Lesson 4: Trust
KIRA: The second step to building your celebrity is creating trust among the prospects and clients you serve as well as in your broader industry or niche.
Show Authority Framework, then focus in on Trust.
When it comes to trust, there IS a formula for creating it… and very simply it is this… do what you say. Deliver on your promises. Honor deadlines and project estimates. Create more value for your clients that you charge for. Make sure the experience of working with you is as easy and enjoyable as possible. Overdeliver. Surprise and delight. All of these things add up to your brand experience—the part of your brand that isn’t immediately seen but really matters as people work with you. If you don’t do this stuff, you’ll struggle to build trust in other ways.
Once you’ve got that down, the next step is work on the visual part of your brand—the look and feel of your website, the photos and colors you use wherever you show up, the tone and voice of the copy you use in your business. Consider your graphics and frameworks. The more consistent these elements are, the more competent you look and that builds trust with your prospects. So they feel like you are a true professional and NOT someone who threw together a website and might con them out of their money.
ROB: You don’t need to pour a ton of money into visual brand assets in the first year or two of your copywriting career. The customer experience part of your brand is far more important. So you can go a long way with “good enough” brand elements. But when you’re ready to invest in design and photography, working on the visual elements of your brand will help attract the attention of the right clients and build trust. A well-thought out, well-designed brand is more trustworthy than one that is not.
It also helps to have done the work to figure out your unique mechanism and X-Factor statement that says very clearly what you do and who you do it for… the problem you solve and the gains you create… how you do that and why you are the only person who does it like this. When you can talk clearly about the problems your ideal prospects have and the transformation you deliver when they work with you, you naturally build trust with the people you talk to. If you don’t know your X-Factor, there are resources in The Copywriter Underground that walk you through the process of figuring it out.
KIRA: Another piece of the trust building lemon meringue pie is sharing the results you’re able to achieve. How have you helped your clients succeed? Share case studies and testimonials that show how good you are. Share numbers, stats, and wins. If your work creates value for your clients talk about it.
And if you don’t have those elements yet, talk about your process—create a framework that describes the work you do. You can even give it a unique name if you can. When you talk about the process of creating the work you do, you instill trust because prospects can see you’re not just making things up as you go along. You follow an established process designed to get results.
ROB: Finally, you can also take advantage of “borrowed trust.” There are a lot of ways to do this, but being seen with copywriters and other experts in the industry you serve— people who are already perceived as authorities by your ideal clients—helps them see you as an expert too. After all, experts hang out with other experts.
Attend the events where these experts are. Join the groups and professional organizations where they hang out. Pitch the podcasts where they share their thoughts. Partner with them on projects, events, and promotions. You may even want to create your own podcast, YouTube show, or another publication where you interview authority figures in your niche or industry. When you do this… your audience starts to trust you as an authority in your field. It’s amazing how quickly this happens.
KIRA: Of course, it’s easy to pitch copywriting and marketing podcasts because we’re talking about our expertise with others who are also familiar with marketing and copywriting.
But the real power of the “borrowed trust” strategy comes from spending time and being seen with others in the niche you serve. When you’re the only copywriter in a group… when you’re the only copywriter on a podcast… when you’re the only copywriter at an event specifically for your niche… you’ll be instantly trusted as the go-to expert and it won’t be long until you have more leads than you can handle.
ROB: Another form of borrowed trust is to include the logos of your clients on your webpage or badges from the course you complete. If clients recognize the logos, that can bring instant credibility and trust. Most clients won’t recognize copy or marketing badges, but even they can help them see you’re serious about growing your skill set.
In the next lesson, we’ll talk about the third element of the Authority Framework. And while the first two elements—expertise and trust—are the foundation for your celebrity, the magic starts to happen when you work on this missing third element.
