Got Badges – The Importance of Social Proof in Your Marketing

Got Badges – The Importance of Social Proof in Your Marketing

It’s not what you say about yourself that matters it’s what others say about you. “Small Business Stacey” shares how you can incorporate badges, awards and social proof on your site to build trust and credibility even if you are just getting started.  #SmallBizMarketingWiz #ASmallBizLife

Listen to the Podcast

Marketing in 2 Minutes or Less: Got Badges – The Importance of Social Proof in Your Marketing

      

Here’s the transcript:

Got Badges?

Hey everybody, “Small Business Stacey” here, talking about a topic that’s really important to incorporate into your website. And that is badges and awards. You’ve heard me say many times, it’s not so much what you say about yourself that matters, it’s what other people say about you that matters. And nothing helps get that message across more clearly and succinctly than by having badges and awards that reinforce your brilliance and your expertise.

Now, I am in conversation with a company that is about to sign on the dotted line for a six-figure marketing contract with me. And so of course, in the initial conversations, I asked, “How did you hear about me?” And the gentleman said, “Well, I saw you on Alignable.” Let me sort of share what popped out. This is my Alignable profile, and if you’re not yet connected with me, look me up. I’m the “Small Biz Marketing Specialist”. This gentleman called me up and said, “Hey, I’m reaching out because I saw your profile on Alignable, and I saw that you are the small business person of the year. I must work with you.”

Now, that was fabulous, right? By having this badge, this seal of approval, it created authority and celebrity for me. If I had something up there that was chest-beating, sort of saying I’m the greatest, which we all know I am. No, but anyway, you don’t want to have something chest-beating because the person on the other side is then still going to be thinking, “Is this person really all they’re cracked up to be?” So this badge really helped me in getting this contract. Now, interestingly enough, if you look at my logo, it is intentionally created to look like a badge, that I am the Small Biz Seal of Approval.

So there is some intentionality there. When you go to my main website, the smallbizmarketingspecialist.com, I have authority of all the different websites that I’ve been featured on, because it’s not so much what I say about myself, but if these well-renowned organizations are featuring me and my content, well, then the person who’s thinking of working with me is thinking, “Wow, she really knows her stuff.” So whether you are providing a product or a service, this can even work in the eCommerce world. So I’m going to show you some trust badges that really should be incorporated if you sell things online.

Now, these are some of the badges that you’ve probably seen and are familiar with. When you look at these, they sort of say, okay, this website, this company can be trusted. Which do you think is the most popular? Let me scroll down and I’ll show you. They did a heat map study, and you can sort of see the ones that are the reddest were the most popular, so the McAfee Secure, the Better Business Bureau, which is great if you’re on a local level, PayPal verified, and Verisign. Those were all really important badges.

So if you sell online, you have an eCommerce store, make sure that you have these kinds of badges set up on your site. Now there are lots of awards out there that you can apply for so that you can be recognized as the celebrity and authority in your niche. In case you didn’t know, there’s this thing called Google, and just go to Google and type in awards for whatever business you are. So what kinds of awards are out there, let’s say for accountants or accounting firms? What awards are out there for a Naturopath?

Yeah, Naturopaths, or Naturopathic doctors. All right? There are our wards for every industry and every niche, and the majority of them are free to apply. This way, you can get badges and awards to post on your site and use in your marketing so that then it’s not so much about what you say about yourself, it’s what others are saying about you by having that badge, that seal of approval and awards that reinforce that that customer, client, or patient is making a good decision.

So how are you going to incorporate the power of badges into your marketing? I want to know what you’re going to add to your site to add that authority and celebrity figure to your marketing.

This is Small Business Stacey, your Small Biz Marketing Specialist here to help you get your marketing into action and help you become a #SmallBizMarketingWiz.