Overview
For a brand to thrive, it must master the art of influence. The most essential ingredient to successfully influence is credibility. Persuasive content on blog posts and ad copy is great, but sales only happen if readers trust the communicator of the content. Unless you are a conglomerate with billions of dollars in your marketing budget to spend on massive PPC advertising campaigns, it will take time and lots of consistent effort to build credibility– but once you’re there, you will have a treasure trove of the most valuable customer base.
There are several things you can do to present your brand as credible and trustworthy to your customers. If they trust you, then they will also be confident that you will provide them with an amazing product, service, and customer experience.
Show your expertise by citing credible sources
Data is everywhere, but trust-worthy data can only be found in credible sources. The best way to evaluate your source is to use websites ending with suffixes such as .edu (education), .gov (government), .org (non-profit organization).
You can also find useful data in books and online journal databases.
Make sure that when you link to these sources, use anchor text with descriptive keywords. This way, you readers will know what content they will find when they click the hyperlink to the outside resource. Weaving data wherever possible in the body of content, not only makes the text interesting to read, but it also lends it credibility. With this technique, you can portray your brand not just as a source of information, but a powerhouse of trustworthy information.
Use customer testimonials to boost brand credibility
Did you know that 72% of consumers trust a business more after reading positive reviews and testimonials? Showcasing customer reviews on your website adds social proof to your brand, especially if the testimonial is coming from someone who is an expert in the industry. Give a place where your customers can leave a review citing their experience with your products. Include the not-so-positive ones too because too many positive reviews in a row can seem fake. That said, know that testimonials are a powerful tool to turn cold traffic warm.
“Reading other people’s experience with your brand and its products encourages others to do business with you.”
Michael Jenkins
You can even create case studies using these customers testimonials that shows how your product solved someone’s problems. This is a fantastic method to get future prospects to identify themselves with the client in your case study and turn to your product to solve their own–similar–problem.
Provide a delightful customer service
For brands that do most of their business online, giving their customers a seamless service is extremely important to not just establish credibility but also to boost customer satisfaction. Research shows that over 50% of your current customers will stop doing business with your brand just after one bad experience. Also, people don’t shy from raving about amazing products and exceptional customer service experience.
Make yourself available across a variety of platforms to answer all their questions.
This means, having your contact information and social media channels readily available for them. A live chat feature on your website will be even better to provide real-time help if needed.
Leverage the power of influencer marketing
Influencers have already established credibility with their fans. The whole idea behind influencer marketing is that followers trust their opinions and listen to their recommendations. You can use this already established credibility to your advantage by partnering with influencers relevant to your industry.
Sponsored videos, posts, giveaways are just some ways to collaborate with influencers and get them talking about your brand with their audience.
By seeing your brand in their social media platform like Insta stories or Twitter, their credibility will rub off on your brand, and people will be actively searching for your brand to learn more.
You just need to find out the local influencer and reach out them with an offer. If your business is Melbourne based, then find out influencers who are quite popular in Melbourne. Offer them to promote your business through their social media channels. This can be one of the best strategies for online marketing agency in Melbourne.
Establish credibility through blogger outreach
Guest posting is a very powerful weapon to grow brand awareness and imbue trust among an audience that don’t know you. Getting your valuable content published on relevant blogs can fortify your online presence, increase your industry authority, and bring your brand website important backlinks and targeted traffic. Here is something interesting– research shows that people consider earned media opportunities as one of the most authentic form of marketing. Seeing your content on reputable websites will quickly boost your credibility in their eyes.
Remember that it takes time to grow brand credibility, and only one mistake to break it. So focus on always delivering amazing experiences whether it be through products, social media platforms or content on your blog. People will trust you if you deliver what you promise.
