Whether you're in business a year or ten years, you want clients to trust you. How can you build that trust online? Simple. By establishing your industry expertise. You don't have to be the world expert in everything to do with your industry but demonstrating a knowledge base in a particular aspect of your niche means that over time people will know to consult you or your business before making a decision. Customers want to be informed. Your brand's content marketing can help.
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Establishing you or your brand as the experts in an area helps to not only build trust, but opens the door to various opportunities your competition are missing by not occupying your space. In this post we'll consider three ways your content marketing can support your mission to establish expertise.
For the sake of illustration, let's pretend that you are a medical app company. Here are three ways that content marketing can inform customer trust for your brand overall and ultimately influence conversion.
Blog Posts & Articles:
By authoring a series of blog posts or articles on your site -- bonus points if you can be 'published' in a press outlet, too -- you are staking your claim to a particular area. Consider the pain points that your business -- in this example, a medical app -- addresses for the end user and write about each of those in detail. Bonus points if you already know that your end user and purchaser are different 'personas'. No, you don't have to write twice as much content, just write and address the audience authentically.
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People can tell when something is AI generated or written to sell. Avoid, avoid, avoid! Customers are still very much looking for the 'human' touch in marketing even if they are raising the stakes on the expected efficiency of customer service. In your blog posts and articles you can write for the layman or you can write for the industry colleague, it's up to you. Figuring out your audience and crafting content around their needs/interests will show that you are invested in your business not just in the sales.
The medical app business for example might publish a number of blog posts about the diagnosis, treatment process and post-treatment experience for the area where their app interacts. Demonstrating a knowledge base in the area where you are looking to sell is confident and will attract interest.
Webinars & Events:
Hosting virtual and in person events is a great way to build brand awareness and authority in a field. Now more than ever people are looking to network and develop their connections so creating a space within your niche for education and cross pollination of networks is valuable. People want to be in the room with other people, in a business sense, so creating that space is worthwhile.
Whether you can afford to host an in person event or not, virtual events are 'virtually' free with the exception of time and resources to facilitate. If you determine that a virtual webinar would be a good outlet for business you can consider hosting it yourself with a presentation or inviting adjacent experts to present on their research or work.
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This demonstration of willingness to present -- and ability to do so effectively -- on your choice of topic will open the door to future speaking opportunities that could lead to growth for the business. By putting yourself 'out there' you are putting yourself ahead of the competition and offering to share your expertise.
For example, the medical app client might host a networking event around the time a conference is occuring in their city or they might hold a virtual information session with 1-3 guest speakers. With virtual events you can even experiment with 'standing' dates and hold a virtual session once a month then advertise it to your networks. Consider them 'office hours'. There's lots of opportunity in the webinar and event space for making your mark and becoming known to fellows in your industry looking for future speakers, etc. You never know who will be in the room!
Case Studies (or Reviews):
Ask your clients, beta-testers, or whoever if you can share the story of working with them. Don't worry, you don't have to 'name and shame' them -- simply having a story or anecdote to roll out for future clients or customers is as valuable as gold dest. It shows that you are not 'green' and that you have worked in the space for however long. It also subconsciously reinforces for the listener or reader that there are individuals who can speak to the experience of buying or working with you. People are more likely to buy from a brand where they recognize themselves in the customer base so within reason share what your target market looks like.
If you are an e-commerce product based business consider the power of reviews or User Generated Content (UGC) on platforms like social media but also your website. Don't be afraid to ask for and share customer or client experience. It is priceless!
Polish how your Case Studies or UGC will appear and be used across your marketing. Will you record video? Create static graphics that can be used in email and on the website? Get creative and don't be afraid to use the feedback to highlight the benefits of choosing your business for future customers.
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The medical app may have a number of trials at hospitals or clinics. Being able to 'name drop' these hospitals or clinics builds a relationship in the prospective client's brain between the brand and the legacies of those institutions. Think 'If XYZ uses ABC, then ABC might work for us.' Use a combination of data and anecdote in your sales pitch depending on your audience.
Summary:
People buy from brands they trust. Build trust with authentic content marketing such as blog posts, webinars or events, and case studies. You don't have to be the expert in all things just the expert on your thing.
Get in Touch.
Have a question about how content marketing can help your brand build expertise? Get in touch today -- write to us at liz@litirmarketing.com
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