Circle of Trust

The State of "Marketing" Today

I want to share something that's working really well in B2B SaaS marketing and Personal Brand space.

After 20 years as a consultant - helping software startups with product creation and marketing I am seeing a vibe shift in the space.

The marketing of digital products and software is going through a change.

Not long ago, a fairly anonymous brand could create a landing page with an offer, run some ads on Facebook, drive traffic, get leads and close the customer through a standard "marketing funnel" approach.

But today, those aggressive sales funnels are pushing customers away.

Instead, what if we built real relationships through meaningful touchpoints?

That's exactly what I've done with my personal brand and Povidom, my Video Content Agency. Let me show you how it works...

It uses Flywheel principle I call, "The Circle Of Trust".

Conceptually, in each stage, the member must go through several circles within that Layer before moving next. Multiple interactions need to happen, before, a "member" can leap onto the next level.

So, let's begin.

Why Circle of Trust

Breaking down marketing efforts into different segments makes it easier to conceptualise. Instead of spraying and praying (which is what many businesses do, unfortunately).

This works for other digital business models, including personal brands (which I am a huge advocate for), DTC brands and educational products.

The Circle of Trust System allows me to do the following:

• know exactly what type of content to write and for whom.
• understand customer/client flow better
• build stronger connection with people I interact online
• create holistic relationship with my fans, clients, members

Full in-depth coverage of this Circle of Trust (CoT) would exhaust the length of the newsletter (or article).

I will review each and write more on it later.

Obscurity (outer layer)

I don't want to focus on this too much.

Most of people are here.

Brands with $0 MRR are here.

Two distinct indicators you're here:

1. You do not have a system to gather attention, collect leads and them into customers
2. Your content (and marketing) strategy is ad-hoc. You post randomly, whatever, irrelevant things.

Harsh truth: Nobody knows you exist.

This layer is goalless and status quo for many businesses and you must evade it as soon as possible.

Attention - Build Authority

This is the "grind" many technical founders HATE, but without it, we have nothing.

Many focus on the wrong metrics here, such as followers, likes, shares and comments. While those metrics help you achieve the primary goal, they are a distraction from what is important.

If you're asking "like, subscribe/follow or comment" from your audience - you're "working" for the platform, not your business.

The Goal is to move your followers (or casual readers) towards the next level of your Circle - Private Conversation.

You're building interest, authority and brand discovery on the platform. You don't need a lot of followers to deplatform your audience.

Start by creating compelling bio, setting up profile picture (if personal brand) and having just one single place where they can join your next level in your CoT: Private Conversation.

Content Strategy:

• Posts about concepts, problem-solution posts, general steps to reach the solution, and overview of the process.
• Not the place or time to go in depth, but provide enough information for your audience to see that you have a solution and know what you're talking about.
• Call-to-Action for readers is to follow you into the next Circle: Private Conversation. If they want in-depth info.

In SaaS/Software this could be a trial or free tier. The reader gives up their contact information for access to more exclusive content.

This should be FREE for them. They should NOT need to pull out credit card for this.

Private Conversation - Build Trust

We cannot be at the mercy of algorithm. This is why I am such an anti platform-growth mindset. Grow your business not your social media profile.

Now that we have access to our audience directly (via email, SMS, messenger or community) - talk with them. Share your in-depth knowledge there.

In private conversation your members should have a perception shift from

"I am curious about this person/brand/product"

to

"Ok, I kinda like this guy/girl".

And this is where a personal brand comes in.

A person behind your product - founder or owner, - who is a part of the conversation. This builds trust.

Content Strategy:

• Newsletters: guides, how-to, mindset, industry know-hows
• Private content: webinars, tutorials, masterclass
• Casual practical tips they can grab and use immediately
• in software/SaaS: the ability to try your product.

The Goal is to present them the Exclusive Offer (often enough).

You will be selling here.

But it's going to take multiple interaction, multiple content-pieces and most importantly, building trustworthy reputation and relationships with your audience, before they will buy.

For SaaS businesses this is major part of Onboarding Process. Not only you're educating your users on your free features, you're also explaining how premium features move the needle for the users' needs.

Exclusive Offer - Build Cashflow

Now they bought from you. This can be entry level product, or recurring productized services, paid community or lowest tier of your software.

People buy from people they like and trust, and at this point you should have both.

Now they are finding out if you can truly deliver the goods.

Can you solve their problem?

You better.

Exclusive Offer is [usually] 1-to-Many relationship with your customer.

Content Strategy

• Paywalled posts, webinars, resources & tools,
• Private events like group calls, Q&A sessions, office hours.
• With software it's paid subscription

For many businesses and customers this makes financial sense, they pay for access to resources and knowledge and do most of the work themselves.

Throughout your communication you mention your Flagship Service or Product.

You upsell your Selected Flagship product along with your content.

This product pays your bills and cost (overhead) of running it should be cheap.

Selected Flagship Services - Grow Revenue

For some businesses and customers the cost of doing work themselves is too high.

They would rather outsource the solution to the professional. Hence you want to give a small segment of your client-base an exclusive access to you.

It's your "High Ticket Offer". You're building your business through this Level.

Content Strategy:

• You are the content: You work directly with the client 1-on-1
• You communicate with client directly
• In software business, this means dedicated account representative, committed phone support, hand-held migration and setup.
• On individual level - it's consulting, coaching.

Those relationships can lasts for months and sometimes can transcend into next level of your Circle: Networking

Club - Expanding Your Network

Your business needs to grow and expand. The fastest way to do that is through strong network.

You build official or unofficial "club" around your brand.

You selectively invite your Flagship Clients into this club (as a benefit of being your client).

You can also invite non-competing partners that offer tangent services related to your clients/customers.

The network is closed to outsiders and consists of high value members that can join only on internally established merit. The value of the network is access to the right people, in-person events and knowledge exchange.

There might be small fee to cover administrative costs.

Content Strategy:

• Physical and digital events
• Mastermind calls
• Internal messaging exchange.

Club Layer of the CoT doesn't happen from the start of the business. It's neither part of the business nor business itself. It's extension of the Brand.

Partners - Wealth Building

Final stage of the CoT is finding strategic partners.

They will very likely come from your network (i.e. "Club").

Together you can expand into other markets, add services/products to each other's businesses and do collaborative work.

This is the layer of the ultimate trust, as you're entering professional long term relationship.

This is optional, but having such opportunities can yield tremendous returns.

Circle of Trust is A Business Style

The Circle of Trust starts with a completely anonymous stranger on the Internet and turns them into a fan. Some fans become first customers.

Few of your customers will become big clients.

You might or might not form a Mastermind around professionals.

As you get to know the members of your Club, you might find a business opportunities together.

This is not a strategy, nor "tactics", to me it's a way of seeing the business.