One of the most important things that anyone needs to understand about marketing is that the decision to purchase is almost always going to be a largely emotional decision. Whether we are talking about a homeless man, an average soccer mom, or a Fortune 500 CEO, this fact almost invariably holds true. When people choose to purchase, they are making an emotional decision – an emotional investment – not entirely unlike when they choose to be with a romantic interest.

When people decide to pay you money, they do it because they believe in you. They trust that you will give them your money’s worth. And for that reason, establishing a sense of trust is one of the most important things you can do in your marketing. People may know about you. They may laugh at your humorous ads. They may find the things you say interesting. But if they do not trust you, they will not buy.

That being the case, it is very important to understand exactly what causes this trust to develop, as well as what the different aspects of it are.

In marketing, buyer trust is based on three things that buyers see in you:

  1. Honesty. They need to believe that you won’t lie to them or take their money and run.
  2. Competence. Just because you honestly intend to deliver on your promises, that doesn’t mean you actually can. If they trust your competence, they believe that you have the knowledge and the skills to deliver.
  3. Diligence. They need to believe that you will go to great pains to accomplish what they need you to accomplish.

Now, how can an entrepreneur establish a sense of trust based on these three things? Here are some tips…

Showing Honesty in Your Marketing

To imbue your audience with a sense of your honesty, do the following:

  • Be genuine. Go unscripted in your videos. Laugh. Smile. Show emotion.
  • Be personal. Tell your audience about yourself. Share personal stories. Talk about what you are aspiring for and what you are struggling with.
  • Be vulnerable. Show your weaknesses. Everyone has them. People who are afraid of showing even the slightest weakness are often dangerous in various ways, and your prospects know that.
  • Admit to mistakes. If you make a poor decision, own up to it, and tell people about it. Show remorse, and show them how you have learned from this mistake.
  • Be open. Make it clear what your intentions are in every situation. If you are being cagey or relying on tangents to avoid uncomfortable topics, people will pick up on that.

In the end, it is impossible to provide incontrovertible evidence showing that you are honest. People know that. It is just something that they feel. You can make them feel it through the subtleties of how you communicate.

Showing Competence in Your Marketing

While honesty is important in establishing trust, honesty alone is not enough. You may completely believe that you are able to deliver on your promises, and you may fully intend to bring about the results that you are talking about, but that does not in any way mean that you actually will.

To give your audience reason to believe in your competence, do the following:

  • Answer questions. In your marketing content, address questions people often have relating to what you do. If these questions come from actual prospects, even better.
  • Solve problems. Going beyond the theoretical, show that you can actually apply your answers to real situations. Document this and share it.
  • Stir up some controversy. While you should be careful not to make your marketing copy read like a tabloid, controversy is a great source of marketing juice. Controversial topics are controversial because people talk about them. I recently posted my review of a business book that makes numerous controversial claims. I think a few of those claims were either oversimplified or outright wrong, but despite that, the controversy was communicated as part of the overall message is an organic and meaningful way such that it makes for great marketing. In any case of controversy, the mere fact that you have thought about things enough to have a controversial opinion helps to establish you as someone with competence in that area.
  • Involve your clients. Publish testimonials and case studies. Nothing shows competence more effectively than a real story with real people whom you have helped with your expertise.

Showing Diligence in Your Marketing

So your prospects can see that you are honest and that you have the skills necessary to deliver results.

Now, if you really want them to trust you, what you need to show is that you are diligent. Here is how to show you are diligent:

  • Post content regularly. This may be Facebook posts, blog posts, Instagram videos, YouTube videos, etc. It’s generally much more effective to post 10 one-minute videos over the course of a month than to post 1 ten-minute video per month. The fact that you post content regularly shows that you are dedicated to your business.
  • Be responsive. Whether we are talking about emails, telephone calls, or messages and comments in social media, stay on top of things and respond to people who have reached out to you. If they have to wait 48 hours or more for a reply from you, that shows them that you are not duly dedicated to them or to your business.

By managing to convey a sense of honesty, competence, and diligence in your marketing, you will make the folks in your audience feel that they can trust you. And when they do, seeing their need for what you offer, they will not hesitate to buy from you.