I really, really struggle with trust. It’s an ongoing battle. One I’m slowly winning. I kind of see it as my superpower.

Going through what I did as a child really does make you acutely aware of people and their level of trust with you and you with them.

How slowly it’s earned and how easily it becomes broken.

Prince said it best from the batman movie soundtrack!

Trust - who do ya?Trust - what makes U a real lover?Trust - I put this question to yaCuz I want U 2 be with me

What a songwriter that man was. But so applicable to business today.

Trust is a precious thing. But how do we earn it? And most importantly how do we keep it with our prospects?

The old marketing funnel analogy used to be know, like and trust. But I’d actually say trust is far higher up that funnel in the digital age than you think.

The latest Edelman and LinkedIn Trust and credibility report tell us

"64% of buyers say that an organisation thought leadership content is a more trustworthy basis for assessing its capabilities and competency than its marketing materials and product sheets".

See your buyer doesn't know you yet, let alone trust you.

And every piece of marketing collateral you put out saying you need to buy our thing, every email you send inviting them to a webinar they had no intention of attending and every cold call you make destroys that precious trust. Inch by inch.

Imagine it like a delicate ballet, a dance with them. Slowly building trust over time until they understand you and how you can genuinely help them and THEN they are ready to buy.

And that is so powerful through social, because we can be so targeted and we can do it at scale.

We can really pinpoint and get to the heart of what we are trying to say and we can create content that is extremely contextual on a macro level that really speaks to those people almost one to one.

Something traditional advertising cannot even hope to keep up with. With a team of people all doing this through thought leadership driven content, you effectively leapfrog your competition.

The battle for modern attention is built on this ever so fragile base.

Edleman again says

-63% of buyers also say that thought leadership is important in providing proof that an organisation genuinely understands or can solve your specific business challenge

s.

Each individual piece of thought leadership content you put out, every article that answers their questions about how you can help them. And everything you can do to assist them in their buyer journey is like a grain of sand, that when combined and superheated (through social) form a transparent film of glass that allows you to peer through at each other and really see each other as humans. And that trust becomes stronger over time.

It compounds, through good thought leadership content.

Building that huge wall of trust.

And that can all come careering down and shatter in an instant as soon as that trust is broken.

Do it slowly, with purpose and strategy and reap the reward over your competition in the long run.

Build it wisely friend and marvel at its power in everything you do through social interaction and in terms of building a meaningful network that trusts you.

"Trust is a fragile thing - difficult to build, easy to break. It cannot be bargained for. Only if it is freely given it can be expected in return"- Peter Lerangis