6 Ways to Ensure that Your Customers Will Trust Your Content

“Content, content everywhere, but not a drop to drink.” Today’s B2B content marketing scene can be summed up by this riff on the old saying.

What I mean is that there’s a surprising gap between B2B marketers and their customers when it comes to content. Modern marketers know that that today’s buyers want to do their homework by doing online research on their problems and possible solutions before contacting a vendor. That’s why 93% of B2B companies are turning to content marketing, according to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2014 Content Marketing Survey.  

Yet according to IDG Research, 82% of IT decision makers find it at least somewhat challenging to locate the information they need to make an informed purchase decision. And nearly four out of ten (39%) find it very or extremely challenging to find the content they need.

Why the disconnect?

The IDG Research found that the most frequently cited complaints were: Too much marketing hype and empty buzzwords (64%) and a lack of truly independent, unbiased information (63%). This means that the problem isn’t the amount of content available. It’s that IT buyers feel they can’t find trusted content.

So how do you ensure that customers perceive your content as being trustworthy?

Solve Customers Problems by Providing Trusted Information

The following are tips based on research from actual customers as to how to make sure your content is perceived as trustworthy.

1. Eliminate Hype. As noted above, the most frequently cited complaint among customers who find it challenging to find the trusted content they need is “too much marketing hype and empty buzzwords.” So create content that’s clear and straightforward.
2. Make it unbiased. Customers perceive a lack of truly independent, unbiased information (63%). Yet marketers are loathe to say anything that could possibly be perceived as at all negative about their product. That’s understandable. They’re afraid that any small negative statement will prevent someone from buying your product. However, it’s also true that most products are best for certain purposes—you can’t be everything to everybody. You’ll earn more trust from the customers for whom your product is a great fit, if you’re honest about who the product is suited to—and who it’s not suited to. Besides, if you say so yourself, you maintain control over the conversation. If you don’t, you’ll have to rely on the charity of third parties.
3. Present alternative perspectives. Leaving out or not addressing different perspectives is another factor that makes consumers skeptical about content from marketers. Think like a journalist and try to present both sides to the story.
4. Include objective research—and cite your sources. Customers are more likely to trust your content when your arguments are backed up by research. Marketers generally know this and do include facts and figures in their content. However, one of my pet peeves about vendor-sponsored content is that marketers often neglect to include the full citation or a link to the actual source. Customers feel the same way. According to research from Kentico Software, 57% of customers say educational information from a company is more credible when it contains verification from named sources.
5. Beware of product pitches. Much of content marketing is meant to be educational and help make people aware of the problem and the unique solution you provide. But it’s very tempting for B2B marketers to want to dive straight into a product pitch after a short bit of education. Bad move. According to the Kentico report, trust is very fragile. Even adding a product pitch to the end of an otherwise objective blog post or newsletter brings down the credibility level significantly. Only 45% of consumers say they trust such content.
6. Proclaim your identity. Another peeve of customers is that erodes trust is when vendors try to hide their identity. 15% of customers surveyed in the Kentico research said that presenting information in a way that hides the face that it comes from a company makes them skeptical.

When it comes to content marketing, the best way to reach customers is to put on your journalist cap—and providing solid, useful, objective information.