While customers today are a lot more comfortable purchasing both products and services from complete and total (not to mention usually faceless) strangers over the internet these days, that doesn’t mean that they are going to trust anyone and everyone may come across online.

As digital marketers it’s really important that you understand that there’s going to be some initial hurdles that have to be cleared if you’re going to win the trust of your market, particularly if you’re looking to sell products and services to “cold traffic”.

The term branding gets thrown around a lot when it comes to digital and internet marketing. But today’s consumer is a lot more sophisticated and significantly more savvy when it comes to spotting marketers and traditional salespeople, and if you aren’t completely authentic with your branding you’re going to end up turning off a decent amount of your potential customers – handicapping your business along the way.

Authenticity is King

The most important thing you can do as a digital marketer to build trust is to maintain as authentic and as consistent a “voice” or personality for your business or your brand, really making sure to hammer home your core branding elements with every single message you send out.

The second that you veer off script, the second you give people a “peak behind the curtain”, or the second that you share anything that isn’t seen as immediately consistent with who you have been presenting yourself to be – or your business to be – is the moment that you crippled your business success (potentially forever).

Have Fun

Another big piece of the puzzle today is to avoid coming off as too “corporate”.

Cold, anything but personal, and “lawyer speak” messages are going to absolutely critical the trust you have with your market these days. Even the biggest brands in the world are starting to loosen up a little bit, especially on social media, and this approach is paying off big time.

While you don’t necessarily have to be completely informal with your customer base (that’s probably not a good idea, even if you are running a pretty laid-back brand or business), you are going to want to relax as much as possible and talk to people in a one-on-one kind of style.

Again, it’s important to remember that as an online marketer you are going to remain a faceless entity for most people. Your online platform is going to be what your potential customers interact with most, the personality that they are going to resonate with, and it’s going to be the big determining factor in whether or not they decide to do business with you.

Open up, be honest, be fun, and most importantly be authentic and you’ll be able to build a lot more trust with your ideal customers than you would have been able to otherwise.