Online purchases have been increasing for multiple years now, and with the pandemic, they skyrocketed. But there are numerous “scams” online to be aware of. When making a purchase, how do you determine if a company or brand is trustworthy?

Maybe you’ll look into customer reviews of the items you were thinking of buying. Or maybe you’ll check the Privacy Policy on the company’s website. Maybe you’ll go a step further and request a free company verification report from creditsafe.com.

Depending on what exactly you’re purchasing, you may want to be more careful. For instance, with a small purchase, you can take the risk more comfortably than with a larger investment. Regardless, it is safe to assume we all know that trusting who you choose to do business with is very important — which is why trust marketing is important.

Trust marketing is marketing that is intended to create confidence in a brand. It is essential because selling goods and services only happens after trust has been established. If you try to sell a product without gaining the trust of your potential customer, you likely won’t make the sale.

Here are a few various ways to build trust with your audience:

1. Use experts’ opinions and quotes
   We’ve all heard the “Four out of five dentists recommend” for dental hygiene products. It shows both the legitimacy and the value of the product that 80% of dentists would recommend it.
   
   
2. Engage and interact with clients and customers
   Two words: Customer Service. By making your company available for questions, comments and concerns is one thing, but actually addressing and answering those questions, comments and concerns is another. And this includes…
   
   
3. Publicly addressing negative feedback
   The way your business handles itself when mistakes have been made is something that can make our break you. Customers will appreciate honesty in accepting responsibility and even more so when you vow to make changes and follow through to improve your performance.
   
   
4. Share positive feedback too!
   Having a location where potential customers can see reviews and ratings of products is helpful. Take pride in your performance and use your reviewers as leverage for a word-of-mouth marketing technique.
   
   And lastly,
   
   
5. Share content with your reputation in mind
   Think about your long term strategy and hopes and goals for the future. How will history remember this marketing campaign? Will customers remember you fondly, or will they have a bad taste in their mouth after you tried to force a product down their throat? A positive reputation is extremely valuable and shows that is it worth it to trust a company. But at the same time, reputations can be tarnished easily. Always operate with your reputation in mind.

If this sounds like one more thing to add to your already long list of marketing dos and don’ts, sorry about that. But, instilling trust is one marketing activity that will pay for itself.

Trust us, we get it.