build Marqeta to be. Every department’s goals are factored in: Corporate communications wants a brand that’s above the fold, Business Development wants to create the perfect solution for merchants, Marketing wants consumers to get excited and to share their excitement, Operations wants to build a brand that’s trustworthy. Then there’s me, the Manager of Social Media. What keeps me up at night is building a brand that gives you the answers first – a transparent brand.

“Transparency” doesn’t sound as cool as the word “viral,” which someone taught to CEOs and Presidents a few years ago and, I suspect, regretted immediately. What “transparency” has on “viral” is that transparency puts consumers first in an effort to be trustworthy, whereas “viral” puts the company and its message first – betting the house on consumers’ willingness to share it.

We choose transparency as a foundation because by asking consumers what they want from Marqeta and sharing news with our consumers first, we’ll insure that we don’t take them by surprise in a negative way. We want the decisions that impact consumers to make sense and to account for their needs.

What does transparency actually mean? An example of a truly transparent brand is Starbucks, which may be top of mind because I’m writing this from a high-top table at my neighborhood Starbucks. In its effort to be transparent, Starbucks has taken a lot of chances. In 2008, Starbucks closed all of its stores for barista retraining – and here’s the kicker – they told everyone about it. They put signs on doors and sent out press releases about how they were retraining staff that day to make their coffee better. Starbucks also spoke openly about the waste from its cups and what its doing about it in its 2011 Starbucks Cup Summit.

Those two examples could be perceived as uncomfortable subjects, but Starbucks doesn’t just break its uncomfortable news to consumers, it involves them in their decisions. Starbucks invites its customers to sound off on what they want from Starbucks on their submission tool, My Starbucks Idea, and when Starbucks implements the ideas, it tells the world about them via the Ideas in Action blog.

So how do we make Marqeta transparent in a way that’s useful to consumers? Transparency, as we see it, falls into three categories for Marqeta: starting the conversation about uncomfortable topics first, breaking exciting news to consumers and involving them in our decisions.

What do I mean by that?

1. We’ll tell consumers first if we make changes to any of our offerings.
2. We’ll keep an open dialogue with consumers. We want to hear questions, ideas or concerns so that we can fix or address them via Facebook, Twitter, our blog or email.
3. We’re going to ask for feedback. A lot. We’ll send surveys and as questions on Facebook. We promise that these are purposeful and we’ll always share the results.

Transparent brands, like relationships, aren’t built in a day – they take time, work and trust. We’re willing to put in the work to build the sort of transparency that leads to trust to make Marqeta the best it can be for you. What does transparency mean to you? Which brands do you trust? Sound off. We want to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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