By: Stephanie McCredie, Contributing Author
A staggering amount of digital content is created and shared online every day but the decline in its integrity is drastically failing the consumer. The global uprise in fake news, misinformation and propaganda has turbo-charged with digital technology. This falsity has infected the media-world causing a major decline in consumer trust with skepticism becoming the by-product.
More than ever before, our marketing content, especially our online content, is ‘untrustworthy until proven trustworthy’ in the eyes of the public. The development of consumer trust needs to become our priority. We can spend many hours updating our websites, boosting our SEO, designing advertisements and writing marketing content and all of these will give us clicks but lead no further if the consumer does not trust what they read via our marketing channels.
Trust is an intangible asset that can take years to develop but a mere second to crumble. We have seen many companies lose their good reputation because of a simple decision they have made or because of a piece of content they have published that has had a devastating effect.
How can we help build consumer trust in our digital marketing?
● Build a foundation of strong company values
● Allow these values to shine through our online marketing
● Be authentic, transparent and consistent in our digital marketing
● Maintain fast and personalised communications with customers
● Encourage customer reviews and promote these
● Be open and welcoming of feedback
So when struggling to convert customers, maybe it’s not a branding issue, or a lack in your SEO, or your marketing content not being persuasive enough. Try making the development of consumer trust a priority in your business strategy.