Most businesses put the cart before the horse when they try to make money off of their Web site. They focus on the results they want – making sales – when they should be focusing on how to get there – earning client trust.  Consumers make purchases from the companies they trust.  If they don’t trust you, then they will not purchase from you.

Primarily thought leadership content builds trust by providing information on solving a customer’s problems without a heavy, hard hitting sales message built in. Let’s continues using our sample Pizza restaurant example from our Building a Marketing Plan post. You may at first feel that a Pizza restaurant doesn’t have a lot of customer problems to solve, but you would be wrong. Can they tell you how to ship a Pizza to your daughter going to College out of town? Can they help you understand how to keep your home-made Pizzas from being greasy? Can they help parents understand why teenagers are enamored with Pizza treating it as a primary food group?  If so, maybe they will be able to earn your trust, so the next time you are running home after a hectic day, you will think to stop at their store, and not a competitors to pick up that quick family dinner.

The goal of good Thought Leadership Content is:

• Answer a potential customers questions
• Solve problems that customers may not know they had
• Provide an atmosphere reflective of your helpful, knowledgeable expertise

When your Web site content truly takes care of your customer’s questions and problems, while giving them a chance to see your organization in a positive light, you have built the foundation of a relationship which can turn profitable for both of you in the future.