Building Credibility as a NEW Business

As a new business your main focus is to appear larger than you are until you are able to grow your business. Think of it as an illusion. You’re not trying to get one over on anyone but quite frankly, you have to fight your way up the ladder when your small and this is the only way to do it.  Building credibility can be a daunting task but it’s very doable if you put the right strategies in place.  Building credibility starts with these few concepts:

• Becoming an expert is merely taking charge of what you know and demonstrating it to the world. If your field is marketing, management, finance or decorating, begin building credibility by writing about it and educating consumers.
• Building your credentials is a must as you begin growing your business. Every seed you plant right now will probably not come to fruition for a year or maybe more down the road.

At last week’s “Building Credibility Seminar” at Jesse H. Jones School of Business at TSU – Entrepreneurship Center, local companies learned these three things to start building their reputation as a leader:

1. Begin blogging – blog about what you know. Do not be afraid of writing if you are not a writer. You have to practice in order to hone your skills. There is no time like the present. Have a friend or colleague read your blogs until you are comfortable with writing. Blogs are more educational and conversational than anything else. They are short and to the point information that is easily digestible; making them easier to write than articles. Once you are comfortable, you can venture into writing articles, guest writing, editorials and perhaps even whitepapers.
2. Have a strong image – make sure you go above and beyond the call of duty on building your image. Invest in nice business cards, letterhead and envelopes. Invest in a domain name so that your email is your company email and not xxx@yahoo.com or xxx@gmail.com. If you can invest in a simple Web site with at least 4-5  pages of informative, brochure like material, then you can have Web presence to demonstrate your professionalism. If all else fails, start a company blog – at least you will appear to have information on the Web when potential clients are searching for you.
3. Make news – write a press release on your business each week. Even if you never publish them, you are forced to think about newsworthy content to promote your business. Making news plays an important role in building credibility for a new business. Another reason you should be writing news releases is to get better at writing and taking charge of the future of your business. You can post them to your blog or Web site. Your company will be searchable in search engines and potential clients can find relevant information about your business.

You’ll be relieved when you begin to see all of your hard work pay off. Again, building credibility isn’t an overnight strategy but a long-term positioning strategy that will ultimately grow your business beyond belief. Be proactive and follow these tips and you’ll see improvements over time. If you need more advice like the information in this article, FREE events take place at the Entrepreneurship Center each week. It’s open to the community and general public at no cost.   To get updated on upcoming events, please email your request to be added to our mailing list at trisha@augmentgroup.com .