What does it take to build trust? 3 Ways That Work.
I just finished video# 2 and blog post #2 for the day, and I was sitting here waiting on my second video to upload and pondering some thoughts.
This post isn't meant to be religious in any way, so hopefully, you can see the story and the nuggets.
There was a long period where I didn't go to church: maybe like two years or so. I had run into some churches that were performing some of the same unethical sales tactics I see when doing Internet marketing reviews, and it completely discouraged me from going at all.
I popped into churches every now and again, but there was no real commitment until I recently found a church I enjoy. Surprisingly for me, it's a mega church. I found myself sitting on the pews learning so much more than about the Bible or about religion. In fact, by watching the pastor lead more than 5,000 people on 3 services on Sunday morning, 1 service Saturday evening, and 1 service on Wednesday, it teaches me so much about building trust.
I find myself in the congregation constantly trying to answer the question, "What does this man do that makes 20,000+ people wake up in the morning, put on their best clothes, feed and cloth their kids, and drive here or watch on livestream from all over?"
It's pretty astonishing if you watch any influencer who has that size of reach or more, and who operates ethically. There are very few consistent gatherings I know of like churches, and over the years I've tried to learn the principles of trustbuilding, brand-building, and culture-building from pastors or great entrepreneurs.
I decided to put this post together because the nuggets that I found about building trust are directly relevant to what we need to do to have the same (or better results on our websites). These are the things I've learned so far about trustbuilding from watching their phenomenal examples...
1. They are consistent - One of the hardest things is to start a consistent practice of showing up regardless. My pastor started the church I attend 35 years ago from its very meager beginnings. Now its an enterprise of 100 or more employees.
I can assure you when he first started doing his services where he's preach (probably to his wife and a few others), it probably didn't feel that impactful to do what he was doing. He probably even felt crazy at times to dream of what he wanted it to become, but he stuck with it.
In addition to consistent attendance, he also has a consistent flow of the service. It goes something like this:
Good morning church. If you're new here, please look at the chair in front of you and grab a connect card, fill one out, and download the Westover app. The connect card helps us to get to know you." Then, he moves onto the morning announcements, and an intro of what he'll be speaking about.
In the intro, it makes an immediate connection with the audience. It usually is a very compelling story or it goes something like this...
"Chances are that if you're here, you've experienced..."
Or, another comment similar that makes an immediate connection and establishes a common ground. The consistency of the layout of the service makes sure that even if you didn't follow the direction to "complete the connect card" or "download the app" the first visit (for whatever reasons), you remember to do it in subsequent visits.
I know the first time, I had my daughter in my lap so it was a challenge for me to follow the direction, so I appreciated the repetition.
On a sidenote, when you repeat things like "sign up for my email list", "sign up for my free course", or even "follow me on social media", it can be helpful to you and those watching you. It's not always that they "don't like you" as a reason they don't do it the first time. They may be cooking or cleaning or doing something else while reading or watching your content.
Also, the consistent service format is a further reminder to us that having a blog template or a video format that reminds readers to help you (and themselves) towards certain goals is a good thing. Since really paying attention to the layout, I've decided to try a new intro to my videos that goes something like this...
"Hi. I'm Tiffany Domena. Welcome to my channel. If you're new here, my website is (check my profile (I don't want to spam)) and my mission there is to help you take your business from idea to enterprise. I have free courses there that you should definitely check out. Today, I'll be sharing with you..."
You may want to consider something like that for your own.
2. They tell great stories! - Storytelling is an essential skill in the entertainment industry: whether you tell the story in song, in a movie, in writing, or in a live speech. Storytelling can build a connection between you and your audience that nothing else can. Many great speakers and writers have the ability to tell a story that seems to make every one of your senses relate. You can see it. You can feel it. You can touch it. You can taste it, and even your proprioception can be thrown off, so if they're describing a fall, you feel like you're falling--it's CRAZY.
I watch my pastor every week and how skilled he is at telling engaging stories. The interesting thing is, he doesn't do alot of shouting or jumping around. He's not a Beyonce or entertainer with lots of lights and dance moves. He's actually fairly mellow, but the entire room will be so zoned into each and every word--it's amazing!
3. They empathize and relate - The final thing I want to mention is how they empathize and relate. You can tell very successful influencers engage with their target audience enough they understand their excitement and their hardships very well. They can describe their daily struggles, their strengths and weaknesses, obstacles they might face in their journey, and they really GET IT.
When thousands of people listen to them, they can tell stories that seem to connect on a deep and personal level to each person in the audience, and this is only from genuinely staying in touch with their target audience.
As a takeaway from this, there's what's called the customer empathy map that you may want to check out. In it, you think about all of the things your customer may deal with. This exercise helps you to better put your feet in their shows, so when you're creating your content, it is more chronological and relevant, so it can solve their problems.
