How Marketing Helps You Build Trust with Customers
It’s not lost on me today is April Fool’s Day – when pranks and jokes and general shenanigans are celebrated – and I’m writing a post about building trust with customers.
Here’s the thing.
When you build trust with customers, you can do an April Fool’s Day post on Instagram (like Heritage Bicycles did above) without sacrificing the confidence of your followers. When you have established the brand voice – in this case, fun! – customers won’t be thrown off by the messaging. In fact, when they believe in what you’re saying because it’s authentic to your business, then what your content actually does is reinforce your brand.
In other words, customers trust this brand. You can do the same with yours.
Leverage User-Generated Content
Nothing helps people believe in your brand more than when other people talk positively about it. That’s why user-generated content (UGC) is such a valuable resource for building confidence among customers – existing and potential.
If someone shares a photo of your product on social media, you can easily reshare it from your own account. You can also repurpose it as social proof on your website or in your email marketing. If you don’t have any UGC to leverage, then encourage your followers and customers to share their experiences with your product or service on social media, leave a review, or even send you an email with a testimonial. The power of UGC can’t be overstated.
Be Present for Your Customers
Whether your customers intentionally search for you on Google or find you by chance on social media, it’s important to be present in all places where people spend their time. When people can easily find you online, it legitimizes your business and builds trust with customers. Consider establishing or increasing your visibility in these digital spaces:
Website
Search (Requires some SEO work)
Social Media
Paid Advertising
Online Directories (Like Yelp, BBB, and many others)
Industry-related Forums
Relevant, Third-Party Websites
In addition to putting your brand out there, it’s also important to be present for your customers by delivering excellent and responsive service – a critical piece to your brand’s reputation.
Develop Original and Valuable Long-Form Content
White papers, e-books, reports, and research are highly valuable forms of content for your customers. When you dedicate resources to developing this content to inform and educate your audience, you demonstrate your brand’s commitment to solving their pain points, issues, and challenges. You build trust with customers who need a solution, not a product or service.
Trust Us, You’ll Like This!
If you want to read more content like this, be sure to check out:
How to Build Trust on Social Media
