All new businesses face the hurdle of being new. Without the history, the grown market share, and the reputation to speak up for it, it can be difficult to convince customers that your business is legit, never mind competitive, especially online. However, it doesn’t have to be quite so difficult. Here, we’re going to look at a few shortcuts to the credibility your business might need to ensure that you’re competitive.
Be bold in your branding
You may not immediately be recognizable, but if you work hard to create a brand that is exclusive and unique, then you might still be able to be attention-grabbing enough that you can work past that. Finding a strong core brand message and building a distinct visual guide based on that, complete with a striking logo and an easy-to-remember name can help your business get stuck in the minds of your potential customers more easily. Familiarity can breed a certain level of trust, so you want people to get familiar with your brand as quickly as they can.
Shout your achievements
From the launch of the business to the availability of new services, whatever you have to celebrate, then you should take the time to celebrate it. In fact, you should make use of PR firms that can help you get in touch with local and online publications to help you celebrate it even more loudly. Your ability to get your business’s name mentioned in the right spaces, such as well-known industry publications, can help you become a known quantity much more quickly than working to build a rep with the customers.
Show up
A good way to make your presence be known amongst both other industry veterans and the general market at large is to take the time to appear at trade shows, expos, and other public events. There might not be too many running at the moment, but when things start to open up again, you should make sure that you find your place at them. Not only does it offer visibility (and thus some credibility) but it can be a great opportunity to directly meet and sell to the people who are most likely to become your longest-lasting customers.
Let them know where to find you
There’s one big challenge facing modern businesses that might work remotely or be entirely based in your own home: you don’t want people to have your personal address. However, contact details, including a real address, can help people feel that your business is established in the real world and not quite as ephemeral (and potentially fake) as one that’s just a website. You can find locally based virtual offices quite easily. Aside from helping establish your business in the real world, it also gives the benefit of enabling you to receive mail.
Manage your rep carefully
Before too long, you should be getting enough reviews and genuine impressions that you won’t need to monitor the reputation of the business too closely. However, in those early days, a single false negative review can have major repercussions on your business. It might not exactly tank it, but it can slow your initial entry into the market enough to give you more difficulty than you should, by rights. Reputation management platforms can make it easier for you to both find and report any erroneous reviews or news stories about your business, making sure your launch isn’t hindered by those with ill intent.
Find your champions
Amongst your employees and your customers, you are likely to find those people who are very excited to be on the ground floor of a business providing products or services that genuinely excite them. These people can become your champions and, as such, you want to empower them to spread the good word as best as possible, whether that’s giving them a platform such as a blog post shared through social media, or offering them some sort of referral bonus or discount for helping to kickstart your word of mouth.
The tips above can help you boost your credibility so that it’s easier for customers to get behind your business before it has had the opportunity to build up the word of mouth that it will need to grow.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that you have to ensure that you’re able to win that word of mouth fair and square, eventually. No business can last on hype forever, you need to show your customers that you are there to satisfy them in the long run.