That's all I have for this post. I'm back to close up any loose ends before I pick up my baby girl from daycare. My kids are off for Good Friday, so I'm not sure how productive I'll be. I surprised myself this weekend and actually finished my first course as a result of my productivity over the weekend and this week!
I'll let you know more about that in coming days and weeks. I'm not sure when I will start to link to it on my site. Thanks for all of your continued support on my Youtube channel and my blog. I'm now up to 70 subscribers and nearly 3K minutes in watch time and I've been doing this challenge for 3 weeks, so I'm not mad at all about the results.
Have a great weekend if I don't pop in.
Recent Comments
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Thanks for sharing. Yes, being consistent is the key. And when you start never think about quitting.
Great nuggets. In other words, you're telling us to commit. Man...that's a whole post or book of it's own. Isn't it? That's one thing many people shy away from. What's made you comfortable with committing to your online goals or business goals?
Great post Tiffany, like you I lost interest in churches for more than two years, and also found one that I trust. The minister talks to me and my kids, every Sunday. We are the only Tongan and only Islanders. The church is predominently white, yet he always takes time to greet us. The members embraced my family from day one, and don't treat us as different in any way or form. The teachings are well founded, without controversy. I see people who live by what they preach. Yes, trust is very important, in our businesses, as that will determine our ongoing relationship with those we serve or work alongside. Thank you and best for you videos ☺️
The church is definitely not exempt from manipulation and other bad things. I almost thought it wasn't possible to find somewhere I'd like.
I was looking for a community that feels like family, and somewhere that each of my family members could connect to. It was tough. I was really enjoying the YMCA during that time, and making great connections in local rec centers and communities because the church just wasn't working out, but I decided to give it another shot.
I remember making many very deep connections growing up from going to church, so I always kept that in the back of my mind, and I had gotten to a point where I felt a strong desire for that sense of community I was familiar with (from what I previously knew of churches). Thankfully, I've found one I'm very happy about now, and the pastor has committed to mentoring me monthly because I told him how much I admire him as an entrepreneur.
Let's see how that goes.
Glad you enjoyed my takeaways on this topic. I'm still extracting more and more because the topic of building trust and connections with others is a skill I want to be very strong at.
Hi Tiffany, I was just talking about you yesterday. You are real inspiration. I admire your focus and persistence. Keep up the good work.
Wow! Really? What did I do to get that honor? Thanks so much for the compliment and for sharing that. It would be my greatest blessing to push you as close as you can get to what you're capable of.
I follow you on YouTube. You never disappoint. You show up and you get to work. You will go far. And you are welcome.
Awww! I would love to put that review on my website. Would you mind? Thanks so much for those kind words and for your feedback on what I'm doing on Youtube.
Im sure you know how it can be when you're hammering out content and you really don't hear that many results. Youtube is still kind of like that. It's kind of quiet over there. The watch time going up is encouraging, but it's even nicer to hear from people who watched what I'm doing like you have. Thanks so much!
You are so right about building trust! Especially RELATING to your customers. I find being authentic, tell real, honest personal stories, and not trying to censor my comments (except for spam) helps tremendously.
It's amazing what a little empathy and honesty can do. I'm not nearly at your level yet, but I watch successful bloggers and it's about personality, engagement, and relating. Definitely.
I don't know what level I'm on, but I feel you're more than capable to be here (whatever that means haha). I completely agree with you about empathy and honesty. Others use lots of sales tactics (bait and switch, scarcity, and other pushy things), but the methods I want to use are those two above all.
I'm not a fan of sales tactics, though I know I have to utilize some if I'm going to make a decent living, but I don't want to be fake, scheme, or push crap. So I'll have to find a happy way to do it without compromising my morals, definitely.
Very good reading and I am wishing you much success on your youtube. Take a break with your child, and have a pad with you to write every day, do not miss a minute to write about some inspiration that might just hit you at the spur of the moment.
I carry one with me EVERYWHERE, and I do mean everywhere.
Looking forward to reading your next post.
Have a blessed Easter.
Thanks! The notepad is my best friend too! Nowadays video or audio recordings are a good way too (even if it's just to keep my thoughts for me).
Those are some incredibly valuable insights, Tiffany. Thanks a lot for putting these thoughts together and sharing them with us.
Thanks Fran! Glad to see you around again so soon and also glad the post was helpful for you.
You are doing so well. I like the way you write. You are being consistent, by the way. Your observations about building trust are very valuable, and ones we should all think about as we build on our websites. Thanks for this post.
Thanks! I'm trying my best. I really love what I'm doing, so being consistent is almost natural. I think that's a blessing for me. Thanks for your ongoing encouragement.
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Thanking you again for an insightful and thought provoking post. Gonna save this somewhere so I can refer to it when creating content for my blog. 2 thumbs up!
Hey Frank! That's awesome. I'm glad this was helpful for you. I know studying these things has helped me. Eventually, if you get really good at making connections, you can become like a magnet, and regardless of your current financial state, having that quality can assuredly change things! Best wishes and your compounding success to you.