Why is trust so important in content marketing?

Content marketing describes all the activities that companies carry out in marketing with their content, i.e. texts, images and videos. I will restrict myself to digital content. A whole range of goals are pursued in the process. Exuding trust is usually not the primary objective. Why is it so important nevertheless?

Goals of the Content Strategy

Content marketing is primarily about two goals: To strengthen one's own brand (branding) and to attract new customers. A distinction must be made between content that is created to bring users to one's own website and content on one's own websites.

Branding trust

Branding is first and foremost about communicating the core of the company and its characteristics in a memorable way. For many companies, radiating trustworthiness is an essential goal. The list of appropriate slogans is long. A few examples:

Trust obliges - Old Leipzig
Trust is the beginning of everything - German Bank
For confidence in life - AXA
This chancellor creates trust - Helmut Kohl

Slogans.com lists 306 slogans that contain the word trust. For all these companies, trust is the essential value of their business. They are therefore well advised to do everything that pays into their trustworthiness. This is, of course, first and foremost their own actions. The examples mentioned above show that you can do a lot of things wrong. Those who slide from one financial scandal to the next (of course, Deutsche Bank) will find it very difficult to build and maintain the trust of their customers and partners. Or anyone who deals in dirty money (for the younger generation, that was former Chancellor Helmut Kohl) will rightly be voted out of office.

However, I basically assume for the time being that the vast majority of companies and employees in companies are righteous. They act correctly and thus lay the foundation for the trust of their customers. Many entrepreneurs and companies go far beyond simply acting "in order". For them, it is downright DNA to behave in a way that makes a positive contribution to society. This includes doing everything possible to make customers happy. Acting in this way may even earn them a vote of confidence. And this is where communication comes into play. Without communication, no one simply knows what a benevolent entrepreneur you are. With the right content marketing, that can be changed. The Methods and individual building blocks I have already described in detail.

Trust is also important for companies whose core values are different. After all, it's about communicating those core values in a trustworthy way. I have to be able to believe (and trust) that the company or even its products are indeed "easy to use," "healthy," "delicious," or whatever. For this, it is elementary to know and use the methods for trustworthy communication.

Confidence in new customer acquisition

The second big goal in content marketing is to reach new customers and motivate them to contact the company. The use of trust modules for all types of companies helps with this.

Only those who communicate in a trustworthy manner have a chance of successfully addressing new customers. In content marketing, the needs of customers are typically first analyzed using search terms and surveys. To bring customers to its own website or landing page, the company can rely both on its own content, which is then shared by visitors or listed by search engines. Alternatively, own content can also be placed on other pages, social networks or magazine pages.

The great art is to combine the search terms of the potential customers with the appropriate own confidence building blocks. Those searching for "experience dentist" are most likely to be convinced by exemplary positive results. Whoever searches for "fast delivery" should find out something about capacity. And whoever searches for "value-oriented management consultant" will best find a page with their own values and matching actions, from which integrity can be read. That sounds simple. In practice, this matching requires a clear prioritization of the search terms and the corresponding preparation of the content.

Content marketing is usually about creating a series of content for the aforementioned goals on an ongoing basis. This can take the form of a blog, a podcast, or exclusively on social sites like Instagram or LinkedIn. The trust blocks are a good basis for thinking about the content to be created. This way, you are on the safe side of not overlooking any aspect that is important for creating trustworthiness with your digital content.

Summary

Without radiating trustworthiness, it is neither possible to communicate one's own brand values convincingly nor to successfully address new customers. Therefore, every employee in content marketing is well advised to deal with the building blocks for the communication of trust and to use them in the Content Creation to use.