8 Smart Marketing Tactics for Elevating Confidence in Your Brand
What's the secret to long-term business success?
You can invest in R&R to develop the best product in your industry. Your team might work overtime to offer the most amazing customer experience. And you can even try to attract customers by selling your products at the lowest prices.
But if you haven't earned your target audience's trust, your hard work won't amount to much in the long run.
Ultimately, in today's competitive market, elevating brand confidence is a must. Edelman's 2023 special report on brand trust discovered that:
71% of consumers say brand trust is more important than ever. Gen Z is even more insistent on interacting with credible businesses.
78% of people feel that brand confidence is built through every sales cycle stage. That includes the post-purchase phase, which inspires them to be loyal to a business.
79% of consumers interact with brands beyond making a purchase. That is one of their ways of determining whether the brand is competent, ethical, and relevant.
Brand trust drives growth: 59% of buyers are more likely to purchase products, and 67% stay loyal and become advocates for businesses they perceive as credible.
So, if you're looking for tips on improving your business's chances of long-term success, here are eight smart marketing tactics for elevating confidence in your brand.
Enable UGC in Product Reviews
Using the right types of content in your marketing strategies is one of the most effective methods of elevating brand confidence. Yes, blogging is effective and budget-friendly. Video is great at inspiring purchases, and original research is the best way to establish niche topic authority.
But if you look at the research regarding what formats everyday consumers consider trustworthy and authentic, you'll find that user-generated content ranks highest.
So, if you want to elevate your brand's trustworthiness, do your best to incorporate UGC in your marketing tactics. More importantly, do so in the areas of your site with the highest impact on customer purchase intent — your product reviews.
By enabling UGC in your product reviews, you won't just make your brand's social proof more engaging (which is crucial considering that most people read online reviews before deciding what solutions to invest in).
More importantly, 53% of all purchasing decisions are impacted by imagery submitted by previous customers, showing that UGC-powered product reviews could be the key to boosting brand confidence.
For inspiration on how to do this, look at the Transparent Labs Hydrate Electrolyte Powder page. By encouraging buyers to include photos with their feedback and allowing prospects to filter for reviews with pictures, the brand takes its social proof to the next level. It's far more engaging and trustworthy than relying only on written customer testimonials.
Produce Highly Informative and Enjoyable Social Media Content
Most people spend a significant portion of their free time browsing social media. One of the leading reasons for doing so includes searching for shopping inspiration, which is what 26.8% of people do online.
However, while utilizing social networks to aid brand discovery is an excellent goal on which to base your social media strategy, it's not the only way your business can benefit from upping your social media game.
According to GWI's latest findings, brands can use social networks to boost trustworthiness in several ways. According to the data, influencer marketing, exclusive deals, product demos, expert insights, comparison content, and aesthetically pleasing content can all positively impact buyers' purchase intention.
So, to elevate brand confidence, consider investing in these types of resources for your social channels.
To see how this tactic works in real life, check out the Golf Cart Tire Supply YouTube channel. With tons of highly informative videos, this brand answers all of its target audience's questions. More importantly, demonstrating expertise and passion encourages all viewers to perceive the business behind the content as credible. And that maximizes viewers' chances of converting into customers.
Make an Effort to Establish Your Brand as a Thought Leader
What do people do when unsure of the best way to make a decision? In most cases, they seek the advice of those with more knowledge of the topic.
According to Nielsen, 85% of consumers regularly or occasionally seek out trusted expert content. 67% agree that unbiased expert endorsements make them more likely to purchase.
Demonstrating expertise is one of the best ways to elevate confidence in your brand. However, saying that your team knows what they're talking about isn't the same as proving it.
With this in mind, it's not just essential that you earn your prospects' trust. To generate more sales and boost your brand's reputation, you must establish your brand as a thought leader.
But what is thought leadership? And how can you incorporate it into your marketing strategy?
According to Semrush, content that demonstrates thought leadership is inspirational and drives change. It has educational value. It explores industry trends. Covers original research. And it provides commentary on relevant topics.
In other words, to establish your brand as credible in your industry, you must invest in high-quality, research-driven content that inspires and empowers your prospects.
For example, Australian Business for Sale is a brand that understands how important it is for its target audience to perceive it as a trustworthy expert. That's why it focuses a significant portion of its content marketing budget on its Magazine publication, taking blog content to the next level, elevating it with in-depth insights and expert opinions, and successfully positioning the business as a thought leader in Australia's entrepreneurial scene.
Clearly Address the Most Common Customer Concerns
Brand trustworthiness, although impactful, isn't the only thing people consider when evaluating potential solutions to purchase.
In fact, consumers assess many factors when choosing what products to buy. And, often enough, these elements have nothing to do with brand reputation per se. Rather, they're related to customer concerns.
In 2024, a business must meet several criteria before earning its audience's confidence. In addition to free shipping and fair returns policies, consumers also want:
Shipment tracking
Social media shopping
Contactless payments
"Buy now, pay later" options
Curbside pick-up
Loyalty benefits
Sustainable packages
Inventory checks
Product comparison tools
So, to elevate confidence in your brand and boost conversions, it's a good idea to address your target audience's concerns and convince them that your business holds their best interest at heart.
For example, Main Clinic Supply mentions free next-day FedEx shipping on its homepage. But, the brand also dedicates separate web pages to discussing shipping, returns, and its buy-back program, ensuring customers have all the info they need before buying.
