Weekly Alert: Don’t Turn Trust Into a Game of Chicken

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[The Weekly Wrap]]( Robert Rose [Trends and Research] - [Give Your Event Content a Virtual Makeover]( by Ann Gynn [Chief Content Officer Exclusive]  A Note From Robert Rose Don’t Turn Trust Into a Game of Chicken You get a text message from someone you know: “Would you do me a favor?” But that’s it. No blinking dots. You’re waiting. It’s getting uncomfortable. It’s a game of chicken. They’re waiting for you to say yes. You’re waiting for them to say what the favor is. With certain people in your life, the default answer is yes. You know you’re going to do the favor before you know what it is. That may be because of a tacit agreement with the person asking. Spouses know what I’m talking about. When my wife says my name with a particular tone, I know I’m about to be asked to do something. But it’s not really a question. With others (friends, colleagues, customers, etc.), it is a question. And that game of who blinks first comes down to one thing: trust. Researchers Claire A. Hill and Erin Ann O’Hara [define trust]( as “a state of mind that enables its possessor to be willing to make herself vulnerable to another – that is, to rely on another despite a positive risk of harm.” Put simply, trust is a level of willingness to be vulnerable and rely on an uncertain outcome. If no vulnerability is required, trust is irrelevant. Think of the trust exercise where you fall back into someone’s arms. You would need an exponential increase in trust when doing the exercise over a bed of nails vs. a pile of pillows. You also don’t need trust if the outcome is certain. When my wife asks, I jump into action. But when someone outside your inner circle asks for a favor, that [mutual trust]( must form in real time. The requester may trust first and say, “Let me tell you exactly what the favor is.” Or you may trust first and say, “I’d be happy to. What is the favor?” Bargaining might occur. The requester may add, “I promise it’s no big deal,” to reduce your uncertainty. Or you might say, “It depends on what the favor is,” to mitigate your vulnerability. Someone has to be the one to trust first. In marketing, the ability to create value with content behind a gated form depends entirely on negotiating this trust with prospective customers. How much do I have to give away and how clever can I be in describing it before the visitor trusts us enough to [provide their data]( Imagine your calls to action say, “Can you do me a favor?” instead of “Download this white paper.” Imagine that instead of bargaining cleverly for data, the copy was [transparently honest]( saying something like: In return for your data, we’ll give you a thought leadership paper that explains why our approach to this business challenge is the best one. After you register, you’ll receive at least three phone calls and one email per month from our sales team. They’ll congratulate you on downloading it and ask about your current status and pain points in the buying journey. If you respond to any of these calls or emails, expect to be pestered by phone to validate your purchasing authority and to whom on the team we also should speak to. If you don’t respond, you’ll be subscribed to our marketing newsletter until you unsubscribe or your email becomes invalid. At any time, you can stop this communication by purchasing our product. I know this sounds ridiculous. But, think about it. This notification would be the pinnacle of you trusting first. You lay out every single thing that will result from them saying yes. That would be a level of trust never seen in most lead-generation relationships. I’m not suggesting that marketers go to that level of transparency (though I do think it would be an interesting experiment). But, maybe, marketers should be more willing to trust first. As you create trust-bargaining content, consider these two options: - You can remove prospects’ uncertainty about what will happen when they place their trust in you. In other words, be clearer about what’s about to happen once they do provide their data. - You can decrease the amount of vulnerability prospects need to experience in trusting you. For example, you can indicate that they have the ability to rescind their permission to use any or all of their information with a single click. Both of those are ways to go beyond counting on favors and start building trust. It’s your story. Tell it well. Robert Rose Chief Strategy Advisor Content Marketing Institute This article from Robert is available only in this newsletter for you, the newsletter subscriber. If you have friends that would see value in Robert's weekly updates, please have them [subscribe](. Tune to the Weekly Wrap Listen to the latest episode, browse the show notes, or watch the video version [right here](. Or subscribe on [Apple Podcasts]( or [Stitcher]( so you’ll never miss a show.  Content Marketing Job Listings Currently on a job search? Thinking about switching gears with your career? Please check out our job listings below. Available Positions: - Senior Content Marketer, Crisp Inc, Remote - [Learn More]( Interested in posting a job here? Please see our [CMI Careers page]( for more info.  More from CMI Join us on September 2 for CMWorld: Advance Insights, a free webinar where you'll hear from Content Marketing World 2020 speakers and solutions partners. These 10- to 15-minute sessions will provide fast strategies and actionable tactics for you. Don't miss this! Melanie Deziel, A. Lee Judge, Robert Rose and other industry leaders will share valuable insights. [Register for free today! »](  CMI Video Are you ready to increase your visibility with live video so that you can become the trusted person your audience follows and invests in? But are you overwhelmed by the fear and gear of live video? In this clip from CMWorld 2019, Ian Anderson Gray, founder of Seriously Social, shares how to produce confident, professional, and authentic live video using specific strategies, tools and techniques. [Watch the video »]( [COVID-19 CONTENT MARKETING RESOURCES]( Events Content Marketing World ContentTECH Summit Master Classes Content Marketing Awards Resources Research White Paper/eBook Library Content VIPs CMI Business Directory Education Content Marketing University Chief Content Officer Webinars Career Center Interested in advertising with CMI? [Learn more.]( To stop receiving future Content Marketing Institute update emails, please respond [here](. Copyright © 2020 Informa Connect, All rights reserved Content Marketing Institute, an Informa Connect brand 605 3rd Ave | New York | NY 10158 [Terms of Service]( | [Privacy Statement]( [informa tech]