Why trust and credibility lead to business success
Posted on 30/03/2022
Andrew Scott, Managing Director of Purplex, the leading full-service marketing agency, discusses the importance of trust, credibility and reputation for brands working in the fenestration industry this year.
Rewind the clock to 20 years ago and you’ll find things were a lot simpler for businesses who were looking to engage with their target audiences. There were just a handful of primary channels marketers frequently used, unlike these days where there’s a whole host of online platforms and traditional tactics to contend with.
Today internal and external worlds are merging, creating more overall visibility of how an organisation operates. Businesses are being called out more and more by their customers on social media, so companies must remember to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.
As Forbes highlighted in a recent article, because of social media we’re now living in the “callout culture” era where everyone can voice their views and therefore, bad news can spread very quickly1.
Trust, credibility and reputation come hand in hand and, most importantly, are fundamental to business success. This is because, in a world of information overload, people will always gravitate towards brands they can trust.
Of course, the product and service must fit the bill. Promises made must be kept and realistic expectations should be set. As a service, it all needs to work perfectly together. Combine this winning formula with your PR activity and you’ll be sure to illustrate trust and credibility among your customers.
Successfully building trust
PR is a powerful tool that helps to create and build trust over time. Whether your PR activity focuses primarily on B2B or B2C, success comes from drip-feeding information to key audiences to help build a picture of an organisation and position it as a trusted company.
Nowadays, potential customers are likely to do their homework on any company they’re considering working with, particularly before deciding if they’re the right choice for them.
There are a couple of key things that prospective customers are guaranteed to check ahead of spending large sums of money with any company, and these things should form part of your marketing mix – if they don’t already.
Third-party validation is one of the most powerful ways to create trust, and the best ways to do this is through recommendations, testimonials, accreditations, awards and reviews.
Having genuine, recent testimonials from your stakeholders is a great way to build trust and credibility. Customer case studies are particularly useful to showcase projects which may be similar to the one a prospective client could be considering. While staff endorsements help to lift the curtain on how a business truly operates and therefore, can help to reinforce why it’s a credible company.
Awards and accreditations not only help a business to stand out from its competitors but also shows the real value of its products and services according to independent judges, helping to strengthen external reputation and trust.
Powerful PR
For the last two years, companies faced unprecedented times that caused a huge surge in demand and a rise in the home improvement market.
As order books were bursting at the seams planned PR activity may have slipped through the net because, with new business flying in, investing in PR may not have been a big priority for many companies.
But, as the market begins to steady, a bigger investment in PR will be needed once again to make sure key information is shared across a number of marketing channels to help build a robust picture of how an organisation operates.
To build trust and ultimately a successful, sustainable and valuable company you need a marketing strategy that creates a trusted brand alongside a robust lead generation strategy.
Over the last 18 years, Purplex has worked with hundreds of companies across the fenestration industry to build strong, sustainable businesses that are trusted by their customers.
For more information visit https://www.purplexmarketing.com/
