Building trust doesn’t happen on its own. We have to be consistent in our messaging, understand our buyers’ world (see my points above), and, ultimately, deliver on all our promises and assurances over time.

We should be always available to our advertisers and allow them to interact with us. Sounds obvious, right? But they often have many questions. And if there’s nowhere for them to go to (if their specific sales person is not available), they will require other ways to get their queries answered in a timely manner. Otherwise, we could begin to lose credibility.

Client support 

Provide a point of contact for all inquiries. Maybe start an online advertiser community hub (that’s checked regularly). Maybe organise an event to bring awareness to what our news brand is all about in 2023 — our values, etc.

In these ways, you can answer questions in person, a great way to increase our likability and accessibility, as well as provide assured future support to our customers.

Be honest 

Being transparent means recognising and being open about both our strengths and weaknesses. If your ad products aren’t right for one of your leads, you should be confident enough to guide that lead in the right direction — even if that act means jeopardising some evenue. It will pay off long-term.  

Honesty wins and shows you care about your clients and their needs, plus demonstrates your willingness to help them get the overall results they’re looking to achieve.

Client value 

Do you put your clients first or revenue first? 

People know when they’re just a profit centre to you. And while they may still buy from you if they believe your ad sales portfolio solves their needs, this does nothing to build long-term trust or encourage repeat sales.

Consistency 

Consistency ensures both your sales prospects and your existing customers know what to expect. Expectations managed. You can easily set both internal and external standards to keep the quality of service they receive from you.  

Consistency helps increase the overall value of your media company by cementing your position in the market, attracting more/better quality clients with higher retention rates, as well as raising the perceived value of your service. 

I see it, the three building blocks of ad sales consistency can be defined as:  

1. Your media brand message: It should be an extension of your actions and behaviour. 
2. Your design: Creating consistent imagery across your logo, Web site, social networks, and sales materials can help you build trust with advertisers.
3. Your delivery: How you communicate with your clients in reaching their target audiences, clearly demonstrating your knowledge of what channels you recommend, how often etc., oozes confidence and trust in you.  

Commitment to quality 

Trust, in essence, can be a byproduct of a real commitment to quality/excellence. If we can deliver the right results to the right advertisers over the long term, they will come to believe in us and implicitly have trust in our product and services, and, importantly, in us as people.  

Never underestimate the power of this. 

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