An Epic Formula For Building Brand Trust
Hey Friends,
This week will be a bit of a shorter post as I spent the last few days in an intense branding workshop put on by the legendary Marty Neiumier with the Level C program. I’m proud to say I’m part of the inaugural Brand Architect class and as I continue to reflect on my experience, I’ll be sharing insights and strategies with you.
As a preamble, I want to address a topic that seems to have everyone scratching their head, but when broken down, is actually pretty simple to understand.
Trust is the goal of every marketer company. We strive for it in our all our communications. We look to create it through packaging. We use tactics like social and email to continue the conversation and dialogue.
But what’s missing is the cadence of HOW to build trust.
It’s not sending out tons of emails.
It’s not taking over your customers’ feed with meme content or promotions.
It’s not be wish-washy with varying messages of importance with a different voice and tone.
Considering our current society is built to honor brands that exude trust at every interaction, our goal needs to be to provide trust with each of those interactions.
Customers have expectations for the products they buy and the services they engage with. Trust comes from meeting and beating those expectations.
Spelled very simply, here’s the brander’s formula on building trust.
T = r + d
Trust = reliability + delight.
Trust is the ultimate shortcut to a buying or purchasing decision.
While it may be hard to earn, it’s even easier to lose if you’re not actively trying to build trust with every interaction.
Whether your business is B2B or B2C, product-based or service-based, trust matters. The only difference is where the trust is placed
A good example of trust is Starbucks. While I may not be the biggest fan of their coffee (is it me or do they ‘over-roast their beans?’), I am a fan of the Starbucks Expereince.
Walk into any Starbucks across the United States and more than likely they all share similiar:
Design & footprint
The smell of coffee (mmmmmmh ☕️)
Sound of Barista’s making drinks mixed with the Starbucks soundtrack
They all have reletively clean rest rooms
They have stable WIFI
Table & chairs to make loitering cool again
See where I’m going? They’re reliable. You know what you’re going to get.
Couple this with their obsessive approach to making the customer happy:
“Oh sorry we made you triple upside-down caramel latte frappucino with an extra shot and whipped cream wrong. We’ll make you a new one ASAP!”
Delighting the customer, even if it costs them money, is a core reason why they’ve been able to expand in the way they’ve have.
When I’m working with brands, I’m often trying to figure out how the trust formula relates to their specific offering mix. It’s not easy, but it’s 100% worthwhile because you’re customers will thank you over and over again with their patronage. A this turns custoemrs into a lifelong customer and that is the goal of brand — to get more people to buy more things at a higher price for a longer period of time.
Hope I was able to arm you with some thought starters on how to build trust with your brand. As always, respond to this blog or reach out to me via Twitter if you have a question. I’m all 👂’s.
- Steven
My Current Reading List
🙋♂️ I need some recommendations on new books as I leave for San Diego with the family next week. If you have one, please respond and let me know.
Strategy is your Words by Mark Pollard (I’ve been following Mark and his Sweathead Strategy Community for a while and his newest book is so far a great read)
48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene (More of a coffee-table book that should be looked at often as it’s brilliantly written and 100% applicable to today’s culture)