You’ve heard of the ‘Know, Like, Trust’ factor, haven’t you?
It’s a well-established marketing principle. But have you had a think recently about how you’re using your words to support this tried-and-trusted way to attract your ideal clients?
In my experience, it’s far too easy for founders and consultants like you and me to feel familiar with an established theory… only to promptly skip over the piece about actually putting it into action. 🙄🫣
So perhaps a better question would be: How are you proactively building personality into your positioning, messaging and all the other writing you do for your business?
As you might have come to expect, I’ve got a few ideas around that..
The ‘Know, Like, Trust’ principle underpins all effective marketing activity. The core concept is that if you can provide the stepping stones to help your ideal clients get to know you, to like you and, ultimately, to trust you, they’re far more likely to be prepared to buy from you. (When they’re ready, of course – and that’s an entirely different kettle of fish.)
Without this staged relationship-building approach, the sale is far less likely to happen. Because if these people have only just heard of you and certainly haven’t yet formed a good enough impression that they proactively like the sound of you, then you’ve barely got a chance…
So, how can you use your words and language to influence their opinion of you and your business?
Build personality into your business writing
During the course of your everyday writing for and about your business, try to keep the ‘Know, Like, Trust’ principle in mind. Consider how you can help nurture each step through what you write – whether it’s an introductory email, a response to a proposal request, a blog article, a podcast guest appearance pitch, your LinkedIn profile or copy on your website perhaps.
If you can nail this ‘Know, Like, Trust’ thinking in your written communications, it’s easier for you to become known for your particular area of expertise. That will help you to build up an audience of interested followers (and potential referrers), some of whom will then be far more inclined to ultimately become loyal customers and ongoing advocates too.
Consider these pointers:
KNOW is about expressing who you are and what you do in an effective way – and about your audience understanding how you can potentially help them.
> Talk directly to your ideal client – create and position your content to meet their needs.
> Make your positioning and messaging memorable – what can you deliver that others can’t?
> Be clear about what you’re offering – and what you’re not.
> Make sure people clearly understand where your expertise lies – and use that to build credibility.
LIKE is about building a sense of the personality of you and your business into your writing – to help your audience better appreciate who and what they’re potentially buying into.
> Which individual would you rather do business with: someone who writes in a boring, formal and impersonal way or someone who sounds friendly and approachable?
> Raising your profile is great, but you need to tick the ‘likeability’ box too.
> Strive to build connections – share experiences and stories, and offer valuable, relevant content.
> Don’t be afraid to express your personality through your writing – people buy from people.
> Be authentic and embrace your uniqueness – it will attract clients you actually want to work with.
TRUST is about communicating your credibility and expertise – to help potential clients feel reassured that a decision to work with you would be a great idea.
> Be reliable – always deliver what you say you will, preferably in an impressive way.
> Demonstrate consistent quality – set the benchmark for what clients can always expect from you.
> Use testimonials – let others share positive experiences and tell potential clients how good you are.
> Create case studies – to showcase your capabilities and give potential clients a real-world insight into what it might be like to work with you.
Across all of these stages of the relationship-building process (and bear in mind that the whole process might take a week, a month or even a year, depending on the nature of your business), you want to convince potential clients with the quality and relevance of your writing and your expertise – and win them over with your personality at every step.
So keep your language clear, simple and compelling. Steer clear of jargon and over-complicated sentences, and check carefully for errors and unnecessary ‘fluff’. And always be ‘you’ in your writing.
Don’t let bland messaging undermine all the effort you’re putting in elsewhere in your business.
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If you enjoyed this, you might also like:
> Video: Discover the benefits of better business writing
> Everyone can write, right? Wrong.
> Video: Why should you care about better business writing?
