Did you know more than 77 percent of B2B marketers believe that building brand trust is crucial today to improve revenues?
Brand trust has become the new marketing and advertising currency today. According to a recent Forbes survey, consumers are more likely to buy from the brand if they trust it. However, brand trust goes beyond conventional motivators like discounts or low prices.
It works as a long-term approach to building a strong relationship with consumers. When a brand knows how to build brand trust and keep it, it can become a reliable option for buyers in the long run.
As per Edelman’s report, brand trust theory is tremendously advantageous for marketers and businesses. Consumers are likely to buy from the brand they trust even if a disruption occurs. Instead, they advocate the brand and defend it as their choice.
However, it is only possible when the brand knows the right strategies to build brand trust and its importance. Whether a startup or an established business, professional marketing specialists like Los Angeles Public Relations can help you build brand trust to increase profit and customer loyalty.
Let’s plunge into the details to learn what brand trust is, why a brand needs to build brand trust, and ways to build brand trust.
What is Brand Trust?
Brand trust isn’t just about ensuring its products or services are good. Instead, it entails the entire customer’s experience with the brand, from purchasing to using and getting its results. When customers trust a specific brand’s products, a few primary factors help them build confidence in the brand.
Honesty or openness is the first factor. Being respectful and inclusive is the second factor, and the third is customer care. These three factors play a significant role in establishing brand trust, even if the brand or business is new.
Brands with these factors have the strong ability to build brand value and always have a competitive edge. Moreover, these factors are crucial for consumers as they can reassure them that they are making a good purchase. Incorporating these three characteristics is one of the ways to build brand trust. It allows consumers to make a buying decision.
People are today more concerned about the behavior of corporations toward their customers. Expert marketers recommend that brands incorporate more positive actions into marketing and brand trust strategies.
Brand Trust vs. Brand Loyalty
Brand trust vs. brand loyalty has been a topic of debate for years among marketers.
However, the root of brand loyalty is brand trust. When customers lose brand trust, they don’t prefer buying from the same source and look for other suppliers. As a result, the credibility and trustworthiness of the brands lead to loyalty and shape customer experience in the long run.
Many studies showed that brand commitment and trust significantly and positively influence the loyalty of consumers. Therefore, brand trust is vital in mediating the company’s and customers’ relationship.
Importance of Brand Trust
There is no denying that trust has been an integral aspect of any brand’s story. It has always been associated with the success of the company. Understanding brand trust and its importance is vital for brands because;
Makes Customer Experience Successful
If you’re a business that puts its customers first, you must have an idea of why brands need to build brand trust.
People also know when a brand sees them as more than just a way to make profits. Brands that consider offering a great customer experience as their priority are always the first choice of the buyers. Customers not only buy their products but also become loyal customers.
Brand trust encourages brand loyalty and brings value to your products. It makes your brand unique as you help customers find the answers to their solutions.
Affects Buying Decision
Brand trust is one of the most significant elements impacting customers’ buying decisions. It keeps the customers coming back to the brand. Once you establish brand trust, your buyers start supporting you. It can play an essential role in increasing the lifetime value of consumers.
Improves Brand Loyalty
If your brand remains consistent in terms of reliability, quality, and credibility, it can have plenty of benefits in the long run. Customers will always choose your brand repeatedly when making a purchase.
Makes Brand Advocates
A happy and satisfied customer is an asset to your brand. We say this because loyal customers always support, defend, and speak out in favor of your brand.
In short, a happy and loyal customer is your advocate and will make efforts to promote your brand. He shares his personal, positive experience with others which serves as word-of-mouth marketing. It is an excellent way to add to your brand reputation and entice new customers to buy from you.
Rules To Build Brand Trust
Here are two standard rules to build brand trust.
Always Be Transparent with Your Customers
Transparency is an integral part of brand trust. Nowadays, customers don’t inherently trust brands and have ways to track businesses and their value and reputation in the market. As a result, more than 94 percent of the consumers are likely to buy from a brand that ensures transparency in the business.
That is to say; you need to let your audience know:
· How do you do business to maintain transparency?
· What are your pricing and business practices?
· What are your employment practices?
· How do you ensure community involvement?
· What is your stance on social causes or issues?
