What Makes Referral Customers Trust You—and How Marketing Can Build That Trust

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Transcript

As business owners, we like referrals because they come somewhat pre-sold about our services, they already trust us to some degree and they're easier to close. All that just because someone they trust said we do good work. But there's a more powerful way to build that trust.

And your marketing can create it. Let’s say you remodel homes, and someone refers a new customer to you. They tell that customer you did good work for them.

So the customer feels reassured that you’ll do good work for them too. But then they get the chance to hire the Property Brothers — the guys they’ve watched on TV for years. Who do you think they’re going to trust more?

With you, they have someone else’s recommendation. With the Property Brothers, they’ve actually seen their work. They’ve heard them explain what matters when remodeling a home.

They’ve picked up useful tips about things they care about. Their personal observation of the quality of their work has built more trust than a simple recommendation from a friend. You can create a similar effect with social media.

Now, you may be thinking. “You’ve tried making social content, and didn’t get much out of them.” Here’s what we’ve found with service providers.

Their content often sounds like everyone else’s, and it doesn't differentiate them. Or it doesn’t address what matters to their customers. Then they post the content and forget about it.

They don’t keep using it to follow up with people who’ve already shown interest. You should use that same content in follow-up ads, and emails to stay top of mind and keep building trust. So here’s how we apply the "property brothers" strategy at Amaze.

First, we look at all the customers who need your services and break them down into smaller groups, each with different concerns, needs, and wants. We typically find 15 to 25. Then we choose the one or two most profitable groups and find out what matters most to them when they’re choosing a service like yours.

Next, we create a series of social posts. Some will be simple videos, some will be image posts, and some will be carousels. Each post addresses one or two of their concerns and shows what makes you different from the competition.

We want them to watch or read the content and think, ‘These people understand what I need.’ The content feels custom-made for them. We start with posts that we can also use in our advertising.

Not every post needs to be an ad, but that’s where we start. That way, we can use those posts in follow-up ads and email campaigns. So the content is constantly working to show your expertise and build trust over time.

As we expand your marketing to other customer groups, we repeat the process. We research what matters to that next group and create the content they need to see in order to choose you over your competitors. That’s how your marketing builds the kind of trust that can outperform referrals.

It's the only way we found to create truly convincing marketing.