Creating Content That Connects and Builds Trust

As a Content Strategist, it's my job to do the deep diving. I love to start from scratch.

I want to know all about the audience. What are the challenges they face? What are the goals the have? What are the things that hold them back? What are the misconceptions they have around facing their challenges? For all these things, I want deep context into the why's and how's.

Why? It's how to deliver tailored, precise, and effective content. This is where we start to create content that drives business objectives.

I love creating content that connects with people.

In B2B, doing so can be a bit difficult though, right?

You see, in B2B — where we sometimes take things just a little too seriously — we can end up creating content that make us feel very buttoned-up, professional, and I guess... corporate.

It feels... right, right?

We're a serious business doing serious things! We put out statements about what's happening in our business. We announce a new partnership. We make announcements from our company's LinkedIn. We get a like or two... sometimes.

In being so serious about our image, our messaging becomes boring. It doesn't demand attention.

But how do the people we want to be our customers feel about us? Do they even feel about us? Are they even aware we're here?

Unfortunately, for many organizations, this is the content marketing experience.

They're kind of trying it on but it doesn't seem to fit and nothing converts to the sales or growth they want from it.

There are other factors involved in this outcome that aren't content related. But lets assume things are good on all fronts.

This is where organizations move down one of two paths:

1. They keep focusing on metrics that often give the impression of growth (looking at you, page views!) or
2. They give up on content altogether. They assume it's something for bigger companies with more money and influence.

Giving up is the worst option. Every business of every kind can enjoy content benefits. The issue is fit. And like you do with a suit that doesn't fit well, you need to tailor content to better fit the audience.

Want to know what separates effective and ineffective content? It comes down to understanding why you use content in the first place.

If you don't, you use content to influence metrics that don't matter to the organization in the long-run. And often, not in the short-term, either.

So what are you supposed to do? What am I trying to tell you by dragging you through this article?

It's this:

If you want to use content to drive growth, stop focusing on what you offer and instead focus on why. Assume that no one cares about your company at all. They likely don't. And they aren't supposed to.

It's our job to make it matter. So how do we do that?

We empathize with our target audience so hard it almost hurts (us, not them, but also not us). We use that empathy to build trust through great content that matters to them.

Let's start with the end in mind.

Why Building Trust Matters So Damn Much

Trust thrives in showing customers and prospects you have the answers. To help them overcome their business challenges. To help them achieve their business goals. To inform them in making critical business decisions.

When you think about trust, think brand building, think building authority.

To focus on growth, you have to focus on building trust. This should be a part of the company culture to follow-through with it at every touchpoint. But, since I'm not a culture strategist, I digress and get back into my corner.

Here's the thing about trust and business:

Without trust, customers doubt your company, your products, your services, and your ability. Once they do that, you've lost them. Likely for good.

But when they trust you, they buy! They buy more and more often. They stick around longer (shoutout to retention!). And (but wait, there's more), they give you referrals! And that; that is the golden ticket!

By making referrals, they're telling prospects that they should trust you, for you!

You didn't even have to do the convincing! People trust each other more than they do brand messaging. After all, no company is willing to admit that they are in fact the third best solution and #4 is on their heels.

That's great ROI! With tailored content, you build trust in your brand before they're ready to speak to a member of your sales team.

The point: to drive growth, focus on building trust.

This is where we get back to empathy. To focus and act on building trust, you need to know your audience.

Empathy x Timely, Value-Driven Content

Earlier, I mentioned empathizing with our target audience so hard that it hurts.

And I say that because it's going to hurt a bit. But these are growing pains.

Going through this conversion is not easy. It makes you feel like something is off, at first.

Your messaging becomes less sales-y. You'll feel like you're not doing the right thing to "get the word out". And you'll want immediate gratification that this is the right move. And you can get it. But it won't happen by hitting publish and waiting for the dollars to blow your door down.

Used to talking about the features and benefits from several angles, all the time? Don't worry, there's plenty of room for that, but it can't be the de facto method for every moment in the buying journey.

That kind of content has it's time and place. To be effective, we need to address their challenges before they're shopping for what we offer.

That leads to the rest of interactions that lead to the solution.

This is why it's important to actually speak to customers. This is why it's so important to tap your internal subject matter experts. This is why it's important to get insights from your sales and customer support teams.

They all have unique insights essential to knowing when and why they face challenges.

This knowledge is essential. It helps you map out the customer journey and create content that resonates.

They have X misconception about achieving their goals? Create content to help them see things clearer. They might have let that misconception deter them, but now they have your insights to guide them.

They move forward.

They face X common challenges and you know of some best practice to overcome them? Create content that helps them navigate these challenges and ship it! Again, they otherwise may deter or slow.

But you provided exactly the insights they needed. And because of that...

They move forward.

Before becoming a customer, they're telling colleagues about your newsletter/blog/LinkedIn. They're building connections for you.

Before they've formally reached out to your company, they're already thinking, "Wow, they really know their stuff. I need to stick with them."

When it's time to choose between your brand or another that keeps trying to sell to them, their bias leans you way. You've been in their corner the entire time. You've proven you're a worthy partner before the first conversation.

There's Pain Before Gain

Deploying empathy to have an impact on trust might mean making a direct change in your efforts.

You'll need to be critical about whether content adds value or drives vanity metrics.

And often, that is the struggle.

That will likely mean making a decision on whether to focus more on keywords or real customer needs and curiosities.

The problems you solve might be so specific that keyword metrics don't support it. But you know your customers face these things. It would be a mistake to not create content your audience values because of low search volume.

In fact, low search volume can often be the best opportunities. The volume may be low, but the intent can be high. And that's better than going for an oversaturated keyword with high volume and low intent. That doesn't convert.

What's better? Being a top search result or actually influencing sales? It's common to be #1 on SERPs for relevant keywords and still fail to convert.

What's great for search engine algorithms may relay no value for your audience.

Most of the time, that's because the content doesn't actually match the intent of the query. This is why so much content has high bounce rates and poor time on page.

The only way to win is to match the intent!

And this is where content and SEO can meet and play nice. The best way to optimize for search engines is to optimize for your customers and their needs.

You can vary content type by the query intent, delivering value where it's needed in proper formats. Lending real value builds brand awareness, influences trust, develops authority, and drives growth.

This is the way to leverage content marketing. This is where the machine gains a life all its own. This is where brands begin to break away from the pack. This is how we use content as a tool to directly impact business goals.