“They LIKE My Work?” On Building a Trusted Brand
Photo by Fourth Dimension Photography
Do you remember the first time a customer bought your product or service?
I sure do. In fact, I kept the check from my first ever paid gig.
It was an incredible feeling. I wrote a pretty hefty research-based blog for someone, and it rocked my world. My thought initially was, “You mean I just got PAID to WRITE for someone?!” And that fascination turned into, “He LIKED my writing! Somebody actually liked it enough to pay me for it!”
What a weird thought! It began my journey into understanding that products and services are worth a price point to people. Why did this person have me write a blog for him?
He trusted me.
Photo by Fourth Dimension Photography
And that, my friends, is all you need to know about business.
Well…maybe not ALL you need to know, but it’s a solid start!
I’ve been writing since I was knee high to a grasshopper (you know…since I was small). My writing tends to consist of fiction mixed with short stories mixed with very bad attempts at poetry, and it professionally fell upon copywriting.
Since I’ve been writing for a hot minute, people have told me they liked my work. Peers in college liked my conversational tone, friends and family members would share my blogs on Facebook (which is so cool, honestly). But nobody, up until that point for the blog, had PAID me to write.
What changed?
Well, for starters, my posture towards writing changed. It went from something I did for fun to something I did for a career.
P.S. if you REALLY want to rock the boat, when a relative asks you to “look over their website” and edit it for them, ask their budget. That’s a fun little exercise in determining your worth to others.
Photo by Fourth Dimension Photography
See also: “but I thought we were FAMILY!”
Anyways!
Trust is where it started for me, and that’s where it starts for you!
Although 2020 has been an absolute dumpster fire in so many ways, it’s the year I told myself that “Forward” would be my word of the year.
(Side note, does anybody else do word of the year besides me? Nobody? That’s fine.)
Your brand is YOU. You are your own brand.
YOU are the face of what others see! Part of Forward to me has been transparency. If you cannot be transparent with your customers/following/clients, then your brand will continue to be some kind of standoffish company people see as a means to an end.
Creating a trusted brand includes transparency and openness while also engaging as a human. A marketing firm isn’t just marketing for so-and-so restaurant up the street. A marketing firm has people with real emotions and lives that matter. Connecting with your customers through humanity builds a brand that others see and trust because “Oh wow, this issue is something that means a lot to me, too.”
Photo by Fourth Dimension Photography
Nothing I’ve stated in this blog has been groundbreaking or earth shattering, but I hope it helps you take that first step forward.
Establish trust and mutual respect in your business, and you will go far. Be able to admit when you make a mistake, do your best to keep conversation open, and do you best.
Those are the brands people come back to. Let your business speak for itself.
