I have always been entertained and enamored by magic tricks. When people see one performed, they usually have one of two reactions: amazement or curiosity. The amazement is, “How did they do that?” and the curiosity is, “How did they do that?” Some people will look forward to the next one, while others are distracted by trying to figure out the sleight of hand.

Often, magic is as simple as diverting one's eyes to a place where something benign is happening while a secret move or method is used to create the illusion. The idea is to trick you into believing that the impossible is possible. It's not nefarious, just entertaining. But what happens when that sleight of hand is used to trick you into taking action that benefits the magician more than it helps you?

Data Privacy

All computers collect data and utilize it to produce a desired outcome. I believe that most instances are benign, while others are truly nefarious.

One of my favorite podcasts is Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. I can confirm that this podcast does not use sleight of hand and pulls no punches. Filled with opinions, news, and penis jokes, it's fun, entertaining, and features useful, timely tech and financial news. When Kara Swisher released her latest Burn Book, I was all in.

Kara has been a long-time technology reporter and personally knows most of the key players in Silicon Valley. She has a clear-eyed view of when people are working for good and when they are doing evil things for money. She sharply distinguishes between how companies like Google and Facebook collect and use data and how Steve Jobs understood his power at Apple and respected privacy.

There is a saying that goes, “If you are not paying for it, you are probably the product being sold.” While Google gives you free tools like Gmail, Chrome, Search, and more, it's only free because they are mining your data and selling it in the form of ads and more. Facebook took our data and sold it to a company in England to affect an election in the US (the jury is still out on whether or not that worked), and it uses your benign conversations with friends to target you with countless ads disguised as content.

On the other hand, Apple asks for your permission to use your data almost every time.

Use Location Data

Often, when you use an app on the iPhone, a pop-up appears, “This app wants to use your location data.” You can choose “No,” “This time only,” or “Every time you use the app.”  You also have settings to control which apps use which data.

That was part of the ethos Steve Jobs established when he designed the Apple product ecosystems and, in some form, it continues today. Since his passing, Apple (under Tim Cook) has embraced leasing technologies from Google and other companies that don't follow that edict, but at its core, Apple is trying to protect your privacy.

At every turn, your data is being collected, and how that data is used, sold, and utilized is still like a magic trick. The only way to truly opt out of everything is to simply stop using computers.

Why Collect Data?

I have found that with the advent of AI and search, website traffic has been declining in volume, rapidly making it harder for others to find and see your business and consume your content. This is leading to businesses trying to flood the zone by creating and sharing more content. With the advent of artificial intelligence, you can create articles, videos, and more on demand.

Yet, we are seeing success not in creating more content but in creating better content that is served to the right people. The right people are people who have been on your website in the past or are finding you for the first time.

Artificial intelligence scrubs the web and provides generic answers that combine multiple sources with articles that have been posted in the past. Quality content includes your own personal perspective and experiences with a topic, combined with the knowledge of the audience you are trying to reach (specifically, your current and prospective customers).

If your content resonates with your audience, you can add a form that asks them for some basic business information in exchange for downloading the content. Yes, that will certainly cut the number of downloads, but you can be assured that the people who fill out the forms trust you with their information. Having great content, combined with building trust, will make them feel like it's not just another sleight of hand or magic trick.

So, how can you, as a small-to-mid-sized business, build trust with the people consuming your content? Tell the truth and be transparent.

Privacy Trust

One of the core principles of the business that I promote to my clients is building trust with website visitors. If people trust you, they will gladly trade their contact information for quality thought leadership. That comes in the form of content, including blog posts, ebooks, white papers, videos, and webinars (including replays).

Generally speaking, the data they trade for thought leadership is added to a CRM, ERP, and/or email program like Active Campaign. You can build trust with an autoresponder after they make the trade. The first email should say,

“Thanks for downloading (the content). We have added you to an email list that you can choose to opt out of at any time. But, we anticipate that you would like to stay in the know and that's our goal. Our emails happen weekly and will share new content and invites to webinars and events. Finally, you may receive a sequence of emails that summarize what you have downloaded to help you make the most of it.

You can read our Privacy Policy to see how we only use your data internally and protect it from outside uses and parties.

Thanks for your trust. We are here to meet any of your needs and answer any questions you may have.”

That's similar to Apple's location services prompt. It tells your clients and prospects what's happening and why. It also lets them know they are in control and can trust you with their information.

You should also have a Privacy Policy page that outlines your safe use of their data and who to contact if they have any questions or concerns.

Closing Thought

Building trust is a process that everyone in business must strive for. Getting the right traffic to your website has always been the goal, but we have handed the reins and responsibility for our traffic to the companies that are more interested in ad clicks than promoting us.

You will have to work harder to get people to your content, and it will be more important than ever to get people to trust you and raise their hands to say so. It's not impossible. Through quality content creation and distribution, we have seen a rise in direct traffic to our clients' websites (30-50% increases). We have also seen a steady decline (10-25%) in traffic driven by internet searches.

You can be assured that if someone is selling you a magic trick to grow your business, chances are there is a sleight of hand involved. The one thing I know you can count on is building trust, which is how you can outsell your competition through better business relationships.

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Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about business-to-business sales and marketing today! Do you have a sales or marketing communications strategy that works for you? What tips or techniques can you share that work for you and your business?

To learn more about this and other topics on B2b Sales & Marketing, visit our podcast website at The Bacon Podcast.