You’ve likely heard the phrase “Know-Like-Trust Factor” before, but what does that mean and what the heck do you do with it?
Today I’m sharing more on this concept and how it will help you grow your yoga business. By focusing on the Know-Like-Trust Factor, you will gain trust with your audience and therefore they will be more likely to buy from you in the future.
Let’s dive in so you can take action with this idea.
What is the Know-Like-Trust Factor?
Basically, this is the process that someone has to go through before they buy from you.
Know: If they don’t know you, they can’t buy from you.
Like: If they don’t like you, they sure won’t buy from you.
Trust: If they don’t trust you, chances are they are hesitant to buy from you.
Sell after the TRUST phase, not before. It’s like dating: You don’t want to propose to someone 5 minutes after meeting them. Same with sales, you don’t want to push a promo message to someone after they learn your name. Give it time - know, like and trust time.
**This was also a podcast episode (episode #137). Use the player below if you'd prefer to listen to this message.
How long does the Know-Like-Trust journey take?
"It doesn't take forever, but it's not overnight." - Meg Casebolt, SEO expert and host of the Social Slowdown Podcast
You can technically take someone from not knowing you to trusting you in a short period of time with the “right” piece of content, especially once you know your niche and you really understand them. But most of the time this will take more than one piece of content.
Think about your own buying journey with different types of products and services.
Examples:
Computer - Pretend you are in the market for a new computer. First you'd learn about different types of computers (Know), you test and tried different ones out (Like), and then once you do your research you purchase (Trust).
Leggings - You learn about options (Know), you see them in action (Like + Trust), so you buy them.
Restaurant - Someone recommends a new, great restaurant (Know + Like + Trust), so you try it out.
You can see how these examples not only walk you through the Know-Like-Trust journey but they also show different time frames. Based on the price of the product or service and how you learned about it, this will directly impact the length of time it takes to build the Know-Like-Trust Factor.
The other thing that comes into play with this journey is urgency. For example, if you see someone with cute leggings on you might make a mental note and the next time you’ve got some cash to spend you might check them out. But if you go to the doctor and need to increase your iron because it’s causing issues with your body, you will likely start eating iron-rich foods or taking a supplement that day. Urgency is a big factor with this as well.
How can you increase the Know-Like-Trust Factor with your audience?
Think about your dream student and what they need or want that you can help them with. Whatever it is, get crystal clear in your mind what they are struggling with and how you can help them.
What are they googling? Really think about this because it’s not likely “move better” and I hear that a lot…”I help people move better." People aren’t googling this; they are googling “how to help insomnia” or “low back pain relief” or “is mom guilt a real thing."
If you’re not sure what they are googling, ask your students. Use this as a social post or email: “Pretend I’m google. What can I help you with today?” Boom - you’ve got answers!
From there you can think about building the Know-Like-Trust Factor with them through…you guessed it, your Content Marketing Strategy.
If you just rolled your eyes at the word ‘strategy’ hang with me because it doesn’t need to be fancy. All this means is the way you show up in your marketing consistently.
Did you catch that last word? Consistently. That’s the key to this whole process!
*Special note: we aim for consistency 80% of the time around here. That’s major success! No one is perfect and life throws us curveballs all the time. Aim for 80% and you’re doing great!
Increasing Know, Like & Trust Through Your Marketing
Let’s break this down to see how this plays out in each step:
Know
This is a one time thing, once someone knows who you are, they know you. So this is where you get introduced to new people. This can happen like this:
Referrals from others
They find your blog post on your website
They find your video on YouTube
They see a post on social media
Like
This is the part of the journey that might take some time but there is typically a quick like or don’t like moment for people. This happens as they:
Continue to learn from you
See/read/listen to more of your content
Engage with your content and you
Seeing behind-the-scenes / get-to-know-you type content
"We trust people that we understand, that we connect with. So when you can share the behind-the-scenes stuff where you fall out of the yoga pose, you don't meditate everyday, you skipped breakfast this morning, whatever it is that shows you're a real life human being...that's when they start to trust you." - Amanda McKinney
Trust
This is the biggie and often takes time. Trust usually comes from when you’ve helped them with something. Or if they see that others have been helped by you successfully. This happens through:
Consistently showing up and providing value without asking for a sale
Testimonials
Tutorials
Freebies
As you can tell, the Know-Like-Trust Factor is the foundation of how marketing works and why it works. When we know the buying patterns of people then we can anticipate what they need at different stages in their buying journey.
Here’s the tough part, though - it takes time.
There are absolutely ways to take someone from not knowing you at all to buying from you in a short period of time, but you have to know exactly what type of content to share. It’s not impossible, it’s far from impossible actually. But it’s not going to happen overnight. So content marketing will help you learn what to share and when so you can get to the point of creating a single piece of content that will convert into a sale.
My suggestion is to start small with marketing but now you know the foundational piece so even though you start small, you will start with intention.
Your next step
Get clear on your dream student and the problem you want to help them with.
From there, decide on a frequency for your marketing that makes sense for your season of life right now and then show up consistently for them. If you send 1 email a month, knock their socks off with value and they will learn to trust you. If you post once a week on Instagram, knock their socks off with value and they will learn to trust you. And then once they trust you, they will look for more ways to work with you.
Yes, it takes time but it’s worth it.
Until next time, give yourself permission to build the know, like and trust factor with your audience and grace along the way.
"Get clear on your person, be consistent, and knock their socks off. If you do that, then they are going to know, like, and trust you." - Amanda McKinney
Resources from this episode
Social Slowdown Podcast - Meg Casebolt's new podcast
Thrive - My monthly membership for yoga teachers