Value-First Trust Runway
Earn audience trust before asking people to buy
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 91%
The Value-First Trust Runway replaces immediate product promotion with a period of audience service. Start by identifying the potential customers you want in your network and the broader industry questions they care about. Publish content that solves those problems, even when the subject is not directly about your product. Continue showing expertise and engaging with the people who respond without asking them to buy. Over time, the audience learns to associate you with useful guidance and becomes a community rather than a list of prospects. Only then should the product enter the conversation. The mechanism is trust accumulation: repeated useful interactions reduce skepticism and make a later offer feel like a relevant recommendation rather than an interruption.
Origin
Hala Taha described this approach while answering how to grow and advertise products on LinkedIn without directly asking people to buy.
Core principles
- 01Trust should precede the sales ask
- 02Industry value can attract customers without directly promoting a product
- 03Expert status grows through consistent useful content
- 04An engaged community is more valuable than passive reach
How to run it
- 1
Choose the future customer
Define the people who should eventually care about the product and the industry they identify with.
Pro tip Describe their recurring questions, not just their demographics.
- 2
Map useful subjects
Identify content the audience values across the industry, including subjects that are not directly tied to the product.
Pro tip Use audience questions as the starting point for topics.
Watch out Do not turn every topic into a disguised product pitch.
- 3
Publish without asking
Share consistently useful material and withhold the sales request while the audience learns what expertise you provide.
Pro tip Prioritize clarity and usefulness over mentions of the brand.
Watch out Expecting immediate revenue undermines the long runway this method requires.
- 4
Build the relationship
Respond to engagement, help people, and develop a community that trusts both your expertise and intent.
Pro tip Treat replies as conversations rather than lead records.
- 5
Earn the offer
Introduce the product after the community recognizes your expertise and can understand why the offer is relevant.
Pro tip Connect the offer to a problem your content has already helped the audience understand.
Watch out Trust does not excuse an irrelevant or weak product.
In the wild
A software founder spends months publishing practical explanations of problems in the company's industry and answering reader questions without pushing demos. Once readers consistently seek the founder's advice, the founder introduces the product as one way to apply the lessons already shared.
→ The offer reaches an audience that already understands the problem and trusts the source.
Common mistakes
Selling before trust exists
An early ask makes the content feel transactional before the audience has evidence that the creator is useful.
Talking only about the product
Potential customers often value broader industry guidance, so a product-only topic range limits usefulness.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders and experts willing to build a trusted audience before expecting direct conversions.
Not ideal for
Businesses that need immediate transactional sales and cannot support a long trust-building runway.
From the transcript
“the key is really to provide value around your product or your expertise so it's not actually to go ahead and sell anything”
“the main goal is to get your community to trust you and to look at you like an expert”
“it's more about becoming an expert in building a community that trusts you and building an engaged network”
From the episode
YAPLive: Ask Hala Anything!
YAPLive