What do brands such as Amazon, Coca-Cola, and Nike all have in common? Credibility. We purchase their products and services because we trust them – more so than we trust some other, competing, brands. Likewise, in the world of business, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a corporate giant or an up-and-coming brand, establishing credibility and market recognition should be your number one priority as an enterprise.
Yet, building brand authority can seem like an uphill battle when you lack the expertise or the general know-how for it. So, how do you overcome this gap? Simple: by reading the article down below.
Implement Relevant Statistics and Case Studies into Your Articles
Case studies are an essential component of many content marketing strategies, and with good reason. Without solid evidence to back up your claims, your words hold little merit; especially nowadays when anyone can pose as an expert on the internet. Therefore, citing relevant case studies and interesting statistics, from trustworthy sources of course, provides more credibility to what you have to say.
Moreover, it helps portray your brand as a reliable hub of information, effectively drawing customers and readers to your blog, which now serves as a reference point for various topics. Essentially, this creates a sense of trust among your readership as you’re not just blatantly shoving products down their throats but actually providing them with some educational material to quench their curiosity.
Consequently, your blog will get more inbound links, boosting your site’s authority, as well as your overall SEO efforts, by ranking it higher in SERPs. In addition, conducting your own case studies is even better as you’re not just repeating what others have said, but actually making a genuine effort to inform and enlighten your consumer-base – and this kind of dedication goes a long way. Also, you can convert the raw information you’ve uncovered into neat and readable formats, such as infographics for all to see (and share).
Maintain Top-Notch Customer Support
This one is huge. According to Zendesk, as much as 82% of customers stop doing business with a company due to a negative customer experience. As a result, companies nowadays need to work on improving their communication channels if they wish to retain their customers’ continued loyalty. After all, a happy customer is a repeat customer.
So, how exactly do you go about doing that? Well, for starters, you need to keep your business information updated at all times. There’s nothing worse than having broken links to your brand’s social media profiles and a website with outdated contact information.
Not only does this look extremely sloppy and unprofessional, but it also gives your customers the idea that you’re no longer in business. What’s more, new businesses are often forced to change location in order to match their growing needs which, in essence, can cause a lot of confusion due to frequently changing phone numbers. This is why virtual numbers have become the latest business norm for a lot of companies out there.
There are many great VoIP options for small businesses that are more efficient than traditional landlines. Moving your operations to the cloud will allow you to communicate from anywhere and save you both time and money.
For instance, in the land Down Under, these 1300 numbers target multiple answering points allowing companies to route their calls to different locations with ease. In addition, they’re fully portable which means you don’t have to worry about losing your phone number upon moving. Lastly, you need to keep a close eye on social media for both positive and negative feedback regarding your brand, and answer accordingly. Failing to do so could cause great dissatisfaction among your followers, leading to a loss of face and credibility for your brand.
Hence, you need to do your best to participate in said discussions, while also trying to provide them with solutions to any problems they might be facing.
Take a Shot at Guest Blogging
Posting compelling content on your own website is never a bad thing, per se. However, posting that same piece of content on another (more authoritative) website can bring you more traffic with the right audience. Simply put, your brand will look so much better in the eyes of your customers if you have an article published in a well-known journal, or website, relevant to your niche.
Of course, this could also backfire on you if you publish your content on sites with a not-so-reputable authority. So, how do you avoid falling into such a trap? Easy, just be sure to check a few parameters beforehand, such as: the number of comments, shares, and likes; the general freshness and quality of posted content; SERPs rank; domain authority; and so on. In the long run, this will not only increase your brand credibility but your overall brand recognition as well. In addition, you don’t have to stick only with the written format.
Attending relevant industry conferences and seminars is yet another way of boosting your brand’s credibility (especially so if you’re one of the speakers). Moreover, you can conduct interviews or even join podcasts to shed some light on certain industry issues. This will do wonders for your brand awareness and place you as an industry leader (of your particular niche).
Turn to Influencers for Help
Influencer marketing has become the go-to marketing strategy for many a brand. To put it in a nutshell, it’s a form of word-of-mouth marketing where brands ‘employ’ certain influencers to make positive reviews on their behalf to an already engaged audience.
Basically, people today have become almost impervious to traditional modes of advertising, which is why brands have taken a more indirect route of reaching their respective audiences, and rightly so. According to a report made by Nielsen, 92% of consumers trust recommendations made by family and friends over advertisements.
Now, this is where influencers come into play. See, it takes a lot of time and effort for a new brand to create a sense of trust and understanding with its audience (especially so if the audience is not engaged), whereas influencers already have the people’s ear, so to speak, with their follower-base. As a result, the recommendations and testimonials they make can spread like wildfire over social media and the internet in general.
At the end of the day, you don’t increase your brand credibility merely by posting compelling content or getting celebrities to endorse your brand, but by ultimately turning your regular customers into loyal customers, and your loyal customers into brand ambassadors. Remember, a brand isn’t just a product manufactured by a particular company, but the emotional and psychological connection you share with your customers – and trust is the building block of any successful relationship.