I came across a well-written article called The Trust Factor. The article focuses on building trust with customers being a key to sales success. I also believe that building trust is a major factor for marketing professionals and this article could just as easily been applied to marketing.
The article had five main areas on which to focus for building the trust factor:
- Truth
- Reliability
- Understanding through uncommon efforts
- Service
- Take your time
As marketers, messaging is at the root of most everything we do. Whether it’s print ads, online banners, search marketing, email marketing, etc. we are delivering some kind of message to one of our target markets. That message gets delivered one way or another over time. If we over-promise and under-deliver, we’ll lose the trust of our audience and we may not get them back. Talking about your company’s core values such as high quality, low price or 100% guarantee sets an expectation that needs to be met further along in the marketing or sales cycle.
Remember, you’re setting the table for what comes next. Make sure you have the pieces in place to back up your messaging and build that customer trust.
