Marketing Your Business: The basics – Trust

A couple weeks ago we started a mini Marketing Your Business: The Basics series. We talked about how marketing without the basics is like trying to convince your husband that you must buy that Kate Spade bag that costs $298 when your budget is only $50… it’s frustrating, a waste of time, and you probably won’t get the results you want!

Read the first of this three post series Marketing Your Business: The Basics – PHOTOGRAPHY here.

Today, we’re going to talk about marketing basics #2: Trust. So let’s get started…

Basics #2: Trust

Potential customers need to trust that they’re going to get what they pay for. Trust is one of the hardest things to develop, and it’s one of the easiest things to lose. You have to work for trust — and you have to work to keep it!

Trust is a big factor in someone deciding to buy from you!

Have you ever bought a brand name product over a cheaper generic product, because you trusted the brand name more? My husband has many times (and it’s a continual discussion in our family, haha). For instance, most people will buy brand name pops or sodas depending on where you live over the cheaper generic version. Most believe that it’ll taste better even though they know they’re practically the same thing. You and I are both willing to spend more for trust, and so are many other people.

Now ask yourself this… Have you ever been nervous about buying something online? Why? Think about your own nervousness to buy something online – this will help you to walk in a potential buyers shoes to better understand why they might be apprehensive to buy something from you.

Let’s use my own business as the example. For you to buy a $1,250 blog or site design, you have to have some trust in order to buy this service from me, right? Where do you find this trust to buy??? Maybe you’ve been reading my blog for a few months, maybe you like the style you’ve seen on my Instagram, maybe someone you trust referred you to me, maybe you love a particular blogger’s website and you saw that I was the one who designed it, etc.

When you’re selling online you have to establish even more trust with your potential customers because they can’t examine your items, they can’t take them home immediately, or give them a test run. They have to trust that you’re not just going to take their money and run! I can’t tell you how many nightmare stories I’ve heard of people paying for a service, like a fully functioning website, that they never received.

Ways To Build Trust With Your Potential Customers.

Here’s a few ways to build trust with your potential customers online:

-a professional-looking website and blog.  If you have a blog, make sure you keep it consistently updated.
-a cohesive site aesthetic; fonts, colors, photo style.
-testimonials, endorsements, and/or past client examples (see site example above)
-contact information easily available on your site
-clear shop policies.  If you have a shipping/refund policy make sure it’s available. If it’s a direct download product and there is no refund, state such.
-a professional looking picture of yourself on your about page.  No blurry, dark, grainy pictures please
-great looking product photography.  I’m send you to my DIY Photo lightbox and Product Photography Tips here and here.
-consistent product photography.  If your brand/style is light, bright and airy – keep your product photography light, bright and airy (see + follow my Instagram here). If your brand/style is more folk, minimal, and reclaimed in nature – keep your product photography folk, minimal and reclaimed (1924us is a perfect example of this style, see image below).

Ways To Lose Trust With Your Potential Customers.

Here’s a few ways to lose trust online:

-a messy, unprofessional website and blog
-blog is updated every few months. It’s rough on a reader to go check out your blog and find that it’s not kept up – trust me, they’ll stop coming.
-no testimonials, endorsements, and/or past client examples.
-lack of cohesiveness and direction. Think of sites that are all over the map, you don’t know who they are, what they stand for, etc. It’s very confusing. Confusion does not build trust!
-can’t find an easy way to contact you
-policies are unclear
-bad photography. If I can’t see how yummy and delicious your cupcakes are, why would I want to buy a dozen? If you’re selling me interior design services and your online photography of past clients spaces look horrible, am I going to trust that my space will look magazine-worthy? Get what I’m saying.

Always keep in mind…

You and what you have to offer isn’t for everyone and that’s okay, BUT you need to make sure that you’ve got a lot more ‘stuff’ that builds trust.

If you’re noticing that your business might sit more into the “losing trust” category, you need to work on fixing this! And once you do, your marketing will begin to work for you and not against you!

Stay tuned, we’ll be discussing Marketing Your Business: The Basics #3 next week!

#1 Marketing Your Business: The Basics – Photography

 

Photo sources: 1, 2, 3