You just spent all week crafting and creating brand new content for your brand. After publishing, you realize interactions are very low. How could this be? You followed a blueprint for content marketing and spent time, energy, and resources creating what works for every other brand. Why did it not work for you?
Simply put, your brand is lacking trust. Customers do not trust your content, your claims, or what you are selling. This guide, 5 Ways to Earn Customer Trust with Content Marketing, will give you insight into what customers expect from a brand. Follow along, and try implementing these tips into your content marketing strategies.
Be Consistent
The first step in creating a lasting relationship is consistency. When focusing on content marketing, customers want consistency from a brand or business. It is nearly impossible to build a customer-brand relationship if the customer does not know if your content is actually yours. Using a similar style, template, schedule, name, and logo will make your content consistent for whoever is consuming it. Being consistent means your brand or business is creating a sense of reliability for the customer, which they are expecting. Consistency in your content marketing efforts means two things; be consistent on all platforms, and be consistent with scheduling.
- If your brand or business is using various social media sites, a curated blog, a professional website, an email newsletter, or print adverts, make sure your brand logo and name are stylistically the same across all platforms. Even if your name is unique and you do not think it could be mistaken for another business, customers expect consistency. You do not want to make it difficult for a potential customer to find you and what you are selling.
- Scheduling is critical for content marketing consistency. Customers do not want to be spammed or overloaded with a wave of content all at once. This could be useful if you want to draw attention for a specific reason, but you could also annoy customers. If your brand or business is spending time, energy, and resources on social media content, it is a huge waste if customers see one post, and then scroll right past the next 5 posts. On the flip side, you do not want customers to forget about your brand. If you post or publish numerous forms of content all at once, then go weeks without something new, customers will lose any interest you worked hard to create. Learn to balance your content marketing efforts with a schedule.
Be Excellent
When creating content for your brand, you need to make sure you are giving it your best possible effort. Creating content just so you can say you created content for customers does not accomplish anything worthwhile. Customers want to know and trust that your brand is an expert on whatever you are selling. Otherwise, they have no reason to shop from you. And it is not just excellent content that customers are looking for. They expect your brand is also excellent with service and values.
- When creating new content, make sure it is something that will benefit customers and their shopping habits. Using friendly call-to-actions, helpful or insightful information, and aesthetically pleasing visuals will let customers know that your brand is thinking about them. Creating content that the customer will actually use to make a purchase is the goal. Do not just rush out a low-quality video or Copywrite gibberish, because that is not going to convince a customer that they need your product. Also, excellent quality content does not necessarily mean a high budget. If your brand puts your best work forward, customers will take notice and be more likely to buy what you are selling.
- Excellent content is not all that matters for customers. To earn their trust with content marketing, your brand needs to provide excellent service. This can be demonstrated through customer service and brand values. Answering all questions on social media posts shows your customers you will go the extra mile to provide the best customer service. For example, if you are doing content marketing with Instagram for dental practices, potential customers may have questions regarding a dental procedure. Be sure to reduce anxiety and answer their questions before they come into the dental office. Quick responses through email or phone calls is imperative for establishing an excellent reputation amongst customers. Addressing and providing an answer for social media questions or concerns is necessary, but your brand can even take this a step further and interact with all types of comments, not just customers asking for help. Customers want to know that they are not simply viewed as a wallet, but a valued part of the brand. Make sure excellence is a core value throughout your business, and customers will begin to place their trust in you.
Be Honest
If the focus of this blog post is to learn how to earn customer trust with content marketing, then being honest is probably the most important aspect for your brand. The quickest way to erode trust is to be dishonest with the people who are supporting you. Do not lie about the magical benefits of what you are selling. Be honest and customers will trust you when your brand posts content and makes a claim. To be honest and build trust, your content should avoid making false claims in the title and your brand needs to be honest with customers about what you are selling.
- Nothing will have a customer click off your content quicker than clickbait. This goes for any platform your brand creates content on. Creating a title that does not match what the actual topic covered is a really lazy way to create click-throughs. It is basically lying to a customer, and that is no way to build a trusting relationship. While it is debated what is actually clickbait and what is not, it is best for your brand to steer clear of using this for your content. Instead, spend time creating an attention-grabbing, exciting title for your content. That way, customers will not feel like their time was wasted, or that they were lied to. Plus, customers will be more likely to click on and interact with your content if you become known as the brand that does not clickbait.
- When deciding if they should purchase from a brand, customers always look up reviews or testimonials. When a brand tries to mislead or misrepresent their product, a customer is going to find out before purchasing. And even if they do purchase your product, the customer is going to want a refund, then will no longer trust your brand. It is essentially impossible to get away with lying on the internet, so why even bother trying? Your brand needs to put honesty first. On a product page, make sure you describe what you are selling genuinely and truthfully. If a customer is already viewing your content, do not rely on deceitfulness to get you over the finish line. Make honesty an integral part of your brand and customers will trust what you are telling them.
Be A Leader
Customers need to know if a brand actually knows what they are talking about. Being a thought leader establishes authority over a topic, and customers will come to you and your product for an answer. To be a true leader on a topic, the content you create needs to generate discussion and move customers to action. Content does not need to increase in length or be overly wordy but rather thought-provoking. If your brand can add something new to a discussion or topic, this will also work to demonstrate your leadership.
You can also come across as an authority on a subject by having your content shared or quoted by other content creators. Someone else’s blog or video linking to your content will gain you additional exposure while giving you the credit of being a leader on a topic. Reach out to other content creators and see if they are interested in what you have to say.
Customers strive to get content strategy consulting from brands that know what they are talking about. Your opinion and experiences are interesting to them. Demonstrating your leadership will attract customers, and in turn, gain their trust.
Be Personable
As a brand, your goal should be to create lasting customer-brand relationships. This will be difficult to achieve if you are not creating content with a personal feel to it. Personalize your content by specifically matching it to your audience. You will not want to post the same content on Facebook as you did on Instagram or Twitter. Your audience is probably different on all three social media platforms. Spending extra time to craft an appealing voice for each audience will go a long way to ensuring your brand is maximizing its exposure.
Blending or mixing formal and informal tones for each specific piece of content will help spice things up, too. Your brand will want to avoid coming across as boring or possibly unprofessional. Make sure you carefully consider who your audience is at any given instance. If your brand can make the selling process personable throughout all steps, customers will trust you. Customers want to be comfortable and familiar with who they are purchasing from.
Recap
Being able to tell your brand’s story through the content you create is not impossible if you spend some time and think about how you want customers to view you. If the goal of your content marketing efforts is to gain the trust of your customers, your brand needs to be consistent, excellent, honest, a leader, and personable. When your brand treats customers with respect, you can expect to see growth. And for sustained success, spend some time and build trust.
YoYo Fu is the owner of YoYoFuMedia, a digital marketing agency. The agency regularly doubles, triples, and even 10X the revenue of their clients. They offer a range of services from Facebook and Google Ads to SEO.
