There are two parts to the creating credibility in online content, the first is widespread prominence and the other is credibility.
Establishment of prominence can be translated into getting hits on your business website and getting cited by other websites so your name gets out there into the public.
Credibility is the hard part. The word "credibility" has a lot to do with reliability, authority, honesty. And several other characteristics as internet users look for something they trust online.
...Establishing credibility, even on a less often visited website, requires a very special kind of attention to detail.
There are an estimated 250 thousand products launched every year, of which 85 to 95 percent fail.
New brands and products come and go. Only a few endure and stand out. These brands with the staying power to survive over the decades are the brands that have established credibility.
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, a survey of trust and credibility, in the U.S., these qualities of trust and credibility rank even higher than product quality as a sales correlate.
Authentic and credible brands inspire customer loyalty.
Wary of scams, rip-offs and shady marketing tactics, customers are starting to see the world in terms of real or fake. They base their buying decisions on how genuine they think the an offer is.
Companies who try to build their companies around what they think people want to hear, parroting back voice of customer (VOC) information will not build customer loyalty.
Neither will trapping customers with unrealistic or temporary promises that are loaded with catches. This is how to build your business' credibility online.
- To build credibility, you have to define where your authentic nature lies. You have to make a commitment to a set of business values, put them in your mission statement, and then adhere to these core values. The firm commitment is the essence of credibility. The best way to kill a brand is when your stated values and promises turn out to be flim-flam.
The ruse will quickly damage your reputation. A case in point is the crisis with Volkswagen, who pledged to lower emissions and were then caught cheating. It's going to be very costly for that brand to restore public trust.
- Find a way to showcase and demonstrate your authenticity. Make as public a display as possible of how you and your company stick to their commitments. Use a blog, social media, or behind-the-scenes interactions with others. Get to know your audience and let them get to know you.
- Keep your messages completely consistent, through all your marketing and promotions. Every public access to your company and brand must be completely consistent with your values.
- Prepare for detractors. Don't let them detract from your consistent message. Don't compromise to get the support of people whose values and methods don't agree with your own.
The expression of credibility can be enhanced with the online promotions that you design.
- Make it easy for readers to verify the accuracy of information you provide on your site. Use good scholarship practice by providing citations that link back to credible sources so that readers can check the accuracy of your statements.
- Establish that your company is real, has a real location (not a post office box or drop off point). Provide working addresses (email and brick and mortar) and working telephone numbers).
- Establish yourself as an authority by writing informative blogs and expert content on social media and other public sites. This practice of establishing personal credibility is the essence of inbound marketing.
- Make yourself available. Make it easy to contact you. Show working contact points throughout your site.
- Provide a list of your staff with simple biographies so customers can see how credible the people around you, people likely to serve them, are.
- Make sure your site doesn't get stagnant, add new content regularly so that they company looks alive. Answer customer concerns and questions online. Make sure the content is error free, proof read carefully.
- Keep your special offers and promotional content very restrained and within the limits set by the company's and your own core values.
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Originally posted at www.handshakin.com.
