The best time to look for a job next year is right now. The best time to plan for a sale in three years is right now. The mistake so many marketers make is that they conjoin the urgency of making another sale with the timing to earn the right to make that sale. In other words, you must build trust before you need it. Building trust right when you want to make a sale is just too late.Publishing your ideas… in books, or on a blog, or in little twits on Twitter… and doing it with patience, over time, is the best way I can think of to lay a foundation for whatever it is you hope to do next.
We’re not marketers or salespeople, but like them, we are here to build trust. Which is really what every writer and publisher is about.
People don’t listen to you if they don’t trust you. If there’s no trust, your readers won’t give you their time, attention, or energy. That’s why you have no choice but to take care of your reputation and what people think of you. We don’t live in an ideal world: people judge you quickly based on very few criterion and that’s a fact.
You say you have a story to tell. Do you want people to listen to you? Give people a reason to trust you.
The biggest part of building trust is perseverance. Sticking it out when you can’t see the the end of the tunnel, trucking through, sticking to your guns. When others see that you’re in it for the long term, they begin to trust. Things that are lasting in life are what we trust the most.
If you can create trust between you and your readers, then your readers will give you a slice of their time. A small, tiny slice of time. Very few writers get that it’s all about trust, and so very few writers get noticed. Even fewer get noticed and stay noticed.
You have a story to tell and it’s a story people need to hear. So keep writing it and don’t stop. Keep publishing it and don’t stop. Tell people your story and don’t stop.
Don’t stop.
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leafless said:
Trust is indeed tough to earn. But how does a writer establish trust with his/her readers? I’m just curious.
April 18, 2008 @ 5:11 am
Edward Atkinson said:
These are some things off the top of my head: Be honest. Say what you mean, mean what you say, and do what you say. Voice your thoughts regularly. Don’t constrain yourself to one medium but by heard across as wide a spectrum as possible. Treat other people as real people, not consumers or customers or subscribers.
We trust other people when they are what we call “good people”, with all the qualities of sincerity and truthfulness. It’s not a magic bullet. Earning somebody’s trust is a lifestyle.
April 21, 2008 @ 12:25 pm