One of many definitions of trust is an emotional connection to an external party. Trust plays a vital role in our purchasing decisions.
In some cases, consumers inherently distrust corporations. It begs a few questions:
- How do we build trust between the brand and the consumer?
- How do we show that our relationship with them isn’t strictly a monetarily-transactional one?
To answer those questions, establish brand identity and communicate that identity with great content marketing.
Your company’s beliefs play a huge role in revenue & loyalty.
Consumers withdraw from dishonest companies that lack personality. Brand trust and loyalty are driven by sharing common beliefs and values between the brand and the consumer. If you can’t communicate that your brand is a member of the same culture as your ideal audience, they’ll find one that is. Research shows that if a product is manufactured by a brand, that consumers don’t like, 40% of them will go out of their way to find a similar product made by a company they do like.
That’s why you must establish your business’s identity, voice, tone and articulate key characteristics that are representative of who you are, what you believe, and what you value.
Build trust & consumer loyalty via content marketing.
A lot of content marketing involves understanding human behavior. Humans instinctually strive to be a part of a reciprocal community with members similar to us. This concept is linear no matter where we are, even when we’re online looking for products/services. We value the brand behind our products just like we value the beliefs, motivations and morals of our peers.
To convey your similarities to your ideal customers, you have to first find a way to get that message to them. And you can do this with great content marketing.
Start a conversation between the brand & consumer.
Successful content marketing strategies require two things:
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Positive user experience
Just because your SEO efforts make your content easy to find doesn’t mean your audience is going to want to read it. It’s vital to ensure your content is of real quality, genuine and honest. The best way to start building trust is to first define target personas. When you truly get to know your audience (e.g. location, age, education level, gender, etc.), it makes creating content strategies that are aligned with their values easier and more trustworthy.
Be bold with your content. Embrace honesty and transparency. Let your audience know that you want to make their lives easier, not harder and that behind your brand are people just like them, people with real morals and real values.
