by You’ve probably heard about the KLT factor in marketing:
‘KLT’ = Know, Like & Trust.
These are 3 things your prospect needs to FEEL about you in order to be comfortable buying from you.
It’s been that way since the first naked dude bought his first loincloth from the first loincloth salesman and was able to strut his newly not-naked stuff down the, er, first high street.
People don’t buy from people they don’t Know, Like or Trust.
And KLT is even more important these days…
Because if you’re selling anything online that requires someone to part with a reasonable amount of cash, they’re way more likely to do so if they feel this way about you first.
So how does this actually work in digital marketing, when you’re not standing at the front counter of an actual store, greeting your customers in person with a wide smile and a warm welcome? (yep, even if they’re naked)
It seems like the vast majority of online businesses follow a pretty limited formula…
Let’s start with how they help their prospects get to KNOW them.
The average online biz-owner likes to shortcut things, so they take a pretty simple approach:
Outline what the product/service does on a homepage, explain how that helps ol’ Johnny Prospect, and point out where he should click to get him some of the good stuff.
A few lines about what’s on offer, how it will change their life and why it’s faster / cheaper / newer than what Random Competitor is selling.
Bingo. Nothing special, but a decent start.
Next up, thinks Average Online Biz Owner, I need them to LIKE me.
The most common approach to this seems to be listing a random grab-bag of personal achievements on ye olde About Page, while reminding their reader that of course “it’s not really about me, it’s about you…”
Before finishing up with a few lines on the usual personal stuff: adorable pets, outdoor pursuits or love of chocolate / coffee / cupcakes (delete as appropriate).
Boom. Done. What’s up next?
TRUST.
Hmm. A little trickier, this one…
Johnny & Julie Prospect need to trust in the claims of our hypothetical biz-owner-by-numbers that their product or service will do what they say it will.
That’s not so easy online, especially since not everyone’s 100% honest 100% of the time when it comes to the interwebs.
But our intrepid and in-a-hurry Average Biz-Owner has a few tricks up his sleeve (he calls them ‘hacks’) for handling the inconvenient issue of trust…
Like using some ‘as seen on…’ logos that may or may not mean anything to their prospect… and may or may not even be remotely relevant to the product itself.
Or whacking a few random, vague testimonials up on the site somewhere (doesn’t matter where, they’ll find ‘em).
Link to 6 different social media platforms, and… done! Know, Like, Trust: sorted.
“Let’s make some moolah!” they cry.
Congrats, Average Online Biz-Owner:
Your website now looks like… everybody else’s website
Ok, so I’m being flippant. And a little cynical.
But really, if it was as simple as that, 99% of businesses online would be raking it in with customers and clients who K, L and T’ed the absolute heck out of ‘em.
Instead, most fall way short of generating any kind of feeling at all from their visitors.
And that apathy is costing them sales.
Sure, anyone can cover the basics by following a formula. But if you’re reading this, I’m guessing you never wanted to be just ‘anyone’.
If you’re playing the long game and really want to develop a genuine KLT relationship with the people who most want what you have, you need to go further.
Messaging that helps your prospects Know, Like and Trust you enough to become buyers takes work.
Creating a connection with your ideal customers or clients isn’t something you can shortcut.
And you certainly can’t ‘fake’ it.
The good news is, over the next couple of articles I’ll be digging deeper into how your biz can go beyond the formulaic ‘Average Biz-Owner’ approach to KLT, and instead truly resonate with the people you most want to help.
UPDATE: the next part is right here…
