3 Ways to Be Perceived as an Expert and Earn Your Clients' Trust
Effective branding helps you get—and stay—at the top of the list. Being “top of mind” is your number one goal! Visibility = brand awareness.
Once your brand is visible and well-known (which takes time to build, as we explained in the first article in this series), your audience still needs to see you as the solution to their problem.
In addition to being well-known, you must also be recognized as an expert and thought leader in your field. In other words, you need to move from mere name recognition to true recognition.
Why?
- 91% of B2B buyers look for an influencer before making a purchasing decision (Source: Edelman Trust Barometer, 2023), and
- 66% of B2B SMEs use professional networks to get recommendations when searching for a new supplier. (Source: Maia Consulting, Study on the Purchasing Behavior of B2B SMEs, 2024).
Here are three practical strategies for moving from brand awareness to brand recognition:
1. Dominate your niche with high-value content
To be seen as an expert, you need to create content that provides real value to your audience.
Always ask yourself this questionwhen you want to create content: What's in it for them?
A good approach is to start by identifying their pain points. What’s holding them back? What challenges are they facing? And how do you address them?
Some practical tips:
- Publish practical content: Offer guides, articles, or webinars that address your customers' specific problems.
- Create case studies that outline the problem, the solution, and the results: Show concrete examples of your successes to demonstrate your expertise. For example: “How [Client Name] reduced its energy bill by 40% thanks to our solar solution.”
- Be consistent: An inactive blog or a LinkedIn page with no posts gives a bad impression. Plan a realistic posting schedule, such as one LinkedIn post per week or one blog post per month or per quarter.
Example: One of our clients, who works in the field of laser systems, regularly shares relevant and informative updates on the latest developments and trends in this sector. These updates are often technical in nature and are aimed at an audience of engineers, whether they are current clients or prospects. The client views sharing information as part of their responsibility and wants to make it available to as many people as possible.
2. Collaborate with experts and partners in your industry
Strategic partnerships strengthen your credibility.
- Invite experts: Host webinars or interviews with industry leaders. Example: A B2B small business could invite a well-known influencer to discuss market trends.
- Partnerships: Partner with other complementary companies to expand your audience. Example: An industrial equipment supplier could collaborate with a software manufacturer to create a series of technical workshops.
Also consider unexpected partnerships. For example, a SaaS company co-authored an article with an industrial insurer on data-driven risk management. This expanded its audience while strengthening its credibility.
- Speak up: Participate in conferences or panel discussions. Example: A presentation at a trade show can establish your brand as a key player.
3. Help your customers shine with powerful testimonials
Your satisfied customers are your best advocates. Use their stories to demonstrate your value.
- Testimonials: Showcase your customers sharing their success stories thanks to your solutions. Example: A video in which a customer explains how your product has transformed their business.
- Concrete Results: Include concrete data in your testimonials. Example: “Thanks to our partnership with [Company Name], we increased our productivity by 25% in 12 months.”
- Celebrate your customers: Track and share their successes on your social media channels or website. This shows that you’re an active partner in their success. »
Three steps you can take:
- Plan to create key content that addresses an urgent problem for your customers (article, video, case study).
- Identify a partner or expert to collaborate with and propose a project to them (webinar, co-authored opinion piece, etc.).
- Ask one of your best customers to share a testimonial—in the form of a video, article, or social media post—and repeat this regularly with other customers to build your credibility.
Episode 8 – From Fame to Recognition
If you need guidance with your branding and content strategy, we can help. Contact us to discuss it.