There’s a gap between seeing and believing, and it’s often overlooked in a content strategy. It’s the difference between a potential customer scrolling past your content or them stopping to think, “This feels like something I should pay attention to.”
Trust is rarely won in a single moment. More often than not, it’s earned over time through consistency, credibility, and a clear sense of who you are. And while some businesses try to shortcut the process with constant sales messages in the hope of quick wins, it’s the brands that commit to building trust that achieve consistent, long-term success.
Only 3% are ready to buy
Here’s something we tell our clients: only around 3% of your audience is actively looking to buy right now. That means 97% are still in the awareness and consideration phase. They’re not ready to take action, but they are watching, reading, and deciding who they can trust to deliver the goods or services when the time comes.
If you’re focusing your entire marketing strategy on capturing that 3%, you’re neglecting a huge percentage of your target market.
Instead, there’s a smarter, more sustainable approach: build a separate marketing funnel where the primary goal isn’t to convert, but to build trust. Sales can still be part of the message, but only about 10% of it. The rest should be rooted in helping people understand who you are, what you stand for and why you’re worth listening to.
In our experience at TWI, this shift in strategy doesn’t just change the content, it changes the outcomes. Lead quality goes up. Engagement deepens. And when that 97% is ready to buy, you’ll have a competitive advantage.
What builds brand trust?
Here’s what we’ve seen work in the real world.
- Consistent Messaging
Brand trust begins with clarity. If your message feels different every time someone sees it – on your website, your socials, your email marketing – then they’ll be left wondering what you really stand for.
Inconsistent messaging = diluted identity = lower trust.
We’ve worked with brands who, once they clarified their positioning and applied it consistently, saw not just better engagement, but better-fit enquiries.
What helps:
- Define your tone of voice and values early
- Audit your communications regularly
- Equip internal teams with messaging tools they can actually use (think accessible templates, simplified key messages, and examples of dos and don’ts)
- Social Proof
In my experience, social proof is one of the best investments in building trust with an incredible return on investment. It’s also one of the most underutilised because it takes time and effort to engage external stakeholders. But if someone else says your product works, your service was excellent or your team went above and beyond, it counts far more than what you say about yourself.
Social proof is one of the best lead magnets, without having to include a sales pitch at all.
What works:
- Client quotes or review snippets across your site
- Industry awards or accreditations
- Case studies with real results, told simply
- Authenticity (Especially in the age of AI)
Have you ever read a piece of quickly AI-generated content (the one-line prompt type) and thought, yeah, that reads fine?
Ask yourself these questions:
- Was it engaging?
- Do I recognise our brand voice in this?
- What did I learn from it?
- Is it repetitive?
- Did it start with “In today’s fast-paced society…”, just like the last piece?
There’s a difference between content that is well-written and content that is fine. The difference is that one connects with your audience and warms your leads, and the other is a pointless exercise.
That’s not to say AI has no place. We’ve worked with clients to integrate AI tools into their processes, but always with clear editorial controls. When content feels like it’s been churned out to fill a content calendar, the risk is your audience disengages and doesn’t come back.
- Data Privacy and Security
Customers are rightly cautious about how their data is being used. It only takes one dodgy cookie policy or an unclear opt-in form to set off alarm bells.
According to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), over 50% of complaints in 2024 related to data transparency and marketing misuse.
How to get it right:
- Be transparent about what you collect and why.
- Make cookie banners and data policies genuinely easy to understand.
- Don’t hide behind pre-ticked boxes or vague language.
- Leadership Visibility
I don’t know about you, but I’m nosy when it comes to seeing who the people are behind a business. I feel reassured if I can see the people I am buying into, not just the brand. And it seems I’m not alone.
A 2023 UK study by Edelman found that brands with visible leadership on LinkedIn saw a 34% higher trust score than those without.
Your content doesn’t need to be overly personal, but when leaders and teams are present in communications, it’s easier for audiences to form connections. It also shows someone is accountable for delivering on the services promised.
Ideas that work:
- Share founder reflections or team Q&As on social media
- Be visible in comment sections or email replies
- Use real names and faces in newsletters
- Offer behind-the-scenes content or opinions on topical issues
Your people are your key to a memorable brand.
- Crisis Communications: Speak up when it matters most
Things go wrong. It’s how you respond that matters. Silence (or worse, denial) is often the most damaging response a brand can give.
Let’s take the recent example of the Coldplay kiss cam. The fact that you know what I’m talking about from just three words is enough to prove just how quickly a crisis can escalate! For those living under a rock (I’m not judging, I’m envious), the CEO of a US data company was caught on a Coldplay kiss cam with his arms around a woman who wasn’t his wife. Whilst the actions of their CEO don’t affect the quality of the company’s service, the brand name became synonymous with the scandal.
The company’s response? A tongue-in-cheek video clip of Gwyneth Paltrow, the ex-wife of Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin, answering “the most common questions” the company has recently been asked. She makes it seem like the heightened interest in their brand is because of the services, not the scandal. It’s light, humorous and perfectly pitched to the company’s large following on the social media platform, X.
If your brand or brand representatives mess up, acknowledge it. Apologise if needed. Move forward with integrity and earn respect for it.
So, what should your funnel actually look like?
Let’s go back to that 3% stat.
If only a small portion of your audience is actively buying, it doesn’t make sense to serve every single person the same “Buy now!” messaging. You need two clear content paths:
- Trust-building content (90%)
This is the majority of what you put out there.
- Educational blog posts
- Social content that shows behind-the-scenes insights
- Thought leadership on current industry trends
- Real-life mistakes, lessons, and success stories
- Email newsletter stories with no pitch, just value
Your goal here is not to convert. It’s to be memorable, useful, and credible.
- Sales-focused content (10%)
This is for the people who already trust you and are actively looking.
- Clear calls-to-action in your footer, email PS lines or occasional campaign
- Invitations to webinars, guides or events
- Product demos, case study downloads, or free trials
What next?
Trust isn’t something you “add in” to your brand strategy. It is your brand strategy. This is something we feel so strongly about at TWI, that it’s one of our company values (so rest assured, we practice what we preach)!
We work with organisations to separate trust-building from direct selling, because we’ve seen how powerful that approach can be. Brands that invest in long-term credibility see better quality leads, higher retention, and more meaningful customer relationships.
So, ask yourself this: Are you creating content that your audience genuinely wants to engage with, even if they’re not buying today? If the answer is no, now’s the time to rethink your funnel.