In part one of this post, we introduced the concept of credibility marketing. This is something that is becoming increasingly important as audiences are being overrun by exaggerated digital marketing claims, fake reviews, spam, and other forms of online hype that cut away at a brand’s trustworthiness. When combined with the sheer volume of digital marketing messages being sent via multiple channels—social, sponsored ads, email, SMS—it’s little wonder why so many prospects have grown weary and cynical.
With all this in mind, you may be wondering exactly how companies can begin to re-establish trust and regain the ear of their audiences.
What Does Trust Look Like in Our Current Times?
When an audience has trust in a brand, it believes the product being pitched to them works well to solve a problem. It also believes that the brand can offer such things as a low learning curve, superior customer service, and ROI. Essentially, the audience trusts that the brand is a low-risk purchase, particularly important in the B2B world.
But how do brands gain such trust these days, especially when audiences are growing more skeptical, and everyone is saying a lot of the same things? For one, it helps when your marketing team isn’t the only one talking. Gaining trust is much easier if your audience hears about your brand’s good attributes from a credible third party that they know and trust.
We previously identified credibility marketing as an evolution of what used to be known as public relations or PR. Former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassée said it most succinctly: “Advertising is saying you’re good. PR is getting someone else to say you’re good.”
So, who are these credible “someone elses” you want saying good things about you? Industry verticals and mainstream business publications, as well as many bloggers, are typically regarded as unbiased and trustworthy when assessing a product or service. Inclusion in one of their articles or reviews goes a long way in establishing market credibility. Some of these publications will also consider running an article bylined by subject matter experts (SMEs) within your organization, another great way to boost trustworthiness and build all-important thought leadership.
Some other great credibility-marketing tactics include:
- Inclusion in analyst reports
- Endorsement quotes by industry influencers and customers
- Customer case studies or customer logos on your website
- Publishing of white papers with valued content
- Sponsorship of industry events or surveys
- Product and company awards
- Participation on panels at industry events
- Membership/activity in key industry professional organizations
From a digital-marketing perspective, your claims are more trusted when they’re largely quantitative instead of being based in generalities. For example, “On average, users of our solution realize an ROI in nine months or less” instead of “Our product delivers huge cost- and time-saving efficiencies.”
Credibility Marketing + Digital Marketing Go Hand in Hand
As mentioned in part one of this post, credibility marketing isn’t a replacement for digital marketing. Instead, the two should be practiced together so that your audience will pay attention to your digital efforts to reach them because they already know and trust you. In fact, these days, your marketing mix is missing something without programs to build credibility, even if your digital claims are 100-percent true.
If your company is looking to break through the marketing noise by establishing visibility and integrity for your product and organization, we can help. We’re ready to create and execute an effective credibility marketing program to build trust and drive sales.