Internet Marketing’s Secret Weapon: Trust

Considering the amount of junk mail entering e-mail inboxes these days, most people are willing go to great lengths to keep their e-mail accounts spam-free. However, there are many who subscribe to mailing lists that promote products and services from various Web sites, in the effort to learn more about what is being offered and whether it can benefit them. For the salon owner who is involved in Internet marketing, these kinds of customers are a vital element of your business. The key is to win over these kinds of customers by getting them to trust you.

Trust is the Internet marketer's secret—when your customers trust you, they will reward you with their loyalty. Here are a few ways you can ensure that you are building trust through your Internet marketing.

Send to legitimate subscribers only! To be allowed to send promotional materials such as newsletters, catalogs and marketing media, the first thing you will is need permission from your recipients. Make sure you only send to people who have willingly signed up to your subscribers list. Bonus: Those who sign up are showing you that they already trust you based off of what they’ve seen thus far.

Be an expert and share your expertise. Gaining your customers' trust will be easy if you share some of your knowledge and expertise. People rely on other people who they consider experts, so be sure to demonstrate to your clients that you are the expert in the tanning salon field. Provide them with helpful hints and tips pertaining to your salon and the industry in general—for example, many salon owners provide customers with articles on vitamin D and various tanning-related topics. If your customers see you as someone who knows what you're talking about, they will trust you quickly.

Use the secret weapon of business: integrity. In other words, be true to your customers. Only offer first-class products and services, give money-back guarantees and provide quality post-sale service. The more satisfied customers you have, the more likely it is that they will recommend you to others. And recommendations are the key to growing your mailing list ten-fold—people trust someone they know, so when one person recommends you, another will go to your salon or Web site to check it out for themselves. The added advantage is that new person already trusts you based on the recommendation of another. Note: Remember not to lose the trust you have gained. Never do anything with the e-mail addresses you have gathered, such as sell them or give them out. That is a good way to destroy peoples’ trust and your list.

Provide a get-out clause. Show them that you are not there to trap them. Every e-mail you send should enable them to unsubscribe anytime they want. Providing information on how to unsubscribe from the list on your Web site form will add to their sense of trust, because you are guaranteeing that they can let go of the service whenever they want to.

To build a good Internet marketing list, you need people to trust you quickly. And the faster you build your opt-in list, the faster word about your salon will spread.

Simon Whincop is a successful Internet marketer and writes on a variety of subjects. Visit www.webcashmillions.com for more information.