10 Tips For Building Trust In Your Brand

If you want to build trust then remaining consistent is the first step to achieving that. Consistency is what reassures us, makes us feel confident and instills trust. If you’ve ever been to your favourite restaurant and received poor service or bad food your trust in that brand starts to diminish. Too many poor experiences and the trust will be completely depleted. So when it comes to your brand, stay consistent as much as possible. Consistent visuals, consistent messaging, consistent products and consistent service.

In order to build trust your brand needs a solid strategy behind it. Launching a brand with a logo and a product is not a strategy I’m afraid. It is merely a product and a pretty picture with very little meaning behind it. Taking the time to develop a solid strategy will ensure you know exactly who your target audience is and why your product or service meets their needs better than your competition. By knowing this critical information you can design your whole brand experience to speak directly to your audience. What does this do? It shows your audience you understand them and know what they need and desire. What does that do? Yes you guessed it…it builds trust.

The saying ‘A picture speaks a thousand words’ couldn’t be more true when it comes to branding. When was the last time you saw a business with a cheap, tacky looking logo or poorly designed website and thought….”I really trust those guys.” I bet never! The best products or services are ruined by poor design work. Investing time and money into professional design is worth so much more than the actual dollars you will spend on it. A well designed brand will speak to the right people in the right way and build trust right from the get-go.

When you’re looking at your brand as a whole, it all needs to fit together well. The visual piece needs to fit with the messaging piece which needs to slot nicely into the social media piece. Everything should feel like part of a family and complement one another. If all of a sudden I was to put purple into my colour scheme for example, it would look odd and confusing. This confusion sends the wrong message to my audience and starts to diminish the trust in my brand. So take a moment to look at every element of your brand with a critical eye and if it doesn’t fit, get rid of it!

When you launch a brand of your own it’s exciting! But you must remember to stay focused on your customer at all times. What do they want? Need? Desire? How can you serve them better? It’s easy to fall into the trap of doing what YOU want because it’s YOUR brand. I get it! But we develop brands as a way to satisfy our customer’s needs and wants so in a way it’s THEIR brand. Without their loyalty and trust your brand wouldn’t exist. So keep that focus on your customer and watch the trust in your brand soar!

This one harks back to number 1 but I feel it needs reinforcement. The one thing that makes the most successful brands stand out from the rest is their consistency to deliver upon their brand values. Apple are known for innovation and they deliver that consistently. Ikea are known for simplicity and cost effectiveness and they deliver that consistently. Whatever your brand values are and however you choose to communicate them, make sure you are like clockwork in that delivery. Don’t disappear from social media for months at a time if one of your brand values is to be transparent and open. Don’t skimp on packaging innovation if another of your brand values is sustainability. Make a plan and stick to it….like clock work!

Think of your brand as a friend. What would make you like and trust a friend? If they were trying to be something they’re not, would you feel connected to them? Trust them? Highly unlikely. The same goes for your brand. Be authentic and real with your audience (in the right setting). Social media is perfect for this. Things like Instagram stories are the ideal way to share behind the scenes sneak peeks and more of you and your teams’ personality. This adds depth to your brand but don’t take it too far. Make sure it’s within the realm of your brand values to ensure you remain consistent (there’s that word again.)

The best brands are those that are flexible and adaptable to what’s going on around them. There’s been many examples over the years of brands that have withered and died due to an unwillingness to embrace change. With the world changing so rapidly and technology playing such a large role, brands need to adapt quickly! If you don’t adapt, your competitor surely will. Your most loyal customers may have no other choice but to swap to another brand which would obviously be detrimental. So remain flexible, stay open to new ideas and opportunities and don’t be scared to try new things!

Try to regularly think of ways you can add value to your customer’s experience with your brand. As opposed to a simple exchange of money for products or services, how else can you create value opportunities for your customer. A free download like this is one way you could offer added value to your customers. Perhaps there is after sales service you could provide, extended warranties, community groups that bring customers together, free gift wrapping in store…the list is endless. Think of experiences you’ve had with other brands and make a list of what has really stood out. How could you implement something similar, that brings up similar emotions for your customer?

If you say you’re going to do something, then do it. Simple as that. Nothing ruins trust faster than someone promising something and not delivering. If you can over deliver, then do that. Surprise people by exceeding their expectations. It won’t just build trust it will build admiration, respect and the best word-of-mouth you could hope for. There’s still no better marketing for your brand than a friend telling another friend about how friggin’ awesome your business is. The opinion of your customers is the only thing that really matters as they’ll be your biggest advocates! So nurture those relationships as if your life depends on it…because the life of your brand literally does!