Branding is an important part of having a business, but being transparent and authentic is the only way to truly connect with your customers through your branding. Today, there is a huge need to connect with your audience through authentic avenues and be transparent in your business and marketing. Building trust is the foundation of establishing a loyal audience that believes in your brand and keeps coming back for more. There are many ways that brands can build trust with their audience, such as through transparency and authenticity. Factory360 explores some of these ways and see how they might fit into your rebranding so you can build a more trusting audience. 

Why is Trust Important for Branding? 

Particularly, there are many brands on the market that might be doing essentially the same things that yours is doing, whether that’s having a similar product or providing a similar service. Overall, trust is what will set you apart from competitors and help you build a long-lasting relationship with your audience. Customers are also much more informed and a lot more skeptical, meaning that they are relying more on the trust of a brand to persuade them to choose it over another. On top of that, trust is a driving factor when it comes to customer retention, buying behavior, and referrals. 

Ways Your Brand Can Be Transparent and Authentic

There are specific ways you can practice transparency and authenticity in your branding to help build that trust and overall connect with your audience. Here are some of the specific ways that this can be done within both branding and marketing. 

Honest Marketing and Communication

Staying authentic in your marketing and communication means being transparent in every avenue. For example, avoid having any hidden fees or any hidden details around your products or services. Keep your claims as honest as possible and avoid exaggeration around your products, services, and claims to avoid disappointing your audience and leading them to believe something that’s not true. Be clear about everything from your product descriptions, pricing, shipping times, and return policies. This keeps things clear for your audience and avoids them being unsure about what you are doing and what you offer them. 

Consistency in Brand Voice and Marketing

Aligning your messaging across all platforms, such as social media, your website, and customer communication, can ensure that your audience feels both connected to you and also knows what to expect when it comes to your messaging. It keeps things signed across the entire area of your brand and isn’t unaligned, giving the wrong impression. Keep your messaging and brand voice unscripted and more natural. This keeps things natural and allows your audience to connect to you more because the brand voice sounds as if it is a real person and not just a scripted voice that is said to every customer and in every avenue. 

Show Values and Mission

Having a mission and values is important in branding to give your audience an idea of why you are selling to them, that is more than just because you want to be profitable in your business. Having a mission and values can help your audience align with you and choose to purchase from you because of these values. For example, someone may purchase from the Toms shoe brand instead of an alternative because of their mission to give a pair of shoes to someone in need when they purchase. 

Be Responsive and Stay Accountable 

Listen to your audience and take feedback seriously when your audience gives it to you. Don’t be defensive, and be sure to make the moment right every chance that you get. Stay accountable for issues that may arise in business that your audience is experiencing, and stay transparent in communication with those who may have experienced issues within your business. 

Show Social Proof and User Generated Content

User Generated Content, or UGC, is a great way to show experiences with your product in real time or real life. Essentially, this is a great way to showcase how your products work and real-life experiences through customers who have already purchased and used your products or services. Showing social proof of your brand and what you do can also keep things authentic and transparent for those who are looking into your business prior to purchasing from you. 

Challenges or Risks Associated With Being Transparent and Authentic 

Like everything, there are risks that are associated with being transparent and authentic. Let’s look more into these and how you may be able to avoid them when working on your own brand. 

Vulnerability or Overexposure: You need to be able to balance transparency and authenticity without being too vulnerable or overexposed in your brand. Having a good balance here is ideal to ensure you are being open with your audience without showing too much. 

Consistency: As your brand grows, it can be more difficult to maintain consistency throughout. It’s important to take things with small steps, but also remember what your mission, values, and brand voice consist of so that you can keep them as consistent as possible. 

Public Mistakes: Mistakes happen, and identifying and admitting to them is ideal for building trust with your audience. However, it can be a slippery slope when dealing with these mistakes publicly. Although it’s essential, it’s important to be transparent about potential mistakes that you’ve made as a brand. 

How to Measure Trust-Building Efforts

Ultimately, it is important to know if your efforts are even doing anything to help build trust. There are a few different metrics that you should keep an eye on to ensure that you are meeting expectations and building a trusting audience. Here’s a list of the metrics you can track to see if your efforts are paying off: 

• Customer loyalty and retention metrics 
• Engagement on social platforms 
• Surveys and reviews 
• Referrals 

Your Brand Needs to Earn Trust With Your Audience

A new audience won’t trust your brand automatically, just like in real life, trust is earned. With that said, putting in these practices on your brand can help you build an audience that is trusting of you. Building a trusting audience is extremely important for brand growth and keeping a returning audience that also refers. Growth in business can be difficult, but one important way to maintain growth is to keep a trusting audience and practice these tips for staying transparent and authentic in your branding. Contact us today to learn more.