by Last time we looked at the biz-growing importance of your messaging’s KLT factor:
Know, Like & Trust.
As promised, it’s now time to take a closer look at each of the three KLT components – so you can help your audience to know, like and trust YOU (and your biz) more.
Let’s start with the first part:
Getting your ideal prospects to feel like they KNOW you.
When we talk about Know, Like & Trust, it’s easy to get more excited about the last two components…
After all, most of us enjoy being liked, and in business trust is obviously pretty damn important.
But before you get there, your prospect needs a clear understanding of YOU and what you have to offer. To feel like they know enough about you to move to the next step.
So the ‘Know’ part of KLT is crucial too.
The way I see it, there are really 3 parts to this:
- Your audience’s knowledge of YOU (or your company)
- Your audience’s knowledge of your PRODUCT / SERVICE
- Your knowledge of THEM
1 – Their knowledge of YOU (or your company)
Everything you publish, whether it’s on your site, social media, an ad or an email, communicates something about your business to someone.
Good, bad or indifferent, they’ll always take SOMETHING away from each message.
In other words: when you’re in business, everything you say or write in public is branding.
This can seem kinda scary, which partly explains why so many businesses tie themselves in knots over it…
But it’s really a question of perspective:
This is your opportunity to help your ideal audience understand who you are and what unique value you have.
It’s your chance to connect with like-minded others and demonstrate your values: what you stand for, who you’re here to serve, what you believe in.
That means if you’re a solo business, you should say so. Don’t use “we” because it sounds ‘bigger’ or ‘more business-like’ – use “I” and own it.
If you have a different viewpoint to others in your industry, state it, and the reasons behind it.
If you or your company have a story that can inspire others who find themselves where you once were, tell it.
Whenever you try to sell, connect or educate through your messaging, you want your audience to feel like whatever the message, it could only have come from you alone.
2 – Their knowledge of your PRODUCT or SERVICE
Whether you’re creating a sales message for a product to drive conversions, or a piece of content to draw your prospect closer so they’re more likely to respond to your sales message later, the key element here is CLARITY.
Because if someone doesn’t understand the basics – like who you are and what you have to offer – they won’t even make it far enough as Like or Trust.
With any sales copy or content marketing piece, you need to be clear on the core message behind each message…
What is the theme that ties all your individual messages together: the one key argument behind what you do, and why it makes your product/service unique?
Some people call this a hook, others call it a USP or a Big Idea. For some, it’s their raison d’être (reason for being).
When it’s expressed consistently, and you repeat it, you can still be creative in your content and have other ‘satellite’ ideas that orbit around it, strengthening that core idea rather than distracting from it.
Whatever that is for your biz, it’s important to remember that every time you communicate with your audience (your prospects, customers and partners) you either reinforce or undermine that core message.
So a useful question to ask yourself before you publish, email or broadcast anything about your product/service is:
“Will this help my audience to better understand my core message, or will it hinder that understanding?”
That may sound like a radical binary viewpoint – but following it can actually help you create consistent, clear messaging that gives your ideal prospects a better sense of what your product does, and how it can help them.
3 – Your knowledge of YOUR AUDIENCE
Here’s where you can really stand out by doing what the vast majority of businesses don’t.
For the average biz, the ‘know’ part of KLT only goes one way…
Communicating with your prospects so they feel they know you better is a good start – but doing it with a real understanding of WHO they are, WHAT they want and HOW they feel about their situation deepens that connection.
When your messaging speaks about the problems they face using THEIR language – referencing their specific issues, frustrations, near misses and inside jokes – you create a much stronger bond with your audience.
Instead of simply talking about your experience, you can demonstrate your knowledge of your niche and of the people you serve – but only if you make the effort to understand them in the first place.
The language you use is a big part of this. Often, ‘natural’ beats ‘professional’…
Using the words and phrases your best customers use in their own online discussions, reviews, interviews and surveys can ensure what you’re saying resonates with people.
(For more on how you can do that, check out this post.)
This is a great way to build empathy with your audience, so they don’t just understand you – but also start to see you as a reliable authority.
And creating that sort of empathy is something we’ll look at in more detail in the next post, when we move onto the second part of KLT:
How your messaging can help your ideal clients & customers grow to LIKE you.
Click here to read about that in part 2
