Creating Trust in Business

When it comes to connecting with potential customers, there are few things more valuable than trust. Trust is an essential factor in every business relationship.

Imagine you’re headed to a jewelry store to purchase a Rolex watch. Maybe you can’t really afford one, but just imagine: On your way to the store, you see a man on the street. He sidles up to you, rolls up his sleeve and shows you his arm, strapped with watches up to his elbow.

“Hey man, want to buy a Rolex?” he mutters.

Unless you’re temporarily insane, you won’t bite. Why? Because you don’t trust the guy. There is no way those Rolexes are real.

This may seem like an odd example, but many digital marketers today are the equivalent of the watch salesman. They connect with a potential prospect through social media or email and immediately begin pushing their products, without taking any time to develop a relationship of trust.

This is a mistake of critical proportions. Today, more than ever, it’s essential for digital marketers to create trust with potential clients. Only after trust has been built can services or products be sold. And one of the best ways to establish trust between you and potential customers is to create amazing content they can’t find anywhere else. Here’s how to do that.

Why you must build trust

In the bygone days of advertising, digital agencies and brands built trust by calling on the “experts.” Tobacco companies would boast of the fact that 9 out of 10 doctors recommended their smokes. Check out the Lucky Strike ad below, for instance. This sounds crazy now, but it was a legitimate advertising strategy that actually worked.