You get the whole gist of your brand needing to build trust, right?
But the question is how do you gain someone’s trust?
This is where people tend to go off the rails because they study all of the marketing tactics around Pinterest, SEO, Facebook, and Instagram.
(Note: If you need to know the difference between Strategy and Tactics, check out this post.)
That’s not the right approach.
While you should use some or all of those platforms to reach an audience, it’s not what you should do first to build trust.
Remember, it’s easy to put up a giant blinking sign on the side of the road to get people to look in that direction, but if you want people to keep coming back you have to offer something more.
So what is that more?
In a nutshell, your brand has to be transformative.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t like using that word, but it’s appropriate.
It’s appropriate because great brands help people transform from who they are currently into what they wish to become.
When I purchased a $5,000 computer, I didn’t do so because I was in awe of its features. I did so because I envisioned the person that I would become after using it.
I imagined myself creating a ton of cool things and sharing them with the world.
When I sell you on an Odd Noodle offer, the biggest selling point isn’t the features (lessons, bonuses, community) that it has. It’s the fact that the offer is going to transform you and your business into what you want it to be.
If a brand can do that on a consistent basis, then chances are, you will stick with that brand.
That’s what I mean when I say your brand has to be transformative.
Just a Blog
This is where people usually tell me that they are just a person starting a blog. Not an expert creating an awesome product.
Well first off, your blog is itself a product. You have to sell people on it. You have to convince them that coming back to your blog is worth it.
Same with your mailing list.
The only way you can truly do that is by helping people transform.
Sure you can get people to your site by writing a list post with a creative title. Sure you can get people to sign up for your mailing list by offering them a free printable.
But will they stay on your site? Will they actually read your emails?
That’s what really matters.
Let’s say you don’t know a thing about WordPress. In your mind, the perfect scenario would be that you could navigate WordPress with ease and make the changes that you want.
You come across a blog post of mine where I give you an introduction to WordPress. It helps to get you over the first hump and you feel like you’re getting closer to becoming that WordPress know-it-all you envisioned.
What are the chances you’ll either sign up for my mailing list (where I promise you more WordPress knowledge), buy my course on WordPress (where I guarantee you’ll master WordPress) or continue to explore my site looking for more WordPress awesomeness?
I’d say the chances are pretty high.
That’s why you can’t get away with the excuse of not having time to create a transformative brand.
You aren’t adding on any extra time to your usual workflow.
It’s like telling a kid it’s much harder to be nice than it is to be mean.
When you understand what your brand is helping a person do then you start to see how you can relay that vision into everything that you do.
It’s actually more work not to do this upfront and then try to go back and fix it all.
So no, you aren’t just creating a blog.
You’re creating a brand that will help people because you want this business thing to last and it can only last if it’s transformative.
Why People Buy
People will buy from you when they like you.
However, they won’t buy things that they don’t think will improve their lives.
Literally the only thing that people buy is improvement.
Nothing else.
Somehow they’ve convinced themselves that what they are going to buy will improve their life.
Or maybe you helped to convince them.
Either way, if it doesn’t improve their lives, then why bother buying it?
I mean, Snickers stopped doing ads about what is in a Snickers and instead focused on commercials showing what Snickers can do for you.
What about Apple ads? How often do they talk about the technology versus showing what the technology helps people do?
All of this probably sounds great to you. Yes, you want to create a transformative brand!
But how in the hell do you go about doing it?
Let’s find out.