We don’t need a fully immersive metaverse to know that our lives are dominated by digital media. Every day, consumers see numerous ads as they consume digital media on social media or watch videos on platforms like YouTube. Our time spent looking at screens means that we’ve had to make big changes in how we reach and market to consumers, especially as their media literacy grows. What hasn’t changed, however, is the importance of brand trust. So, let’s look at how you can build brand trust and stand out in this digital age.
Why Brand Trust Matters
Trust is an important part of any relationship. Suppose that you score a set of tickets to your favorite concert, movie premiere, or sporting event. Which of your friends are you more likely to invite, someone you know will commit to going with you and engage with you (and pitch in on the extras) as you’re out having fun, or someone who is usually wishy-washy on whether they keep plans? The same kind of experience and trust that dictates how we interact with friends, family, and co-workers dictates how, as consumers, we interact with businesses.
We want a brand that we know we can count on. This is especially true online, where we’ve had decades of scammers and less-than-reputable businesses pull our attention and trick us out of our money. If you can demonstrate to consumers that you know your industry, care about consumers and the community, and keep your commitment to quality, then you can rise above the noise to stand out. Now, let’s look at building trust.
Create an Emotional Connection
Often, businesses focus on creating emotionally driven content to build an emotional connection with consumers. While this can create a stir – people like to laugh and are moved by dramatic stories – its effectiveness at building connections has waned over time. What customers want in an emotional connection is a brand that understands them and that they can, in turn, invest their interest in.
In a word, you want to be likable. Well, you want to be likable and relatable. This can take a few forms. Demonstrating respect, kindness, and empathy as you communicate with consumers is an excellent start. On a deeper level, it also means identifying the needs of your consumer, intuiting the emotional connection the consumer has to those needs, and then utilizing that emotional connection when you demonstrate how your brand meets those needs.
Building Trust through Community Interactions
How we interact with the communities around us plays a large part in how we build brand trust. Giving back to the community is a way to demonstrate your investment in the things consumers care about. Some common ways to interact with your community through giving include,
- Event sponsorships – From sports to arts, sponsoring community events is an excellent way to get your brand in front of consumers to build recognition.
- Employee volunteer engagement – Companies like Bank of America are renowned for engaging their employees in volunteer time, which has made the bank a valuable part of many towns and cities.
- Donation drives – Leading donation drives for important charities and services in the community help you to engage with what is important to the surrounding consumers.
- Health advocacy – Consumers want to know that companies care about the people who work for them. When you care about your employees, you care about your consumers. This includes advocating for healthy lifestyle improvements but can also tie into donation drives, where you lead blood drives, for example.
Building Trust through Communication
We spoke briefly about demonstrating respect, kindness, and respect when you communicate with consumers. Customer service is an important place to do this, but it is not the only place. You can demonstrate this in your marketing as well with things like,
- Targeted marketing focus on specific customer behaviors and interests
- Responding positively to feedback, especially negative feedback, where you can look for an opportunity to make things right with an unhappy customer
- Ads and social media promotions that engage with consumer interests around your industry
- Sharing your community interactions on social media and in your blog and newsletter
That last point can’t be overstated. Many of the best ways to build brand trust through community-building happen offline. Communicating these efforts with the people who only interact with you digitally then becomes important to building your trust with these activities. When you share your community action events in your newsletter and social media, always remember to center the cause so that consumers understand its importance and highlight the employees who helped to make community efforts successful.
Are You Ready to Build Your Brand Trust with Consumers?
Media Components can help you build and market your brand. Whether you’re an entrepreneur starting out, a small business, or a large company, we are a digital marketing agency that can tailor to your needs. Contact us today.
