What is brand trust and why is it so important?
Do you favour a certain gym clothing brand or shoe brand that no matter what they do, they are like the golden child and could never disappoint you?
If you’re nodding yes, then YOU are a loyal and trusted customer of said brand(s), and will no doubt continue to buy from them until you have no money left.
That is the power of brand trust.
The definition of Brand Trust
Brand trust is the confidence, respect, and loyalty that a customer has in a brand’s ability to deliver on its promises. It is both a public perception that is often shaped by a mix of personal experience and communications (aka marketing…).
So why is brand trust so important?
In today’s marketplace, having brand trust can be the factor that separates you from the rest of the field. It’s the intangible element that creates a lasting connection with your audience, and in the fitness industry, this is especially important.
Your clients are looking for brands that they can rely on to provide them with the tools, resources, and support they need to achieve their health and fitness goals. By building brand trust through transparent communication, high-quality products, and exceptional customer service, you can establish yourself as a leader in the fitness industry and attract a loyal following of clients who will continue to choose your brand.
Time and time again.
NINE strategies for building brand trust
So how do you go about building that same dedication for your own fitness brand?
It’s not an overnight job, we can tell you that much. Building brand trust, like all good things in life, takes time but is worth every blood, sweat, and tear that you pour into it.
Go grab a protein shake, sit back, and get deep into our top 9 strategies on building trust with your audience:
1. Find your Voice
We’re talking about your brand tone of voice as a whole. Your voice needs to be consistent (there’s that C-word again) across all of your marketing channels, not just on your Instagram stories and reels.
Make sure your written word is in the same tone, so that means your social media captions, your blogs, and your emails. Craft your content with a unique voice that shouts YOU to your audience every time they hear it, read it and consume it.
That way, your audience will begin to find familiarity with you and start to form (hopefully) a warm relationship with you and your brand.
2. Be Real
Authenticity counts here. Show your audience who you are, what you believe in and stand up for, then follow through with those beliefs.
People will often stay loyal to a brand because the brand’s beliefs and values line up with their own so be sure to showcase your values with pride.
3. Benchmark and Analyse Your Brand Trust
Not the easiest to do, granted, but if you’re not tracking and analysing your actions… then what’s the point?
Listen to what your audience is saying about you. Is it positive, is it negative? Believe it or not, brands can benefit hugely from negativity.
It’s all in the way you respond, so if you do have negative comments on your social media or bad reviews on Google, respond with respect and correct any wrongdoings, publicly.
Nobody is perfect right? So bad things WILL happen, embrace them and learn from them. Stand up for yourself too when needed, but do it respectfully and politely and you’ll have a better chance of turning a negative client back iinto an advocate for your brand.
Clients and potential clients will feel far more valued if you take the time to hear what they have to say, and this process will help you to learn how your brand is perceived and highlight areas that you may need to address.
4. Prioritise Relationships Not Revenue
This is a powerful one. Shifting your focus from making a quick sale to building relationships is a long-term formula for success.
Think about it, if you don’t have a loyal fan base that keeps coming back, then you don’t have continual sales. Focus on building trust and the sales will take care of themselves.
A client who trusts can be a client for life.
Now of course, we’re not saying to ignore your sales process! Just try to think about this as a long-term sales strategy that sits alongside your shorter term strategies.
5. Acknowledge Your Clients
You can have fun with this one. Find ways to make your clients feel special, let them see how they’re part of a tribe and not just another number on a spreadsheet.
Highlight them with a ‘member of the month’ or something similar. You can do this privately with the client or publicly. The results will have different impacts but both methods result in an appreciated and happy client.
And what do happy clients make?
LOYAL CLIENTS.
Pssst... fancy a free template?
6. Invest in Design
Potential clients will form an opinion on a brand within a split second of viewing their website or social media, so make that split-second count.
You can’t build trust and loyalty if your design turns people off, so invest in your branding across all channels, both online and offline.
You probably already know, but we can help you here. Just take a look at our Asset Academy >
7. Showcase Social Proof
It’s a proven fact, that people trust other people’s recommendations. So if your clients are saying great things about you, don’t shy away from sharing it.
You don’t need to post on your social media about it every day, but you can include some positive feedback in your email marketing or in a section of your website.
The main things is to get it out there and show your potential clients that you’ve got game and can deliver.
8. Be Responsible
Give more than you receive. People love to see a company that gives back and show responsibility for the world.
Yes, that’s pretty deep, but it’s still a strategy to consider when building brand trust.
Is there a local charity that you can support or a local sports club that you can donate your time to?
Once you’ve found the right way to give, provide some information on that through your socials and on your website – if you want to. That’s the key thing here.
Don’t forget that building trust isn’t ALWAYS about shouting about how much of an angel you are.
Let the good deed do the talking for itself and rely on good old-fashioned word-of-mouth.
9. Don’t Take the Easy Road
We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again, building trust is not an overnight job.
It’s being consistent with your entire brand message and service, day in and day out.
It’s an interactive process that might not give you a return for months or even years. But get your strategy right now, implement it as often as you can (consistency is king/queen) and future you will thank you for the effort when you have a credible brand that has a loyal and trusted tribe of followers and repeat custom.
Key takeaways
- You’ve got to be authentic, good clients will sniff a bad egg a mile off so focus on being genuine with all of your clients, current, past and potential.
- Hard one to take, but when it comes to building trust, put sales to the back of your mind and focus on relationships and delivering a continuous message and solid service. The sales will look after themselves.
- Managing brand trust can be a full-time job, so don’t expect miracles overnight. These strategies are for the long game so settle in and get grafting.
what's next?
You’ve got a couple of options.
- Read more of our blogs about fitness marketing, fitness branding and fitness graphics here >
- Take a look at our Asset Academy where you can sign up for unlimited access to over 400 assets (and growing) that can help you with everything from brand consistency to the ultimate fitness coach lead magnet.
keep up to date
Thanks for reading our blog, we hope it’s offered some help in your own fitness website build. If you’ve got any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them on here or drop us an email on [email protected] and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
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