Here we are at the end of another year, and many of you reading this article are still trying to figure out the direction you plan to take with your marketing strategy in 2025.
If the investment in quality content (written, video, and audio) is outside the top of your priority list, then be prepared for another year of flat or declining website traffic.
It’s mind-boggling that so many businesses continue doubling down on outbound marketing campaigns in the form of PPC ads while also complaining that their efforts are becoming more costly and increasingly ineffective. “Ads” alone is not a marketing strategy.
Let’s discuss the importance of producing great content in the form of questions that may be easier for business owners and marketers to understand.
For brands that consistently publish great content, what makes you want to buy from them?
What Does Trust Have To Do With Marketing Strategy?
TRUST is “reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, and surety of a person or thing; confidence.”
INTEGRITY is “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.” Definitions from Dictionary.com
TRUST is established by a PERSON or THING with INTEGRITY - That THING is your business!
There is no better way for businesses to earn customer trust than by marketing with integrity. How exactly does a company do marketing with integrity? It produces its best possible content that overwhelmingly benefits visitors and customers alike.
Businesses that share expertise, solve problems for their readers, and give honest insight on overcoming their internal struggles will build trust quickly with prospects. Consumers and other businesses will value your business’s content and refer back to you for guidance on anything related to your expertise.
When I feel like a business is speaking directly to me by providing real value, with no strings attached, they’ve earned my trust and I will regularly visit their website as a trusted resource.
Humans don’t want to be sold. Humans want to be helped. Pushy sales and marketing tactics don’t work any longer.
Here’s a startling statistic that should drive this point home. Millennials are now the largest generation in our country’s history. According to Teamstage.io, 35% of the U.S. workforce are millennials, which amounts to roughly 56 million people.
This generation has essentially destroyed the traditional marketing playbook and is actively rewriting the rules. Addittionally, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that Gen Z will make up about 30% of the U.S. workforce by 2030.
Neither of these generations will trust or do business with you if you do not communicate with them in the most authentic and transparent manner. In fact, studies have shown that an overwhelming majority of Millennials (born 1977–1994) are impervious to unscrupulous marketing and sales tactics.
This should be a wake-up call to all businesses that don’t evolve.
Great content helps to establish credibility. While credibility alone doesn’t equal trust, it’s mandatory in earning your audience’s trust.
Below are five tips from Amrit Hallan’s article
5 Ways To Creating Credible Content People Can Trust
Hallan summarizes his article by writing, “the sole purpose of creating content for your website and blog is to increase your credibility in front of your present and prospective customers and clients. It’s no use writing content to increase your search engine visibility while having inferior content on your website because eventually people make buying decisions when your content succeeds in convincing them, that they should trust you.”
To be trusted is a greater compliment than being loved – George MacDonald
KEY TAKEAWAYS: