Scam Likely or Solid Bet

When a U.S. buyer first encounters your product today, it is rare that they move straight to purchase.

US consumers are living in a market where scams and shaky promises are everywhere. Americans reported losing around $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, a jump of roughly 25 percent in a single year. At the same time, surveys show that a large majority of U.S. adults have experienced some kind of online scam or cyberattack, and many have personally been burned by fake or disappointing online purchases.

Layer that on top of economic anxiety. Consumer confidence has been shaky, and a significant share of Americans say they plan to spend less because of affordability concerns.

In that environment, buyers are not just cautious. They are actively looking for reasons not to trust you.

This is why it is so important that you show up where they are already looking in a way that quietly confirms, “You are in the right place. People like you work with us. It is safe to explore.” Your job is to seed that confirmation in a few strategic places, so when they go hunting, the proof is already waiting.

Most founders still think in terms of channels and campaigns. U.S. buyers think in terms of confirmation.

When your name crosses their screen, the real questions in their head sound like:

That judgment often happens in under a minute, long before you get a meeting.

So instead of trying to be everywhere, start designing a few strategic meeting points. These are deliberate touchpoints placed where your buyers already spend attention, so that when they go looking, what they find quietly answers three questions.

You are real.
You understand their world.
Other smart people take you seriously.

Forget the pretty funnel diagram for a moment. Here is what many U.S. buyers actually do when they see your product or get your message for the first time.

None of this looks like formal “research.” It is a series of quick, subconscious checks for seriousness and familiarity.

If they do not find you in any obvious place, the easiest path is to not buy and stay where it’s safe.

If your name shows up a couple of times in the right pockets, replying starts to feel a lot safer.

In our earlier article on Make It Safe To Say Yes, we talked about reducing financial and career risk. Here, we are dealing with a related but slightly different question.

When a U.S. buyer considers you, they are asking:

“If I champion this, will I look smart or foolish”

Three instincts drive their behavior in this pre-call window.

Once you understand those instincts, the goal is not omnipresence. It is overlap between where they naturally are and where you deliberately show up.

You do not need fifty touchpoints. You need a small set that line up with how your specific U.S. buyers move through the world.

Here are the core surfaces to focus on.

Think pieces are not only about showcasing your expertise. They are also about helping buyers understand who you are, how you came to be, and why you exist at all.

Instead of only technical articles, think in terms of:

These pieces give buyers something deeper than a tagline. They say, “Here is how we think. Here is how we respond to problems. Here is why you can trust us to keep showing up when things get hard.”

When a buyer sees your name and then finds a strong founder interview or origin story, it becomes much easier for them to imagine introducing you to their team and feeling good about it.

Your social feed is where buyers check what you are like in “real time.”

Ask: Where does my ideal U.S. buyer actually spend their scrolling time

Pick the one or two platforms where your buyers genuinely hang out and design your meeting point there.

What to show:

If a buyer can scroll your recent posts on their preferred platform and quickly think, “These people live in my world and are paying attention to the same things I am,” you have built a strong confirmation point.

Review sites can be powerful, but only if they are places your buyers already trust.

Instead of chasing every platform, do this:

You are not trying to manufacture a wall of five-star quotes. You are trying to give cautious buyers a quick, credible way to verify that real people have had good experiences with you.

Every niche has a few places that act as signal hubs. The people your buyer respects are already paying attention there.

These hubs could be:

You do not need the biggest show. You need the right rooms.

Ways to seed confirmation:

From the buyer’s perspective, seeing you in one of these hubs changes your category. You are no longer a cold name in an inbox. You are “that company I heard on that show” or “the founder I saw in that article,” which takes you much closer to gaining a new customer.

Instead of a long checklist of places you “should be,” think in terms of a confirmation map.

For each U.S. buyer segment you care about, ask:

Then pick three to five of those and design specific meeting points in each.

In a market full of scams and economic uncertainty, that map is what turns your name from “risky unknown” into “new but credible option.”

From Inside the States

On this side, the trust gap keeps widening.

Almost everyone you want to sell to has a story about a deal gone wrong. A product that never arrived, a vendor that disappeared after the invoice was paid, or a platform that changed its terms overnight. Pair that with tighter budgets, and the default response to something new is a quiet, skeptical “maybe later.”

What cuts through that is not a louder pitch. It is recognition and coherence.

When I see a brand show up in a thoughtful founder interview, then later see them again in my feed talking about problems I recognize, and finally notice a couple of grounded reviews from people who sound like me, my posture changes. I am not just evaluating their product. I am starting to believe that saying yes to a conversation will make me look observant, not gullible.

From Inside The States, the companies that are winning are the ones that accept this reality. They do the slow, intentional work of placing their story in the right places, so buyers can piece together, “These are serious people doing serious work,” before the first call ever happens.

Recent data from U.S. regulators and researchers backs up what buyers are feeling. The Federal Trade Commission reports that consumer fraud losses hit about $12.5 billion in 2024, up sharply from the prior year, with scams ranging from fake investment schemes to impersonation and online shopping fraud. Parallel survey work from organizations like Pew Research shows that large majorities of Americans view online scams and cyberattacks as a major problem, and many have personally experienced some form of digital deception or failed purchase. Layered on top of softer consumer confidence readings and cautious spending plans, these findings explain why buyers do not rush from first contact to purchase. They are not only comparing features and prices. They are scanning for confirmation that you are real, responsible, and already trusted by people like them.

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Read our guide to find out why growth marketers should make sure CTV is part of their 2026 media mix.

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