To make your brand and products successful, building brand trust and credibility is more important than ever in today's world, with new brands being launched everyday and fighting for customer loyalty. So, where do you start on building this relationship between your brand and your ideal customers?

For up and coming brands it can be a difficult task to build a community and get people to try out your products, or even switch from an existing competior to your brand, here at The Buyer's Discovery Club we've compiled our top tips and building blocks to boost your brand's trust and credibility, after all trust is the ultimate currency for a new brand looking to grow and succeed.

Have a clear brand story & mission:

This is so important when you're a new brand, having a brand story that you can build and base your products and content off is a great way to gain trust and credibility. Letting consumers know why you created your products, what the purpose behind it was, and how this relates to them, will create their conenction with you right from the start.

If you're a founder and have a great, meaningful story on why you decided to create your brand, whether that be you had a medical problem and struggled to find supplements that worked, or could never find a great tasting protein shake and that's why you developed your own.

Often these brand origin stories can heavily resonate with consumers who are experiencing the same issue, and your brand is there to offer the solution.

Embrace transparency & authenticity:

These two words, transparency and authenticity, are vital components of firstly establishing your brand's trust and credibility, but also maintaining it within your brand and it's products.

Being authentic and transparent in your tone of voice allows for potential customers to resonate more with the brand and feel as though they are buying in to a community and not just putting money into your pocket. It's important for the content you put out, to express a human emotion and feel, as opposed to just being a business.

People want to learn more about the brand, where it comes from, who the founders are, where it's made, any quirky stories or USPs you may have - share your story and not just promotions for your products!

Get feedback, reviews & testimonials:

This is probably the most obvious step to building trust within your brand, but that's because it is often the most important and influential step you can take. Put yourself in the customers shoes, when you're buying a new product, do you scroll and check the reviews? Of course you do! We instinctively want reassurance and validation that the product we're buying actually works, or delivers on what it is stating.

There are so many ways to get this 'evidence' so to speak, it can be:

1. Social Media Comments, which rave about your products.
2. Website Reviews, to showcase underneath your products.
3. A short & simple survey, sent out via an email newsletter.
4. A poll on social media, for customers who have tried your product to vote on.

In a recent study, 60% of consumers said user-generated content (UGC) is the most authentic form of content – 3X more authentic than brand-created content.

Document every piece of feedback and reviews you get, this way you have a bank of testimonials that you can then repurpose for content across your website, social media, press and more. Canva has some great customer review templates, for you to use.

Provide extra value on top of your products:

Even though you may have the most exciting product, to build brand trust and credibility, it's a good idea to provide extra value to your customers, making it not just a purchase but a complete experience for them.

Here are some great examples of providing extra value:

1. Posting tips & tricks on your social media (Much like we're doing with this Buyer's Discovery Blog, on top of our platform service!)
2. Provide educational content, on why or how your products work, how to use them effectively, a good example is filming a fun morning routine for a skincare brand etc.
3. Run giveaways and collaborate with our new, upcoming brands to give back to your customers.

In a recent study, 65% of consumers feel a brand is trustworthy/positive immediately after they read a piece of educational content from that brand.

This extra value can be as little or small as you make it, but just giving that something extra lets your customers know you care about them, more than just their purchases.

Give Exceptional Customer Service:

Reputation is everything for a new brand, making a great first impression in those beginning steps of becoming an established brand are so important in it's success. This great impression needs to be spread right the way across your business, from having a great website, appealing social media and exceptional customer service.

Customer service is a key part of brand credibility, think about how you create trust in everyday situations... You show that you care about other people, remain honest and reliable and give back to people - this is the exact same for a brand's customer service.

Customers need to know you are there for them when they have a query with an order, some questions on the products, if it's suitable for them and more - a friendly and efficient service leaves a great impression on that customer and can be the deciding factor on if they choose to purchase or repurchase your products.

Remember be human, be honest and be helpful!

Overall, putting the effort and investing heavily at the beginning stages of your brand will bring you great success for the future and beyond, through creating a loyal, returning customer base that can provide great reviews to bring in new customers.

Trust takes time to build up, but can be shattered within minutes - so making sure you get off to a great start and continue this as your brand grows and becomes more established, credibility will be more important than ever.