If you’ve been reading my blog for a while now, you’ve probably hear me mention the “KLT Factor.” And there’s a good reason I mention it so much.
The KLT (Know, Like, Trust) Factor is the very foundation of every successful business. In my opinion, the most important element of that factor is trust.
If you fail to build trust with your audience, you can’t expect them to ever buy anything from you.
I mean, think about it… Aren’t you more inclined to purchase from someone who you know, like, and have established a level of trust with? Absolutely! And if you want to replicate that same experience with your audience, listen up!
How to Build Trust With Your Audience
If you find you aren’t making the sales you’d hoped for within your business, it could be because you’ve been slacking on this last step of the KLT Factor. To build trust with your audience, keep these key tips in mind:
1. Allow Your Audience to Get to Know You
Referring back to the KLT (Know, Like, Trust) Factor, the first step is to allow your audience to get to know you. After all, you can’t build trust with someone who doesn’t know you yet. When your audience gets to know who you are, what you do, and why you do it, it helps form a connection.
They start liking you, which become the foundation to establishing trust. That’s where you must begin.
If you’re the face of your brand, make sure people see you. Inject your personality into everything you publish online. But even if you’re the person behind a logo, people can still get to know who you are. They want to know the team behind the brand. It allows them to see who they’re supporting.
So, how can you help your audience get to know who you are? Try these tips:
- Start using video by launching a YouTube channel. Video helps form an instant connection because people get to see and hear you. They get an immediate sense of your personality.
- Get active on Instagram Stories. This is the perfect place to give people a behind-the-scenes look that showcases the real you. Let them into your life and you’ll being to build trust with your audience.
2. Be Authentic
This tip goes right along with allowing your audience to get to know you. People won’t resonate or connect with you if you aren’t being authentic. When you act like someone or something you’re not, they’ll see right through you. And that, my friend, will get you nowhere in business.
You need to figure out what makes you different from everyone else working in your field. Then, embrace that fully! Use it to create this unique voice that shines through when creating your content. Share your thought and opinions with people and really open up so they get a sense of who you really are.
That cliché advice of “just be yourself,” comes in handy here. Don’t be afraid to let people see the real you. Share your story and your struggles. Open up and let them in! They’ll absolutely love you for it.
3. Provide Tremendous Value
As a business owner, your top priority should be to provide value to your audience with everything you do. This includes your blog posts, email newsletters, and even all your social media content.
Your audience expects the best and they deserve it too. When they see how amazing and worthwhile your free content is, they’ll realize your paid stuff is probably even better. How could they resist purchasing then?
To build trust with your audience, always create content with them in mind. Consider what they’d most likely want to see from you. Solve their biggest dilemmas. Provide high-quality information they can’t get anywhere else. It’s a sure-fire way to keep them coming back to your site for more time and time again.
4. Focus on Building Relationships
Are you actually taking the time to engage with your audience? If not, it’s time to make a major change. Far too many brands are guilty of ignoring the comments they receive on their blog or social media. And they certainly don’t pay attention to the email responses they get either. And that’s upsetting!
If you want to build trust with your audience, you should be proactive about building a relationship with the right people. When you have a conversation with people, it shows you care and that you’re interested in what they have to say. And that makes a huge difference when it comes to building trust.
5. Always Listen to Your Audience
A key factor in building those relationships is to actually listen to what your audience is saying. If you simply paid more attention to them, you’d figure out what it is they want from you. Their posts on social media, the comments they leave on your blog, and the emails they send you… All of that is a gold mine of information and can shape the content you produce in the future. It can help you craft the offerings they’re most interested in seeing.
Listen to them. Take their thoughts and opinions into consideration. And if you aren’t already getting unprompted feedback from your audience, ASK THEM QUESTIONS. Use it as your opportunity to get to know them and their needs better.
6. Display a Professional Presence Online
A poorly designed website that’s not functional isn’t going to build trust with your audience. It’s going to give them the impression that you’re a newbie. And even if you are new to the game, it doesn’t have to be obvious. You can still look professional and show people that you mean business.
To do that, it’s crucial that you have an online presence that showcases your authority. You need a polished website that looks great and is easy for visitors to navigate. It needs to be easy for them to find exactly what they’re looking for. And you can do that by implementing all of my tips for a user-friendly blog.
7. Share Testimonials From Happy Clients
It’s okay to do a little bragging on your website. If you received a rave testimonial from a customer on one of your products or services, make sure you show it off. Testimonials essentially give people that extra push to click the “buy” button. They see you were able to deliver results that make the purchase worthwhile.
Odds are, you turn to reviews to see if a product is worth purchasing. And your audience does the same. In order to build trust with your audience, you want to showcase your best testimonials. Destroy every obstacle that’s holding them back from making a purchase, which testimonials can do.
8. Build Up Your Email List
If you don’t already have a list, now is your time to start working on one. The reason an email list can help you build trust with your audience is because it allows you to stay in touch with them long after they’ve left your site. If you’re able to snag their name and email before they leave, you can email them and use it as your chance to build a stronger relationship. And of course, a strong relationship leads to a high level of trust.
You just need to do your email list right! Have a welcome sequence ready to go for new subscribers so they can get to know you and your brand better. And then, make sure you’re emailing people on a regular basis to keep your list warm. Don’t let them forget about you!
9. Support Other People
Nothing turns people off more than someone who is constantly putting others down. Instead of being negative about the competitors in your industry and feeling jealous over their successes, support them. So, if you want to build trust with your audience, you can’t tear others in your industry apart.
Be supportive of their endeavors and even collaborate with them. You can learn a lot from each other and it’s important that you treat everyone with kindness. It reflects poorly on you otherwise. Your audience isn’t going to want to work with you if you’ve got a negative attitude.
10. Be Passionate About What You Do
When you’re passionate about the work you’re putting out there online, that shines through. It resonates with people. And it’s what will help draw them to you and keep them coming back for more. Passion is a huge part of any successful business because it makes a tremendous difference when you love what you do. Your audience will pick up on that.