How to get potential customers to know, like and trust your brand

It is common knowledge that to do business successfully, your customers need to know, like, and trust you or your brand – but how do you achieve this for your business? As a legal professional focused on solo and small businesses, Shalini Nandan Singh shares her top tips.

Do your potential customers know, like and trust your brand? And do the same rules apply to product-based businesses as much as service-based ones? Yes! The principle might look different in practice across various industries, but the foundation remains the same.

To me, it is a no-brainer that creating an experience where customers get to know, like and trust your business is imperative to ongoing success. To match with an effective solution to my problems, I choose service providers and products I know, like and trust every day.

Implementing the Know, Like and Trust principle with your business

I know you are wondering, “How can I successfully implement these practices into my business? For example, I don’t want to share all my personal details online; how do I get people to know and like me, let alone trust me?”

From my experience in my own business and working with other startup business owners, here is what I think works to implement the Know, Like and Trust principle.

Know: Getting to know you

Business is personal, particularly in service-based industries. You, your business or your brand must be KNOWN for something for customers to consider working with you in the first place.

For instance, Love Your Legals is known for contract drafting and legal templates. So I put myself out into the world, both online and in-person, plus the business is on constant display through my website and online marketing.

For many small, product-based businesses, getting to know the people behind the brand is an integral part of your marketing strategy. Customers don’t need to know about every aspect of your personal life – simply knowing that you care about what you create and appreciate your customers is a great start.

When you think of the BIG brands out there, you might think that they don’t focus heavily on this part of their business, but in my opinion, they still do. They might not be sharing pictures of the family packing orders around the kitchen table anymore, but they certainly make sure you know the brand and what they stand for.

Like: Not everyone needs to like you (and that is OK)

The ‘like’ part of this equation does not mean that everyone needs to like you or your brand. It simply means that your ideal customers and those who eventually engage you probably will like you to some degree.

When running a service-based business, it is much easier for you to do business with clients you like and vice-versa. You do not need to be best friends with your clients or have the same interests, but mutual respect and appreciation build strong relationships.

When it comes to product-based businesses, the like factor can apply to people choosing to proudly share that they purchase your homemade cakes, perfect-fit leggings or artwork, for example. They like your brand enough to tell their friends or the entire world via social media – in which case, you should consider an effective user-generated content (UGC) strategy.

Trust: Building trust can occur quickly

Creating trust with new customers won’t happen instantaneously, but you can build trust quickly with the right tools in place.

There are many ways you can build trust with customers. Here are some of my favourites:

Share reviews and testimonials. New customers will often trust the opinions of others who have come before them.
Provide lots of free value through resources on your website and social media platforms. You can showcase that you are an expert in your field before the customer commits to working with you.
Tell customers about trust metrics, such as accreditations, memberships, training, return policies, website terms of use and privacy policies.
Create transparent and fair service agreements and terms and conditions for service-based businesses. They will build trust and add credibility that drives buying decisions.

Does your business have good contracts to build trust with your clients and customers? It is easy to get started by downloading and editing my templates that suit many start-ups and small businesses.

You may have fallen into the trap of competing on price – or perceived value for money – which can be a significant purchase driver. Still, ultimately it will not override the know, like and trust factors of doing business.

The know, like, and trust principles need to continue throughout the relationship to keep customers. If you drop the ball in any of these areas, you could be losing customers through more than just the usual turnover.

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