“Branding is the art of becoming knowable, likable and trustable.”
In today’s competitive world, it has become imperative for businesses to establish a brand value. And, numbers prove the same as well.
According to a study, it takes 5-7 impressions before someone remembers your brand.
However, it takes a lot more to build your brand than just putting yourself in front of the audience. It’s a game of credibility. If you are not credible, people are not going to buy your products or services. It’s as simple as that!
So, how can a brand become more credible online? That is the million dollar question.
But you don’t have to worry – we have the answer. Here are some simple steps that any brand can take to build its online credibility.
1. Customer reviews
Did you know that 88% of the customers trust online reviews before a purchase?
In fact, in another study, it was found that positive online reviews boost the probability of a sale by 18%.
These numbers clearly suggest how important it is for a business to leverage the power of the online review system.
The first step that you can take to help grow your business’ online credibility is to encourage customers to post reviews about your business.
Ask them to share their great experience with your business on social media, as social media footprints go a long way to boost brand credibility. Also, make sure to post reviews and testimonials on your website to reflect the genuine affection that people have towards your business.
After all, customer reviews are the best way to judge the consistency and transparency of a business.
2. Online Reputation Management (ORM)
As important as it is for a business to have its presence online across various channels, it is equally important to ensure that the presence is well-managed.
A statistic worth mentioning here is that there are more than 2.1million daily negative mentions about brands on social media in the U.S. alone.
With today’s breakneck competition, even one such negative mention left unattended could do your business a lot of harm. Therefore, it becomes imperative to invest the right amount of effort for managing your online presence.
Apart from marketing your business and promoting your products and services, make sure to keep a check on what people are saying about your business and then take the necessary action to mend it if something negative is floating in the air about you.
3. Consistency
Consistency is the key to success no matter which field you are involved in. And, building a credible brand is no different.
According to a research, it was found that consistency contributes to 23% increase in the revenue of a business.
There are plenty of solid reasons behind it.
Firstly, a consistent presence online gets your brand recognized no matter how competitive the field. If you are consistently making your presence felt right where your users are, chances of you getting noticed increase dramatically.
Secondly, it puts your brand values right in front of the audience and builds an emotional connection. Remember – an emotional connection can go a long way to boost your brand’s credibility.
4. Strong brand communication
Communication has become the lifeline for businesses today.
As a matter of fact, close to 57% of the people said they broke up with a brand because of lack of communication and unattended online responses.
So, it is worth saying that online communication has become the key to getting people’s attention and a credible online presence.
How do you communicate effectively with the audience? If this is the question you are faced, then the answer lies in one word – CONTENT!
Your content is the biggest contributing factor to your authenticity. As a matter of fact, in an online survey, it was found that 80% of the people believe authentic content compels them to follow a brand online.
But communication is not just about posting a good piece of content and letting it work like magic. It’s also about responding to the comments that are posted, tracking customer responses and using appropriate language when dealing with the audience.
5. Trust Seals
As mentioned earlier, social footprints can prove to be vital for your brand’s online presence. In a similar way, using trust seals can be the biggest factor contributing to your brand’s online credibility.
You cannot take the matter of web security lightly, as people are more protective of their online data now than ever.
This is the reason you need to display trust seals on your website that win the trust of your audience. For instance, in a survey, it was found that people found Norton to be the most trusted seal on websites.
If you can manage to display something like this or anything else that can win the trust of users pertaining to your industry, it can do your online credibility a world of good.
6. Employee participation
Another great way to showcase how true you are to your word as a business is by encouraging your employees to spread their positive experiences about working for your brand.
Let them become the online gospel that is spreading awareness about your brand.
Remember, word of mouth publicity, especially the one coming from a person who is working for you, can prove to be the best thing to happen for your business.
Therefore, you need to focus on encouraging employees to spread the word and see how it works the magic around.
Apart from all these methods, one more thing that you can use to build online credibility is to swoop in an influencer and get him/her to vouch for your business. Influencer marketing, as they call it these days, can be the quickest way to get your business credibility index high. It might take a lot of effort, but in the end, if you get even one influencer to vouch for your business, it will be worth it!
So, this sums up our list of things you can do to increase your brand’s online credibility. Go ahead and begin implementing them one by one to see what you can get out of it!
All the best!!!