What's up brand builders Stephen Houraghan here at BrandMasterAcademy.com and in this
video you're going to learn seven ways to build brand trust loyalty and advocacy
so you can learn how to slowly build real relationships with your customers so they
don't just buy from you once but return and bring their friends with them now the concept of brand
trust is probably one of the easiest Concepts to understand across the whole spectrum of branding
and the reason for that is because the concept of trust in general is something that we all
inherently know because it's part of our DNA and it's kept us alive for hundreds of thousands of
years now as people the more others trust us the more likely they are to talk to us to spend time
with us ask for help lend their help confide in us and protect us as well ultimately the more people
trust us the more likely we are to survive and the concept of brand trust is pretty much the same the
more people trust the brand the more likely they are to come back as for help offer their faith and
ultimately their business so how as Brands can we build brand trust well again in simple terms
the same way we earn trust as people by being open displaying aligned values and following
through on doing whatever it is that we say we're going to do trust takes years to build seconds to
break and forever to repair brand strategists will be the first to tell you that brand trust
doesn't materialize overnight but results from well thought out brand plans and then follow
up an execution on those plans so let's bring this concept down to earth with some applicable
techniques number one Benchmark and monitor brand trust all branding and marketing relies on
setting goals and measuring their success part of building brand trust will involve brand reputation
management to set targets for brand reputation and to monitor those discussions that are happening
online it's difficult to quantify brand trust but brand managers can perform sentiment analysis to
understand the target audience and how they feel towards the brand sentiment analysis
involves gathering information across many online sources to build a picture of trust levels in the
market and you can support this with customer surveys to gather insights from respondents
that can inform further brand Behavior also customers will feel valued when you take the
time to hear what they have to say and then act upon their recommendations listening and making
meaningful changes to your brand experience is a powerful way to build brand trust number two
be consistent brand consistency is critical in building brand trust among your consumers and
of course a consistent brand experience across all touch points is absolutely critical we have
produced a video with 21 touch points aligned for a consistent brand experience I'll leave
that link in the description but to name a few of those touch points you can include advertisements
social posts videos website podcasts environment point of sale packaging vehicle wraps Direct Mail
lead magnets emails blog posts business cards invoices proposals discoveries consultations
onboarding documents workshops after sales service and customer support to name a few now of course
consistency across all channels makes your brand recognizable wherever the consumer encounters it
think of an Apple store you can visit an Apple store in New York London Tokyo or Sydney and
expect to see the exact same Furniture customer service logos fonts displays products and overall
experience customers trust in the familiarity customer interactions the conflict with the usual
brand experience serve as harmful contradictions and unexpected unfamiliar experience damages that
trust modern consumers are more attuned than ever to conflicting messages so defend against
mixed messaging by creating comprehensive brand guidelines to ensure alignment to present that
same version of the brand through all of those touch points tonal voice guidelines can dictate
verbal elements while brand identity guidelines can determine visual elements number three be
authentic now I know that seems like a bit of an all-brainer that any brand should be authentic in
the messages that they put out there and how they engage with their audience but that's actually not
the case most brands don't show up with that level of authenticity they put a facade on and try and
hide behind that facade but you'll find the brands that take the time to lay it all on the line
who show up as their authentic selves who don't try to put on a facade that they are absolutely
perfect instead put it all out there on the line and engage with their audience through human
interactions through human engagement if they make a mistake they put their hand up and say that they
made a mistake if they see something that's not right in the market they'll call it out so show
up with the authentic version of yourself make sure that that brand authenticity runs through
every single touch point from the website copy to the customer service calls really take the time
to instill brand authent intensity as a value within your brand and then that will show up
in your interactions with your customers number four focus on relationships and not Revenue don't
underestimate the power of Shifting your mindset from revenue to relationships developing and
maintaining great relationships and great customer service to develop those relationships should be a
number one priority not profits successful Brands understand that loyal customers are their greatest
asset because of the value that they can bring to the business long term PWC recently found that
trust is the number one differentiator affecting consumers purchasing decisions ongoing they won't
buy from a company they don't trust they believe it's a company's responsibility to build that
trust in a head-to-head between two competitors they'll choose the company who they trust so what
does all this mean it means that building trusting relationships with consumers must be the primary
focus of over making the sale and this philosophy holds water you take care of the trust and the
sales will take care of themselves number five be transparent now it's not rocket science that
customers don't like being lied to however being transparent and honest as a brand is more than
just abstaining from lies to build trust based on authenticity you need to be proactive and upfront
in your branding and that means apologizing when things go wrong being open about your
business processes and removing any ambiguity or gray areas which could be seen as misleading
companies like buffer the social media management tool they make transparency a core value they have
a dedicated website sharing information on salaries business goals source code business
metrics and other things that are usually kept private this transparency resonates with their
customers brands that will apologize for mistakes and lift a veil on business practices seem more
trustworthy to consume assumers attaching the face to the brand also helps consumers to relate
to the company as well so if there is a personal brand in and amongst the corporate brand then use
that personal brand as the face of the business now of course authenticity and transparency they
seem kind of similar but transparency is really about being open it's about being open about
business practices about what's behind the veil of the business and not trying to sugarcoat that
number six create valuable content now much of modern branding relates to establishing yourself
as an industry or authority through a robust content marketing strategy modern Brands need to
frame themselves as solution providers customers have pain points that need to be resolved and you
can solve their problems of course through your products and services but you should support this
by offering helpful content as well they have many challenges and you can help them with a variety of
challenges through that content so create webinars create video tutorials blog posts downloadable
ebooks whatever works in your Brand's context in a format that suits your audience now look if your
brand offers helpful authoritative content then you build a reputation as a knowledgeable source
that consumers trust so becoming that go-to source for help with content takes time and effort and it
also requires a comprehensive content marketing strategy that addresses the issues that your
audience faces so think about the problems that your audience has a great way to do this is come
up with 100 challenges or 100 questions that they have and create a piece of content around every
single one and number seven build social proof both trust and distrust are contagious now I
already mentioned the pivotal role that social proof plays in building trust consumers sit up
and take notice of what other people think of your products services and General brand
experience another PWC study found that consumers will trust the views of other consumers over your
branding efforts in most cases so positive reviews represent an absolute gold mine for your business
that you can leverage successful Brands attempt to collect positive social proof and make it more
visible to others they amplify that visibility in the marketplace so they'll share testimonials
on their website and user generated content on social media nothing quite sells your brand like
evidence of customers enjoying your product or service or your brand experience or ultimately
having that positive outcome so Gathering and sharing that social proof is a great strategy
and it provides this positive reinforcement loop as evidence of trust breeds more Trust
now it should be clear that maintaining an earning trust is a never-ending task
reliability consistency transparency and authenticity they're all guiding principles
that you should never sway from in your branding efforts hard work can be undone quickly in the
audience's mind and brand reputations can face irrevocable damage overnight however
fortunately building a trusted brand through an online brand experience pays dividends customers
who trust Brands become loyal they choose your brand over your competitors they advocate for
your brand as well and they engage with your Brand's Communications if it was easy every
brand would do it it's not easy it's challenging it requires hard work and it requires dedication
but like everything the best rewards are there for the few who Prevail now if you want to dive
deeper into brand strategy then this video here will help you out before you click it if you want
to become a master of brand make sure you hit the like And subscribe to get new videos just
like this until next time Brian like a master and I'll see you in the next video [Music]