Demonstrate Fairness
Another significant rule to building brand trust is showing fairness to your customers. It is especially true if your target audience is the younger generation. As Gen Z is more loyal and committed to the brands that maintain fairness in prices, support social causes, and stand up for their customers and employee rights.
How to Increase Brand Trust?
Gaining people’s trust isn’t an easy task and requires time, effort, and persistence. It would be best if you remained consistent with establishing brand trust that can lead to success.
To achieve this, your brand needs to have a solid brand management strategy to help you build trust and increase profit. A comprehensive brand trust strategy pays you off by turning your customers into repeat buyers.
You can increase brand trust by:
· Offering consistent customer service
· Sharing business values
· Building brand authenticity
· Building reputation via word-of-mouth
Ways to Build Brand Trust
Content Marketing to build Brand Trust
Content marketing to build brand trust is one of the proven ways many businesses use in this digital era. They create user-generated content to improve the image and reputation of their brand. Content marketing uses blogs, articles, and online publications to help people find the answer to their questions. It goes a long way to build the reputation of the brand.
It may also include a video on Facebook or YouTube, a Tweet about services, or a picture or review posted on Instagram. Remember that valuable content engages customers, provides information, and improves brand trust.
Social Media to Build Brand Trust
It is hard to deny the importance of social media in this digital era. Businesses and popular brands use social media marketing to build brand trust with a solid online presence. If a brand isn’t on social media, buyers will not likely trust it. Social media is the first place many consumers use to research the brand they want to buy.
Also, a considerable segment of your target audience is on social media. It makes using social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, essential to connect to the audience, provide helpful information, maintain plenty of conversations, and win buyers’ trust.
Maintaining a social media presence is one of the fastest ways to build brand trust.
Create Clear and Measurable Goals
Whether you want to improve leads, increase revenues, or build brand advocacy, you need attainable and clear goals to succeed.
No one can reach the target without definite goals. However, if you aim to increase website traffic, you need a plan to improve your following on social media.
Focus on creating a comprehensive plan that measures brand trust and includes ways to communicate it to the employees. Your plan should have a realistic and unified approach to establish trust.
Focus on Building Relationships rather than Making a Conversation
Let’s admit the market today is highly competitive, especially in making profits. However, if you’re a brand that knows how to convince consumers, you can succeed by making consumers shift towards your brand.
Typically, consumers look for affiliation to help them make sure they are spending money on the right product. This is one reason why influencer marketing has become so prolific. They have a good connection with the audience.
Make sure you create a unique experience with each customer to build a lasting relationship.
Build Social Proof
More than 87 percent of consumers read a company’s review before making a purchase decision. That makes building social proof one of the crucial facets of the marketing strategy. Therefore, you need to monitor the reviews about your brand to create trust and confidence in the consumers.
Responding to criticism and negative reviews of your products strengthens trust and leads customers to buy your products.
Be Authentic and Present
Gone are the days when you could fool your target audience with a traditional sales pitch. Today’s consumer is far more media savvy and knows who you’re or what your brand stands for. That is why you must create a unique and innovative brand story to convey your values, vision, and voice to the consumers.
Note that authenticity and trust work together to make a positive brand image. Try to be present, honest, and authentic with the customers even if you receive a complaint. It makes you look natural and promotes you as an authentic and dependable brand.
How to Measure Brand Trust?
Wondering how to build brand trust and equity with consumers?
Here are the steps you can follow.
Step 1:- Build connections with your consumers with the help of social media, blogs, and meaningful video content. It will help you build a rapport, and you can steer your pursuits in the right direction to make your brand a better fit.
Step 2:- Measure brand awareness by evaluating the number of links, web traffic, social media engagement, and shares of content and blogs.
Step 3:- Assess your brand equity which is the worth of your company. It comes from how your customers and prospects see or perceive your brand. Building brand equity with consumers is as significant as establishing brand trust. It can serve as an indicator of your brand’s health. You can measure it via NPS, sales data, and marketing output collected through focus groups and surveys.
Conclusion
Building brand trust is significant now more than ever as customers have shifted why and how they want to do business with brands. Try incorporating the ideas into your processes, practices, and communications to win consumers’ trust and stay relevant.
