Trust That Sticks

Trust. It’s the social superglue that binds you to your own success. And, you make that superglue—all by yourself.

Unless you screw it up. (Do not screw it up.)

Trust is important. Whether it’s your personal life or your business life, trust must always be earned and it’s never easy to regain once lost.

Email marketing is only effective when a trio of basic trust conditions are met: your audience needs to trust you, you need to trust them and you both have to trust your message.

These three rules can make this happen:

1. Be authentic.
   Fall into genuine orbit of your audience. Dig into the data you have to uncover where they are in their story. Initiate a two-way conversation by showing your vulnerability; take a risk and share your personal story, warts and all.
2. Keep it simple.
   Your audience will tell you what they want from you; stick with that. Resist confusing the conversation with anything outside the bounds of what your customer reveals they want. Customer email-opens, click-throughs and other numbers will show you exactly what was relevant and compelling and what fell flat. The foot traffic analytics will show you right where customers see your value, making your next step a clear one. Fully commit to the direction readers tell you that they want your content to go.
3. Know your audience.
   Research your audience’s broader internet presence. Show your genuine enthusiasm for your audience’s goals and use what you’ve learned by personalizing your content as much as possible. Complement your audience data resources with specific direction from the audience themselves in delivering this increase in value. Cherry-pick the best of your ideas and let your stakeholders fine-tune your focus to reflect their current high-priority areas. Be willing to struggle and grow so your audience can get more of the value only you provide. Strive every day to deserve the time, attention, business and brand advocacy your audience gives and audiences reward you.

So feed your loyalists with high-mileage content that nourishes the growth they seek and they’ll mature into proud and social champions of your brand.

But please don’t feed them superglue.