Ways to build trust that are worth considering for any type of business.

Building trust with your clients is often ignored or does not fall part of a marketing or PR strategy. The customer is often forgotten in a business's marketing and PR strategy by looking at new sales without considering what your current clients can do for you. 

When you ignore your customer you lose their trust. If you lose their trust you can lose your client and they will go to one of your competitors. 

Here are some easy ways to keep your clients trust and easy ways of attracting new clients to your business by building on the relationships that you have with your current clients.

• Collect testimonials and reviews. People trust people. People like to see the opinions from others on the quality of service that they have received before they make a decision on a service or product. A recent study indicates that the average consumer reads 10 online reviews before making a purchasing decision. In the retail and consumer world, reviews can be found online. In the B2B space, there may be product reviews or even testimonial on the company’s website or Facebook page. However these are chosen testimonials or edited ones so they can be biased. Video has become important because people can hear and see a customer talk about a product on video is a turbo-charged testimonial.

• Get quoted in an article. Even a one-line quote in a large article can be powerful when used the right way. You can even send articles to online publications on various topics that your company is an expert in and show how well you know your product of service.

• Business credentials reinforce your brand’s expertise.  Even displaying the number of years you’ve been in business can help add to the trustworthiness of your organisation.

• Exploit the wisdom of your colleagues, friends and family. This is also called “word of mouth” marketing and it’s perhaps the most credible type of marketing you can have. It consists of referrals from people you know and trust. Studies have proven that recommendations from people you know are exponentially more powerful than traditional advertising and marketing.