Competition is fierce in almost any market, and customer loyalty seems more and more difficult to come by. Across the board, consumers are more skeptical than ever before, receiving hundreds of messages from brands, both known and unknown, daily. Meanwhile, they are constantly seeing the FTC, IRS, SBA and other organizations open up investigations on businesses. Is it any wonder that consumers find it challenging to trust the businesses they deal with?
That’s not to say it can’t happen, though. If you want your brand to stand out, you’ll need to be transparent, truthful, and reliable.
Best Practices for Building Trust
If you want to build trust with your business – and your marketing campaign in particular – it’s important that you pay attention to the following practices, habits and tips:
1. Humanize Your Brand
“When a brand is able to make a sincere connection with a consumer, something incredibly powerful happens,” says Mackenzie Fogelson, CEO of Mack Web. “Beyond mere fleeting impact, that moment of connection provides a foundation for long-term advocacy, loyalty and a sustainable bottom line.”
What’s the best way to make that sincere connection? Well, Fogelson suggests you start by humanizing your brand. Customers would much rather work with you if they see your brand as less of a corporation and more of a living, breathing entity. By focusing on humanization in your marketing campaign, you can make this happen.
2. Provide Security and Protection
As cybersecurity becomes an increasingly popular topic on both a global and personal level, consumers are becoming aware of just how important it is to protect their private information and data from cybercriminals.
As a business, it’s important that you respect this and help keep their information safe. The best ways to do this are to back up data, store information on secure servers and always encrypt email attachments. By doing these three things, you can increase trust in your brand.
3. Offer a Clear Value Proposition
Your marketing campaigns need clear value propositions that align with your brand’s overall corporate values. In case you need a refresher, your value proposition is the statement that explains how your product solves a customers’ pain points, delivers quantifiable value and tells the target customer why they should choose your brand over your closest competitor.
While most people think about value propositions in the scope of the overall brand, it’s helpful to establish one for each campaign you launch. This forces you to stay focused on the customer and whether you’re providing what they really want.
4. Ensure You’re Easily Reachable
One problem businesses have is that they’re often unreachable. If you’re going to invest in a marketing campaign that targets customers and asks them to engage with your brand, you must be easy to get in touch with. Offer multiple contact options – including telephone, email, instant chat and web forms – and make quick responses a priority. When customers know you’re listening, they’re much more likely to trust you.
5. Follow Through on Promises
If you tell a customer you’ll refund the product if they don’t like it, be prepared to refund it. If you promise free shipping, don’t charge for shipping. If you claim an order will be ready in 24 hours, make sure it’s ready. It’s that simple.
Trust is Everything in Business
Everyone always talks about how challenging it is to differentiate a brand, but it’s actually a lot simpler than most realize. By establishing trust with your customers and working hard to develop customer-centric marketing campaigns, you can set your business apart from the myriad of lazy and unscrupulous competitors you find yourself up against on a daily basis.