What is trust in the modern world? Something we don’t believe in anymore—most of us. The majority don’t trust people. However, we still need to trust in something. Someone trusts in money, someone trusts in their work and effort, someone trusts in God… The blessed are those who have the object of trust.
What’s Customer Trust? We Aren’t Sure About It Anymore
Winning the audience’s trust is something that goes beyond routine marketing. It’s something very special, it’s almost a miracle since most people don’t trust anything today. So, what we name the ‘customer trust’?
Likely, it’s the feeling people have toward the value suggested by the brand. It’s about neither a product nor a service. It’s some eternal truth and value delivered by the company besides its products or services. It’s a hidden treasure that we all understand, share, and trust together with brand creators.
The Brand’s Tone of Voice Is Dictated by The Founder’s Mindset
I believe that every brand has its mission, even if it’s not clearly formulated, and it lies in the founder’s mindset. That’s the foundation of the company’s branding, marketing, and tone of voice since the dedicated founder always strives to hire those employees for top positions who share the same life values. They shape the brand’s key emotion and message communicated to customers in every interaction, whether it’s in social media marketing, customer support, or advertising. The founder’s mindset and top management circle define the scenario of business growth.
The Company Without The Mission Isn’t The Brand, It’s a Mass Manufacturer
We have a lot of them, mass manufacturers. And it goes about not only companies but also about ordinary people. Many of us have lost our life purpose. Without a life purpose (aka the life mission or at least some imaginative goal), people lose the hope of finding the object or person of trust.
The brand with the “fire” behind its logotype and products can inspire the audience to start trusting in something once again. For example, it can promote social values, like tolerance, equality, and empathy, or call for wild nature protection when running marketing. It’s how the company can win customer trust, on the one hand, and create the object of shared believing at the same time. It’s your brand’s Art, Fireart – your way of designing a value for a target audience.
What Builds Customer Trust in Contemporary Marketing
Now, let’s move to a more practical part of customer trust-building. These marketing techniques aren’t new. They are rather old-school practices experiencing a new upgrade in 2021. However, they still are working and building people’s trust.
Advertising isn’t as effective as before. Community marketing rules
Advertising is one of the most traditional marketing tools that doesn’t work for modern customers exhausted with obtrusive product pitches. Like butterflies appealed by light, they strive to connect with something warm and human. Social media community marketing is the best way to provide it to customers. It allows you to build a loyal customer base that is more perceptual to your marketing message.
The incorporation of animation in online marketing
Cartoons are another effective practice allowing you to turn directly to the kid inside of every customer and touch the soul chords reminding us of childhood. Animated onboarding videos, short commercials, and explainer videos can help build trust with customers by delivering the information through a prism of entertainment and fun.
A few-minute 2D, 3D, or whiteboard animated explainer video might be more efficient than a detailed written tutorial or comprehensive guidebook. It enables you to pack a lot of ideas and complex information into a brief and easily digestible format.
The original content that speaks “the same” language as your customer
“Content is King,” – said Bill Gates. And he was definitely right. He seemed watching the future when saying it, as the content is one of the most organic mediums for customer relationships in contemporary marketing. Brands need to keep in mind that the way they speak with customers through the content on social media, blogs, and other places on the web should entirely reflect the customer, their values, and lifestyle. It allows you to build not a brand relationship but a friendship with your target audience.
The human touch in everything you do, from emails to ads to product design
The human touch means adding the feeling of human-to-human interaction and empathy to all your brand’s activities, from emails sent to customers on their birthdays to ad copies, website design, and more. We can implement it by sending personalized emails to customers, using newly-created words to turn to community members in social media or blog posts (like tech geeks, innovation lovers, avocado eaters, etc.). We may even use slang and funny shortenings (unless it sounds offensive or impolite) in different types of digital content. All that helps add a human touch to your online marketing.
The open and continuous dialog with customers
Another vital component in a customer trust-building process is a continuous dialog between the brand and the customer. You can maintain the communication flow with customers in comments and direct messages on social media, customer support services, and spark the buzz under boosted posts. All these are methods of keeping a live dialog with your target audience.
Final word
Trust is an abstract concept that might have different meanings for different people. In this article, I have introduced my understanding of customer trust and the ways to build it in the digital world. Hopefully, these insights will be useful for you and will help you build a loyal community around your brand.
