Most of us learned in Business 101 or during on-the-job training that businesses have to build market trust and credibility in themselves as well as their products and services. If we succeed in doing so, business grows. If we fail to do so, business doesn't grow or at best grows slowly. But how do we build trust and credibility within our markets and within our audiences?


It starts with our presence and with the marketing tools we use to share that presence with the right audience, at the right time and in the right place. That presence usually includes such things as a web site, perhaps a blog or a podcast, marketing collaterals, advertising, PR and so on.
For me, networking (i.e., face-to-face relationship building) is where I invest most of my energy. Asking clients to offer third-person testimonials that we then place on my marketing collaterals are important as well.
But do those things alone result in trust and credibility? Most of us apply those same strategies and tactics, so how do our customers and clients determine that we are trustworthy and credible based on those kinds of marketing efforts? Where is the innovation? The creativity? At the end of the day, how do we ensure that we build trust and credibility with our customers, clients and our audiences?