Customer’s Trust: One of the most critical aspects of staying alive in business is client trust. Client trust puts companies on the map, and it keeps them there. It has been said in at least a dozen different ways that people don’t buy products. They buy brands. Whether Starbucks has the best coffee in the world is irrelevant. What’s vastly more important is that they have brand trust. So, how do you earn your customer’s trust?

1. Establish a Presence in Your Market

One of the quickest and easiest ways to earn your customer’s trust is through word of mouth. You can spend tens of thousands of dollars on advertising and get a fraction of the interest you’d get from word of mouth. Hearing, or reading, that someone you trust believes in a brand is often all it takes to get a new customer. Still, word of mouth is hard to come by; people are often quicker to leave a negative review than a positive one.

To get around this reality, consider working with a digital PR agency. A great agency has already done all the legwork for you; they’ve built relationships with trusted institutions and publications. Plus, they’ve got marketing experts and writers trained to use targeted language. You could have Forbes, Entrepreneur, or The Wall Street Journal singing your praises. With this approach, you can go from practically invisible in your industry to the hot name on everyone’s lips.

2. Know Your Target Audience

What’s targeted language, you ask? It’s the language your marketing agents will use to speak directly to your customers. Decades ago, marketing and advertising agencies simply sent out ads to as many people as possible. Commercials aired during the Superbowl and full-page announcements were published in the Sunday newspaper. That strategy can work for some, but it mostly misses the mark.

Why? People want to feel seen, heard, and understood. When you take the time to think about your “why” and your “who,” you can build trust with your “who” by telling them about your “why.” People love stories, and when they buy your products and services, that’s what they’re buying. You just have to know which segment of the population would respond to your story. Once you figure that out, you can speak directly to them and sell, sell, sell.

3. Remain Consistent

Starbucks is such an easy example, but others that make the same point are Costco, Apple, Toyota, and Disney. Businesses like these have established trust with their clients by remaining consistent over the years. They’re not like some companies that regularly rebrand, shift focus, and end up losing favor with their loyal fans. Instead, they have a clear mission, and they remain mostly on target.

This is not to say they’ve never made mistakes or missteps. Every business has its flops and flubs. But after each one, a consistent company picks itself up and continues to move forward, on mission. To remain consistent in your business, make sure you have a solid mission, vision, and values statement. Know your client, as mentioned above. And then whenever you’re innovating or expanding, come back to those fundamentals.

4. But Be Willing to Adapt

Don’t be fooled; remaining consistent doesn’t mean never changing — far from it. Times change, people change, and companies also need to change. You’re just not going to change for the sake of change. After all, businesses that are unwilling to move into the future often become obsolete. Just take a look at MySpace, IBM Computers, or Blockbuster Video. In each of these cases, the company failed to listen to clients and employees.

So, it’s not especially difficult to remain consistent — true to your mission — and adapt to the needs of your people. The most successful companies consistently ask their customers what they want, ask their employees what they need, and deliver on both accounts. You can do this by asking your clients for feedback and paying attention to your business insights. It also pays to watch your competitors’ performance closely.

5. Prioritize the Client

Last, but certainly not least, make sure that through it all you are a service-led, client-centered business. It sounds almost too obvious, but companies cannot exist without clients. Clients won’t stick around for poor service or products when the competition is offering something better either. It’s up to you to ensure your clients are satisfied not only with the products but also with the services your business offers.

What many business owners and top executives don’t realize is that company culture is everything. Happy employees almost organically lead to happy clients. So, with a product aimed at meeting a real need and well-cared-for employees who believe in your brand, you’re all but a shoo-in. And none of this means you have to have rock-bottom prices or sleazy sales pitches. Plenty of people are happy, and even expect, to pay for quality. You just have to deliver.

If you have a business you believe in, a product or service that solves a problem for people, you should be selling it. Often, businesses don’t fail because of bad ideas; they fail because of poor execution. You need a marketing strategy that considers your mission, vision, values, and target customer. Then, you just have to start building the trust that will win those customers over and keep them loyal for decades to come.