Why Trust Is Important In Marketing Today
Trust in today’s marketing environment is more important than ever. Selling anything depends on meeting a prospect’s needs. As Harry Beckwith says in Selling the Invisible, the most compelling selling message is: “I understand what you need”.
Delivering that message helps engage your customers through trust. In turn, you’ll develop long-term and profitable relationships with a growing customer base.
Trust through Transparency – B2B Marketing Blog
In today’s world of information overload, it’s not easy for buyers to find the solution to their problem. They want quick, effective and inexpensive solutions. Who has that solution? A gap exists between what a customer wants and what businesses offer.
Transparency can fill this gap with a B2B marketing blog. An effective B2B marketing blog offers insight into a company’s personality. It also offers familiarity, a key in building trust. It does that through frequent and consistent interaction. Prospects can freely ask questions, point out flaws, and even suggest solutions. Customer input gives businesses an opportunity to “listen” to their customers. Listening and responding to customers’ concerns helps gain traction in developing trust.
Trust through Authority – Article Marketing
Article marketing represents an excellent way to establish industry authority. As with blogs, writing articles often and consistently helps to create credibility. Articles show prospects what your company stands for and how it approaches problems similar theirs. Because article marketing builds trust, it gives you a competitive advantage over your competitors who ignore it. You can further forge trust with article marketing that expands on issues raised on your blog. That cements long-term relationships. As sales representatives make their sales calls, they can use print articles to help build trust.
Trust through Thought Leadership – White Papers
White papers help create industry thought leadership by highlighting your authority through perceived expertise. A company achieves that by publishing innovative ideas about its industry. A thought leader may espouse its views on new business models, processes or technologies. Publishing white papers signals competitors and prospects alike that you’re a leading industry authority. This earns trust because you’re seen as a respected source of emerging industry trends. Over time thought leaders become “Go-to” companies for prospects with questions. Because white papers breed trust, senior executives eagerly read them. Your perceived expertise and leadership will help you stand out.
Trust through Personal Marketing – Direct Marketing
One of the most effective ways to earn trust is with direct marketing. According to Dan Kennedy, direct marketing has an 18% trust rating. It’s second to newspapers, which has a trust rating of 21%. Direct marketing earns trust through targeted and personal messaging. With direct marketing, you can send customers information about your latest products and services. You can advise them of future specials, offline events, and webinars important to them. Brochures and spec sheets, especially those that compare your products and services to a competitor’s, further promote trust. Printed information presented objectively lends authenticity. Moreover, direct marketing solidifies relationships by bringing prospects to your website. Once online, prospects can register for a newsletter to further the relationship.
Trust through Useful Marketing – Newsletters
Newsletters breed familiarity, especially when published on a consistent schedule. They also create value by providing other-than company news. As Jay Baer, author of Youtility states, businesses earn trust by providing useful marketing or marketing that customers want. Newsletters have many roles. They can reinforce thought leadership by doling out bits and pieces of white papers. They can address issues of concern to clients. Take a long-haul trucking company that deals with driver safety. Write a newsletter that features driver safety. That’s useful marketing, and it earns trust. Relevant and well-written newsletters foster trust and fortify customer relationships.
Trust through Testimonials – B2B Case Studies
Perhaps the most potent marketing tool in your trust-building toolkit is customer testimonials. Nothing is more compelling than a customer telling a story of how your product or service solved a problem. It’s unbiased and more credible than any claims you make. B2B case studies offer concrete proof of how your products and services work. Providing proof promotes trust in a big way. And, importantly, case studies help set your business apart from the competition. That endorses your brand as reliable and trustworthy. B2B case studies come in various formats: pdf documents, brochures, presentations, and even videos. This allows you to deliver your message the way prospects want it.
Where Do You Begin?
You now have five practical ways to inject trust into your content marketing mix. Apply these marketing tips, and you’ll begin earning your prospects’ and customers’ trust. As you gain their trust, results will follow. As Kevin Costner said in the movie, Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come”.
You must let your prospects know that you understand what they need. You do that by delivering the right content to the right person at the right time. There’s no substitute for content marketing that builds trust.
Consider looking at balancing your online and offline content marketing plan. Or look at areas that may be weak and prioritize by addressing the quick wins to increase trust and sales.
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