For more traditional ecommerce businesses, addressing these concerns can be as straightforward as adding a dedicated section to your product pages or, alternatively, utilizing banners that inform customers of their shipping, payment, returns, and pick-up options.
This is precisely what Snow Peak does, using minimal illustrations and third-party visuals to emphasize these points on its Rechargeable Mini Hozuki product page.
Take Blogging Very Seriously
Producing high-quality content and distributing it via your company blog is one of the best inbound marketing tactics you can employ. However, while blogging may be an excellent way to raise brand and product awareness, it can also play a key role in your mission to boost brand confidence.
You see, people appreciate well-written, high-value content. A high-quality blog post gives readers access to authoritative, authentic information that's relevant to their needs and helps them solve specific pain points.
But there's one more benefit of investing in your company blog.
According to Adobe, 79% of people trust and choose to be loyal to brands that exhibit user-centricity. So, using content marketing to demonstrate your dedication to helping your target audience solve their pain points (even if it doesn't result in a sale for your brand) is an exceptional way to elevate brand trustworthiness.
For example, if you check out the Greenhouse Emporium Learning Center, you'll see it's chock-full of valuable information for potential customers. The greenhouse and gardening guides and calculators educate readers on a variety of topics. They also give the audience the tools to resolve their needs effectively and contribute to the brand's reputation as a business that genuinely cares about helping its customers pursue their gardening passion.
Don't Limit Reviews to Product Pages
We've already mentioned the importance of social proof in convincing your target audience of your brand's credibility and expertise.
However, one of the biggest marketing mistakes businesses make is thinking that the only place to show off reviews is on their product pages.
Admittedly, most people do make their buying decisions during the last phase of the sales funnel, while visiting product pages. Nonetheless, people in the upper stages of the buyer's journey also need to comprehend your brand's trustworthiness.
That's why it's essential to continually present prospects with proof of your business' competence.
For example, if you're investing in PPC marketing campaigns that funnel traffic to specific landing pages, ensure these include trust signals that will encourage prospects to trust your business. For instance, the Notion Projects landing page features customer feedback in the form of tweets, with each one highlighting a different benefit the SaaS solution delivers.
Or, when targeting consumers in the evaluation stage of the buyer's journey, why not use reviews to gently guide their purchase decisions? This is what Vitamart does on its Magnesium collections page, where each product listing includes its average star rating and the number of reviews it has received.
Finally, remember that many consumer interactions won't happen on your brand's site. Instead, there's a huge chance that the first place you manage to engage your target audience will be on social media. With this in mind, it's a good idea to take inspiration from businesses such as Cove, which regularly reposts user testimonials to its Community stories on Instagram.
Align Your Brand with Credible Science
Showing that your solutions have successfully removed consumer pain points in the past is a great tactic for elevating brand confidence. Nonetheless, there may be situations where you want to employ more tangible proof of your brand's trustworthiness. In these cases, relying on science may be what you need.
Even though today's consumers trust their peers and fellow shoppers, they know that scientists and experts have the final say in some matters. In fact, Edelman's 2024 Trust Barometer discovered that 74% of buyers trust scientists as much as they do their friends when it comes to innovative solutions.
So, if you're trying to position your business as credible in the health or tech industries, perhaps you should try to align your brand with credible science.
In addition to supplementing your claims with scientific research and data where possible, try to use additional marketing tactics to make your business' value propositions come off as genuine.
For instance, Qure collaborates with leading dermatologists to show that its solutions work. It also enhances its homepage with data from peer-reviewed dermatologist journals and scientific studies, driving home the message that this is a brand that doesn't make promises lightly.
Make the Most of Earned Media
Lastly, as you explore marketing tactics that will help you elevate confidence in your brand, remember that earning your target audience's trust can sometimes be as simple as piggybacking on the credibility of those your target audience already trusts.
If your prospects already trust an entity, why not use it to your brand's advantage? Ultimately, if you receive a mention, then highlighting it on your homepage or social media feeds is something you can easily do. Yet, depending on your industry or your brand's reputation, it can be a huge help in launching your products toward becoming a go-to for your target audience.
For example, Escort Radar offers an innovative solution that not a lot of people may have heard about. However, most of the brand's potential buyers have heard of publications like Forbes and CNET. So, by showing off positive media mentions from these publications, Escort Radar boosts its trustworthiness, but that's not all. It also successfully differentiates its product from anything else people can currently buy, thanks to the specific details each of the media mentions contains.
Similarly, Beau Domaine, Brad Pitt's skincare line, highlights media mentions on its homepage. Again, these contain quotes testifying to the product's effectiveness. However, more importantly, the endorsements from GQ and Vogue hold a lot of sway among beauty product shoppers, making it much easier for the brand to attract buyers and establish itself in a competitive industry.
Final Thoughts
Even though establishing your brand's reputation as a business consumers can trust won't happen overnight, you can significantly speed up the trust-building process with the eight marketing tactics covered in this article.
Of course, always remember to track your audience's response to these strategies. Once you've identified the ones that work best for your company, keep them up. Soon enough, you'll see the fruits of your labor, which won't just include elevated conversion rates. If you match your brand's promises with a stellar CX, you'll earn your customers' loyalty as well, and that's the key to long-term business success.