MSP Marketing: How to Be Sure That You're Seen As a Credible Source

If you want your MSP to be perceived as more trustworthy and reliable, you need to build your credibility with your audience… but how do you do that? Fortunately, there are many routes to building credibility, each requiring effort and dedication. Let’s go over some of these methods now.

Provide Convincing and Engaging Content with Value

First and foremost, you need your audience to view you as a reliable source of knowledge. To accomplish this, your audience will need to see plenty of evidence that you (A:) know what you are talking about, and (B:) are committed to using your knowledge to provide them with benefits. This will build your authority as an expert in your given field by establishing yourself as a thought leader, as well as a resource that your audience can turn to when they need help.

This can be accomplished through a few means:

• First, you will want to ensure that you are regularly providing content that delivers evidence in support of your position as a solutions provider with a focus on your clients’ needs.
• You will also want to make sure that your website is designed to deliver this content to your audience in the clearest, most accessible way possible. If your site isn’t easy-to-use and doesn’t promptly provide your visitors with what they’re looking for, they aren’t likely to stay around.
• You should also resist the temptation to push for communication before proving to your visitors that they could benefit from your services. While it isn’t bad to encourage communication with a website visitor, you want to make sure that you have clearly established the value you can provide first. This way, your visitor will be more likely to reach out, confident that you are a trustworthy source.

Avoid Using These Approaches

However, there are also plenty of marketing tactics to avoid as you work on building up your credibility.

• You never want to oversell your services, or exaggerate their success. If you build them up to a level you can’t deliver, your client will be disappointed by your lack of delivery and seek out a provider they feel they can trust more.
• On a related note, if you say you will do something for the client, do it. Falling through on small commitments or acting unreliably by saying one thing and doing another is an efficient way to erode a contact’s trust in you.
• Overusing complicated terminology and insider jargon while talking to a client will do little but confuse and irritate them. Put yourself in their shoes, how would you feel if a business you were entrusting your livelihood to would only communicate in unfamiliar acronyms and complicated, jargon-filled descriptions of their services?
• Failing to own up to your failures is another expeditious way of losing credibility with your audience. Again, how would you feel if you approached a business in search of a critical service and had your questions about a failed client of theirs waved away as if that business’ track record didn’t apply to the service you would receive?
• Forgetting that your client is, for all intents and purposes, your boss. Therefore, while it is important that you make sure that your expert opinion is expressed, you also need to step back once you’ve made your case and allow your client to make their own mistakes. If you absolutely must push back, make sure you have plenty of evidence to support what specific parts of their plans are apt to cause them problems.
• Using the seemingly innocuous phrase, “Does that make sense?” can be surprisingly lethal to your relationship with your client. There are two reasons this happens. First, it can lead your audience to believe that you may not know exactly what you are talking about, and/or that your content is riddled with errors. Secondly, your audience may feel as though you doubt their capacity to comprehend your message, and so you’re talking down to them.
• Either way, that simple phrase “Does that make sense?” can have a significant negative impact on your marketing. In order to avoid this outcome, while still leaving a line of communication open between you and your client, try asking them if they have any questions. This approach allows them to step forward to clarify their thoughts without feeling as though you look down on them.

It is much better, rather than to utilize these tactics, to instead remain transparent and open. In order to achieve this, it helps to do the following:

• Honest Communicating with honesty and remaining accountable may not give your clients and contacts exactly the message they want to hear, but it will allow you to establish a relationship based on trust and openness.
  
• Consistent Remaining consistent in every interaction you have with your client and in your delivery of your solutions will only reinforce your reliability. Once your clients see that you are not cutting corners and are fulfilling their expectations completely, their opinion of you is likely to grow.
  
• Transparent You should also make sure that you are being clear, open, and helpful as you communicate with your clients. This will help them appreciate your services more, and make them more likely to repeat their business and talk up your services to their peers.

Of course, social media is one of the most visible ways to communicate anything to your audience, so it only make sense to you devote some attention there.

So, Go and Make Yourself (In)Credible!

There are also some other actions you can take that can help boost your credibility in the eyes of your audience.

Maintaining Online Presence:

We’ve spoken at length about the importance of regularly updating the content of your website and your social media accounts, but there are other things you should also devote some effort to.

• Update Google Business Listing: Google includes business listings in its search results, but they may not always be fully updated. You can fix that by making sure it is updated by using Google My Business to claim your listing, and making changes as necessary.
• Update Social Media: Of course, we talk about updating your website and social media as much as we do because it truly is important. However, there are other facets that you also need to maintain. If anything changes in your business, whether it’s the phone number, your address, or your copyright, you need to make sure your online presence reflects that.
• Update Your Web Content: Finally, you really do need to make sure that the content you offer on your website remains timely and fresh. This entails regularly updating your blog and links to your social media to remain recent and relevant.
• Reaching Out: Of course, it also doesn’t hurt to be present in your community, either. Being there to answer your clients’ questions is a good start, hosting informational seminars and other educational events is better, and being active and engaged in your community is best. Sponsoring community activities and other events is a great way to foster a positive feeling toward your company, and gives you a high level of visibility within your audience.

Credibility isn’t such a hard goal to accomplish. Consistently deliver value that you are confident in, and your clients and prospects will notice. We can help you put measures to help you increase your credibility in place. To get started, let's talk!