Even if a customer can find your business site online, if they can’t “see” you elsewhere, it can impact whether or not they’ll make a purchase. It’s a concept that we at TruLife Distribution like to refer to as “visibility is credibility.”
Why Visibility Leads to Credibility
When a consumer sees a company in multiple places on the internet, it can slowly create a sense of trust. It’s the classic “seven times” rule of advertising. If a consumer sees a brand enough times in enough places, it can begin to build a sense of comfort.
This doesn’t come from a pre-existing relationship. Nor is it grounded in personal experience on the part of the consumer.
Instead, when someone sees a brand appear in multiple places across the internet, they develop a vicarious sense of trust through others. They can see that existing customers have patronized the brand. Wide distribution also implies that multiple major e-commerce marketplaces have approved of the company, as well.
In contrast, even if you have a stellar brand and high-quality products, if you don’t have a widespread internet presence, it can undermine consumer trust in your products. That’s why we’ve adopted the visibility is credibility gospel at TruLife Distribution.
Our goal when we onboard a new client is to list their products across multiple platforms simultaneously. This starts with generating social media campaigns, working with influencers, and sending out targeted press releases. All of these quickly percolate across the interweb. They help to increase awareness and make it easier for consumers to find a brand — in multiple places.
But we don’t stop there.
How E-Commerce Marketplaces Also Build Trust
In addition to online marketing, we list our client’s products on multiple major e-commerce sites. This doesn’t just make a product available in multiple places. It also helps build trust. One study from the International Journal of Information Management speaks to the trust associated with selling through online marketplaces.
The report found that consumers have a built-in trust that comes from using a reputable online marketplace (think a tool like Amazon) What’s more, when third-party sellers sell through these marketplaces, a certain degree of trust is automatically transferred from the marketplace to themselves.
To put it another way, a consumer that trusts an intermediary platform like Amazon will naturally be more willing to trust a seller on Amazon. This is true, even when the seller has no official partnership with Amazon itself.
By listing our clients on multiple e-commerce platforms, we’re able to build up a certain degree of trust.
Remember, this doesn’t even include the rapid quantity of customer reviews and feedback that this practice generates, too. Nor does it take into account the engagement created by a brand’s associated online marketing campaigns.
Taken as a whole, our entire approach is designed to shine a gigantic spotlight on a brand as they enter the online marketplace.
The end result of this strategy is that it gives brands an accelerated level of trust in the eyes of consumers. If a brand is worth its salt, this trust will build over time.
In the beginning, though, the visibility is credibility tactic offers a crucial leg up for smaller companies as they try to cut through the white noise. This allows them to quickly develop a rapport with the audience that needs their solutions the most.
