Tools for increasing Credibility.
Specifically: 1) How to pre-position your credibility so prospects sell themselves, 2) How to ensure your overall brand (website, print materials, advertising and social media) create maximum credibility, 3) How to enlist "other messengers" to become advocates for you, 4) How to borrow credibility and leverage associations and relationships, 5) How to ensure maximum personal credibility (how you look, speak, and write)
Created by Michael Lovas and Pam Holloway authors of Axis of Influence - How Credibility and Likeability Intersect to Drive Success, and The Credibility Advantage - Strategies and Tools for Increasing Business Results.
11. Tools for Communicating Credibility
1. Association
2. Expert Validation
3. Social Proof
4. FaceMore (not Faceless)
5. Thought Leadership
6. Get in Print
7. The Network
12. 1. Association
You gain or lose credibility based
on the people, brands and
organizations you associate with.
13. Inherited Credibility
Your Industry
You Your Company
Personally
Your Profession
You “inherit” credibility based on your perceptions of
your profession (engineer, sales person, graphic artist),
the company you work for and the Industry you work in.
15. 3. Social Proof
• Testimonials
• Case Studies
• Customer reviews
• Social conversations
16. Research by
Forrester (2008) &
Nielsen (2009) shows:
Most trusted
information source
=
“people like me”
17. “Get someone else
Employ to blow your horn
Other and the sound will
Messengers carry twice as far.”
-- Will Rogers
18. How can you enlist other people
to become advocates for you?
1. INTERNAL: Demonstrate that you’re
worth referring
2. EXTERNAL: Make it easy to do and
rewarding for them
19. Proactive Advocacy
• Pick a natural advocate.
• Provide Meaning/Purpose: “I need your
help to.....”
• Make it easy. “Here’s something you can
pass along”
• Appreciate/Reciprocate. “Your help
means a lot to me. I’d like to return the
favor by...
20. 4. Face More (not Faceless)
• Show how things are
done behind the
scenes
• Show the real people
• Let them speak
21. Meet the folks in Peru
who grew the banana
I ate this morning
22. 5. Thought Leadership
• Global perspective,
local context
• Practical applications
and specific How-to
• The go-to guy for.....
34. The Sound of Credibility
• The lower the pitch, the
more credible the voice.
• Lack of volume equals
lack of credibility.
• Slower speed and pauses
diminish credibility.
35. Credibility Language
It’s like...you I’m an expert in
know....well um... SMO and SEO focused
you might want to do on improving CTR and
some social media stuff. PPC on integrated
Cool, eh? platforms.
Take a look at what
ABC Company says about
how they increased
sales by 50%
40. “We think the best way to seem
smart is to know all the answers,
when in fact the best way to seem
smart is to ask the right questions.”
Dorothy Leeds, The 7 Powers of Questions
41. Example:
Let me show you how much I know
about social media marketing.
Versus
How have you incorporated social
media into your marketing strategy?
43. Credible Writing
• Accurate
• Fact-based
• Objective
• References
• Appropriate level
of detail
• Relevance
44. Distinguish Yourself!
1. Association
2. Expert Validation
3. Social Proof
4. FaceMore
5. Thought Leadership
6. Get in Print
7. The Network
8. Look, sound & write
credibly