If you’re in a business or you have a blog, you might have heard something like KLT.
It stands for Know, Like and Trust.
This triad was famously coined by Robert Cialdini, Best-Selling Author of the book Influence.
And to be honest, these are very important factors to build a relationship and a loyal following.
In other words, any business or blog lacking in these three will not survive. Period.
Now, in this article, we’ll demystify KLT and discover 9 easy steps you can use to build better relationships with your audience.
Let’s begin.
1. Provide Massive Value
Everything starts from value.
You can’t expect people coming to you and start knowing, liking and trusting you.
The world doesn’t work like that.
To get people’s attention you must provide them value and not just any value.
But something that can help solve their burning pains in no time.
Or at least something that gives them quick wins.
I like to call this – Quickest Valuable Win (QVW)
In today’s noisy world of online marketing where everyone has something to offer, the best way to stand out is Quick Wins.
A solution people can use instantly and gain benefit.
As the popular saying goes in the movie Jerry Maguire – Show me the Money.
NOTE: The win doesn’t have to be huge or world changing.
Just a little something that gets their positive momentum going is enough.
The best way to create a QVW in your online business or blog is through a FREE Lead Magnet where you give crazy, amazing value to your audience after taking their emails.
For example – Look at Brendon Burchard.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9SoH4yHXHV/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
He likes to give his four big breakthroughs to his subscribers up front before even asking anything in return.
The best part about this is that –
If you help your audience get some quick wins, they don’t forget that.
They start liking you and asking you to help solve more problems and this is what you as a business owner want.
So, provide tremendous value up front.
And get them quick wins.
2. Create Your Business Thesaurus
Have a look at this
Famous Internet Entrepreneur Russell Brunson likes to call his audience Funnel Hackers. For more details about ClickFunnels, click here.
It’s not just to sound cool or amazing (even though it is)
But to create a sense of community and belonging in his audience.
It is a very critical component of building the Know, Like and Trust factor.
Now, your business thesaurus could be anything that your audience can relate to.
For example – You may call your community as “Badasses” or “Creators”, etc…
An easy way to create your thesaurus is to understand the ambitions of your audience.
Who do they ultimately want to be?
You got the idea, right?
Doing this will help you stand out and give you a unique brand voice.
And build a good relationship with your audience in no time.
Use this tool to create your business thesaurus.
3. Writing Daily Personable Emails
Now, lets talk a bit about Email Marketing.
Money is in the list, right?
And that’s why…
A lot of bloggers and marketers go out of their way to just sell in their emails.
You know, as the famous saying goes – Always be selling.
But this actually hurts their relationship with their email subscribers.
And hinders long-term growth.
Instead…
Have a long term sustainable growth plan.
Make each and every individual in your list better each day.
Think long term.
Don’t try to make quick money.
Be committed to making your audience better.
Personalize your emails.
Try to make it one-on-one.
The best way to do this is to Give them a small peak of your life embedded in your emails like –
This shows your audience the human side of yours.
Your personality and beliefs, something that they can follow.
4. Survey your audience from time to time
People love to be heard and understood.
And the best way for you to implement this with your online business or blog is to use surveys.
You can use tools like Survey Monkey or Typeform
This will not only let your audience know that you care.
But it will also give you a fresh perspective on what your audience actually wants and how you can deliver it to them.
Therefore, always listen to your audience.
Nothing builds KLT faster than listening to your audience. Period.
When people get the feeling of getting heard they start trusting you more
So, listen to your audience and help them with your expertise. They will reward you for that.
5. Reply to every Blog comment
This is one of the most underrated secrets to building a loyal community yet one of the most effective ones.
Just have a look at this –
Even big-time bloggers find a way to comment on their blogs.
This engages their community, creates more dialogues and builds relationships.
Plus, it helps Google understand that your content is great. And Google rewards you for that.
BONUS: Want to know how to increase blog comments?
Here you go. Use these 3 easy tips. And your comments are bound to increase –
- Be very picky about which comments you let through.
- Use the right CTA.
For example – Look at CTA example on theblogincubator.
Your call to action should encourage further dialogue.
But… don’t use open ended questions.
- Ease of software. You don’t want your readers to take a trillion steps before commenting.
They’re not going to do that.
So use a comment software that’s easy to use and handle.
I recommend Thrive comments or Disqus.
6. Be Transparent and Authentic
Your audience wants to see the man/woman behind the business.
They want to see who’s actually giving them such amazing, valuable advice.
This not only helps with deepening your relationship with your audience, but it also helps increase Brand Awareness.
And Marie Forleo is one of the best at doing this.
She has a great relationship with her audience because they always see her live through videos or hear her voice through podcasts.
If that wasn’t enough, she’s also highly active on all her social medias.
This gives the audience a glimpse of your life.
You know something like – A Day in the Life of _____.
And people love that.
7. Show Customer Success Stories
This is one of my favorites.
People love to see similar people like them succeed.
It fills them with hope and positivity for a brighter future.
And of course, it helps build better relationships with you.
One such Internet Entrepreneur who does this masterfully is Ramit Sethi.
Ramit actually takes this one step further and does a personal one-on-one video interview with his students and shows it to the rest of the community.
This not only motivates others to work harder and believe in their dreams.
But it also improves Ramit’s relationships with his audience.
Plus, who doesn’t like to be interviewed and be showcased to 1000s of people ?
8. Show Monthly Income Reports
Pat Flynn popularised it back in the early 2010s.
And since then it has become a norm.
(But a pretty good norm, at that)
What’s the benefit of this? – you ask.
Well, first it inspires and motivates your audience.
Second it makes you more transparent and honest.
Both of which will help you deepen the KLT.
Plus, the best part is that your audience thinks –
“If he can make that amount of money. Then he can also help me make that kind of money.
I should definitely learn from him.”
But, hey… please don’t exploit this.
I’ve heard many A bloggers fake their reports just for the sake of making a name.
Be honest.
Especially with your audience.
9. Be Consistent
Since this is the last tip.
So, I wanted to give you some tough love as well as a reality checker.
That is –
It takes time to build an audience online. (or offline or anywhere)
You aren’t going to build a loyal audience within a week or months.
Expect at least 6 months of consistent, high quality content and value giving up front before you start seeing any positive results.
So, consistency is the key and your best friend.
You’re going to have to put in the time into your content and nurturing your audience.
That’s it.
These were all about building KLT (know, like and trust) with your audience in a super fun and engaging way.
CONCLUSION
Any business, be it online or offline is about relationships.
Relationship with your customers, your employees, etc..
And Know, Like and Trust (KLT) is the foundation upon which a positive, healthy relationship is built.
You want to make more money?
Improve your relationship with your customers.
You want to reach a wider audience?
Improve your relationship with your existing audience, so they share your content and make it viral.
In short.
It’s all about relationships.
And KLT is where you start.
Now, the ball is in your court.
Let me know which one of these are you going to do first.
Will you try the show more income reports?
Or maybe you want to personalize your emails more?
Either way, do comment and let me know any questions or queries you may have.
I read and reply to every comment.
