Know, Like, Trust - What does it mean?

Fri 30 Jun 2017
By John Nayler

It seems that one of the most common phrases you hear these days is "Know Like Trust" in business networking circles. Regardless of the event, meetups and/or social events oriented towards business it's always rattled out by the MC. We always get invited to get to Know, get to Like and get to Trust.

I have found it really interesting to break down this business mantra and see how it works in the Digital Marketing sphere.

So what's in there?

Know
In digital marketing I think this would primarily be the period of discovery in the cycle. In my world this would most commonly be appearing in a Google search result, a Facebook ad or post, or a Linkedin connect request. In the "real world" discovery might be seeing a billboard, hearing a radio ad or simply noticing a store and deciding to walk in.

Most business have a strategy for this. They have a way to become "known". This is the most open part of the sales "funnel".

Like
I see this as the period of "investigation" online. This is where the potential buyer is investigating the range of products and the business that is offering them. Online this is visiting the website, shopping in the eBay store, browsing for product range or gallery. In the real world, the shopper is in your store browsing the aisles and/or the products on offer. In all cases they buyer ends up liking something and targeting for purchase.

All businesses MUST HAVE products that are likeable. It's evidenced in foot traffic and online - web traffic. This is the mid part of the sales funnel and resolves in a potential client having selected a product.

Trust
In the real world this is often a simple step. The shopper is able to see, touch, feel a product - speak with a sales person, check the warranty and all being good - make their way to the check out.

Online it's a different case and this is where I see most online business failing badly.
How can you trust something that is going to be shipped to you from interstate or inter-country?

This is the pointy end of the sales funnel and typically the most difficult step for our dear shoppers.

This is where online reputation comes into play ... and sadly most of the clients we speak with are not doing enough to manage their online reputation. Lucky there is something that can be done about it. eCentral have a range of supporting and coaching product to help a business develop a quality online reputation. We have key examples across IT, Tourism and Legal that showcase the great outcomes across Google Maps / Reviews. This includes some where we have turned a bad reputation into one of rock solid trustable, and in volume.

Takeaway
The takeaway for today is go work on your online reputation, gather your 5 star reviews where ever you possibly can, but preferably on Google Maps / Reviews where it works for you in a number of ways that we will talk about another time.