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Creating Credibility: 6 Tricks to Solidifying Your Business Reputation

Kara Masterson

June 22, 2017

Aristotle is the one who first emphasized the idea of establishing ethos, otherwise known as credibility. While his ideas are generally connected to writing and speech, they also have to do with your business approach. If potential consumers feel as though your company is questionable, then they are unlikely to purchase products or services. 

Develop a Social Media Presence
Having a website is certainly one way to convey information about your company to potential clients. However, social media allows you to more directly connect. For example, you can directly respond to customers' needs and questions, and they can put a face to the answer. This more personal approach allows you to better develop relationships with individuals, which, in turn, leads to greater trust.

Encourage Customer Reviews
Encouraging customers to write reviews on popular review sites is a good way to promote your company. Individuals often check these sites before they go to a business for the first time. However, you should always know what the rules of the review sites are. For example, you may want to offer a discount to people with accounts on the sites who check into your establishment, but the site might not allow you to do that. Using the reviewing portal in an unscrupulous way will make people not trust your company.

Associate with Professional Agencies
If you were researching businesses online, you would probably look into the reviews and the social media sites, but you would also likely want to see a stamp from the Better Business Bureau. The ability to research a company through the Better Business Bureau tends to give people greater peace of mind. Of course, you want to ensure that your reviews on the site are positive. Take a look at the complaints and concerns people currently have about your business and work to address them. This strategy has helped many global companies make it through the social ups and downs that the internet has to offer, like the supposed ACN scam. Cultivating your relationships with these agencies is critical to creating credibility.

Interact with Customers
Establishing your reputation online is necessary in the modern world, but that doesn't mean you should ignore in-person opportunities to develop deeper connections with current and potential customers. The way that you speak to customers in your store and the manner in which you treat them helps to foster trust. Make it a goal to hire employees who have strong interpersonal communication skills. 

Stay Firm
When you are first starting to build up your business, you will likely make a number of changes. While adjusting your business to meet the needs of your target audience is important, you also don't want to make the mistake of changing too much. If you are constantly changing your business, then people are likely to start wondering what is going on. They may question how confident you are in your own abilities. Make the changes that are necessary to reach your goals; then, see how those emendations play out before you revise further.

Keep It Tidy
Shoppers or diners coming into your store or eatery like don't want to see a mess. In the event that your business has piles of boxes in the store, heaps of dust on the windows or broken pieces of furniture, you need to take care of these issues before you open up again. If people walk in and see these issues, they are likely to turn around and walk right now. They will also likely question if you take pride in the business and wonder why they should if you don't. 

The reputation of your business is important because it is often what people know before they even meet you or check out your products. In these times, you must pay attention to your reputation in both the virtual and physical worlds.

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