People purchase from those they know, like and trust (K-L-T). In fact, research shows that 81% of customers say that they must be able to trust the brand they buy from.
Most business owners are great at getting out there, being visible and getting people to know them – they might be on social media, networking, using paid ads, etc.
However, I find that often there is an important piece of their K-L-T journey that’s missing –the building of trust. A successful marketing strategy includes 5-steps as depicted below.
Engage is about getting those new prospects to take some small action, preferably giving you their email address.
Cultivate is about nurturing the relationship because it’s rare that prospects will purchase from you on the first date – it’s said that it takes at least 8-12 touch points to build the K-L-T relationship.
Convert is the stage where your prospects buy from you.
WOW is the stage where you give your clients a WOW customer experience so that they become loyal customers and send you referrals.
CULTIVATE is the stage of building trust!
Here’s an example of what I mean when the trust-building stage is missing…..
One of my clients and I were reviewing her 5-step marketing strategy. She is amazing at getting out there and speaking (captivate). During her talks she uses the call-to-action, to book an appointment with her (Engage). They book the appointment and if during the appointment they don’t purchase (convert) – they are lost! There is no follow-up or system to put them back into a CULTIVATE system where they can build the K-L-T until they are ready to purchase.
So while this client was amazing at getting new prospects into her system, there was a HUGE gap at the Cultivate stage which we rectified by creating a series of follow-up emails.
Why emails you ask? Because, according to BDC, your ROI (return on investment for email) is 4200% and depending on who you talk to, the ROI for social media is 20-500%.
So when I’m looking to work less, I love email for nurturing my prospects and building Know-Like-Trust.
Let’s go back to Episode 128 about building a trusted brand in 2024. In this episode, I’ll share two other secrets for building trust. You’ll want to listen here.
YOU CAN DO THIS!
Diana
BE IN THE KNOW:
WorkLessPROFITMore podcast: Ep.128 is the last in the Love Your Brand series for the month of February and is all about building trust! Listen here.
