Building a foundation of trust and belief
The notion of know, like, and trust is fundamentally wrong, here's why:
Gary Bloomer | SHAKING THE TREE # 235
Something’s been bugging me for year now.
For as long as I can recall, marketers, coaches, and entrepreneurs the world over have preaching the gospel of the "Know, Like, and Trust" (KLT) framework as the golden path to building long term relationships with prospects, customers, and clients.
Now, on the surface, this sounds right: first, people get to know you, then they like you, and finally, they trust you enough to buy something from you.
Sounds logical, right? Sounds sensible.
But on closer examination, it’s also completely backwards.
The truth is, trust doesn’t come after knowing and liking someone—trust is the very foundation that makes knowing and liking someone—ANYONE—even possible in the first place.
READ THAT AGAIN.
Trust comes first.
Think about it: when you meet someone new, do you really invest time in getting to know them if you don’t already have some baseline level of trust?
Of course not.
Because of hundreds of thousands of years of human interactions practically being hardwired into our DNA, when we meet someone new, we’ve instinctively learned to decide within seconds whether someone is credible, safe, and worth engaging with.
Only once we’ve done that do we allow ourselves to know them, like them, and perhaps deepen any feelings of trust.
This is why traditional KLT gets it wrong. If you’re waiting for people to "know" and "like" you before they trust you, you’re putting the cart before the horse.
Belief > Trust > Like > Know … so, a more accurate model flips the script and the key yo that is belief:
Belief – Before anything else, people must believe you are who you say you are. This is about authenticity and clarity of message.
Trust – Once someone believes you, they’ll extend trust—not the other way around.
Like – In turn, trust means people become more open to liking you because they feel safe engaging with you and sharing things with you.
Know – Finally, only once they feel comfortable sharing things with you, THEN they’ll invest time in knowing you because they’ve already decided you’re worth their time and attention, and because they feel they’ve got the measure of you.
So, how do you to apply this to your content creation efforts?
If you want to build real influence and connection, stop obsessing over being "liked" first. Instead:
Lead with authentic credibility – the more you demonstrate expertise and consistency before asking for attention, the greater your chances of being listened to.
Be radically transparent – trust is built on bone honest honesty, not on curated perfection. Social media influence isn’t worth squat if it’s based on flim flam.
Solve before selling – Provide value upfront to prove your intentions. This means giving away advice, suggestions, and opinions without expecting anything in return.
The old KLT model is a comforting fiction, but a fiction nevertheless—one that keeps people stuck in endless cycles of content creation without real engagement.
The reality?
Trust and belief aren’t earned at the end of the journey—they’re the price of admission and the cost of doing business.
Start there, and everything else ought to fall neatly into place.
As always, thanks for reading.
—Gary
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Next time on Shaking the Tree: Refining your raw material
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.