Authenticity is the proven secret sauce that differentiates a sometimes icky transactional sales pitch from a loyal customer relationship built on trust that lasts. It’s the loyalty-building stepping stone that leads customers down the path of following a brand or business through the trenches and beyond.

It’s no surprise that companies or brands that create valuable connections with their customers have a far-reaching advantage over the biggest competition in their prospective industries. Here at the Planify™ Agency, we’re big fans of authenticity in branding for our clients because we know and understand its value to our marketing core. When you make authenticity and trust a top priority in your marketing efforts, your client base can feel that difference when choosing to do business with you.

At this point, you’re probably wondering how to go about creating that authenticity to build loyalty and trust to establish those meaningful relationships with your customers.

While honesty is most likely the first trait to pop into your mind, it’s important to understand that you’ll need to work beyond fundamental integrity to prove you’re a brand your customers can truly trust and buy into for the long haul.

So, how do you go about doing just that? Let’s take a deeper dive and look into three proven tactics that have worked tenfold for our business and our client’s businesses.

Transparency is everything.

First things first, you’ll need to be transparent. After all, honesty and transparency do go hand in hand, right? …Or so we like to believe they do. When it comes to being an open book in your marketing efforts, you’ll want to show your audience that your company goes beyond a screen. From the hourly employees to the tip-top CEO of your company, your team is made up of real people. You’ll want to show that day-to-day human aspect of what it truly looks like being in your company culture. Whether it’s celebrating an uber-successful month of team growth in your Monday morning meeting with high-fives and free coffee or tackling community bake-offs in the neighborhood your business calls home, share those aspects of your company culture with your audience through your social media channels. Transparently highlight your highs and the lows to allow your audience to identify and grow with you. Inviting them into your story will empower them to participate instead of merely watching on the sidelines from a distance. They will, in turn, be the biggest cheerleaders you never knew you needed!

Consistency is proof you are who you say you are.

Consistency is key for authenticity. Do an inner marketing audit and see what you’re following through on and where things may be falling through the cracks. Are you driving the same message home on all of your social channels with a consistent voice and tone? Did you promise your audience you’d do a monthly giveaway? What about those posts you planned on doing three times a week to show up consistently on their social feeds? Be consistent with your marketing efforts and show you’re a brand your customers can trust to follow through on what you said you’d do. If you aim to be a professional go-to in your industry, be just that with consistent content that shows you’re at the top of your industry for a good reason.

Provide valuable content that solves your customers problems.

Since you’ve chipped away at the meaningful task of being consistent, be sure that you’re providing value in your content for your audience. You obviously don’t want to overcomplicate things, but do make sure you’re sharing information with your customers from a trusted source. Do your homework and make sure that what you’re sharing is worth your customer’s time; otherwise, they’ll get the drift your authenticity is lacking and not worthy of their trust.

Picking up what we’re laying down here? Good.

Long story short, building meaningful relationships with your client base isn’t as complicated as you might think. Although it takes time and effort, as most worthwhile things in business do, a little sure goes a long way. Show your authenticity, and in return, you’ll gain customers that will shout your praises from the rooftops and refer your business for years to come. And, there’s no higher praise than a good word of mouth referral, right?

Here at the Planify™ Agency, we are your go-to marketing partners. Our mission is to help you create and implement solutions that liberate your company to grow and scale. We work together to evaluate where you are, how you got there, and determine the necessary actions to take you where you want to go. We’ll help you gain clarity on the best strategies to obtain the goals you create.

Are you ready to Planify™ your business? Let’s talk!