When people go searching for a company to help them with the branding and graphic design that will define their company's image, they want to find someone they can really trust will do a great job. Showing that you are professional, reliable, and that you know what you're talking about is extremely important. Here are some simple ways to show off your abilities to potential customers as soon as they find you online or give you a call.

Don't be shady. Be transparent about your services and prices to encourage trust between your company and potential clients. 

Maintain a blog

Even if you only post once every two weeks, showing that you regularly update your company blog shows customers that you're a legitimate company and that you have valuable industry knowledge to share. A blog is also a great platform for highlighting projects you've worked on and customer reviews.

Keep on top of metrics

Having concrete evidence of the results of your work is always something that's useful to have when trying to acquire new clients. If you can get the information, try and see what your work has actually done for your former clients. Did your redesign of their website increase the amount of clients they get each month? Did your copywriting services increase their average page views? Having concrete examples of the success of your work will help potential clients know that they are going to get a good return on their investment in you.

Create a Google Places listing

It's free to do and it means that whenever anyone searches for your company's name on Google, they'll see a group of useful information about your company on the right hand side of the search results. You can control everything that's put up under Google Places except for reviews from your clients. You can put a brief company bio, link your location to Google Maps, upload photos of your business or of your portfolio, list your business hours, link to your website, and respond to every review online about your company. Seeing all this information in the search results shows that your company is transparent about information and therefore trustworthy.

Handle feedback well

If you allow comments on your website (we recommend that you do) then you'll probably get a good mix of feedback, both positive and negative. Companies that delete every single negative comment can look like they are untrustworthy because they're not allowing people to use the comment section unless the person is saying something positive, and this can come back to bite you in the end. A better tactic would be to allow all legitimate comments (you can delete obvious spam or troll commenters) to be visible and to respond in a calm, customer-service-friendly way to people who've had a bad experience.

Showcase testimonials

Don't worry! You don't just have to address the negative feedback, you should also highlight the positive reviews you get. Having a testimonials page on your website or a few choice quotes from customers running along the bottom of your website's homepage can go a really long way in establishing trust between your company and potential clients because they can see that you've done a good job with others like them. 

Practice what you preach

If you claim to help other companies with their blog and copywriting, then your company should have a stellar and engaging blog. Graphic designers should have well-designed, high-quality business cards and interior signage in their offices to show the kind of work they do for clients. People will have a hard time believing you're good at what you do if you don't take the time to do it for your own company.

Be social

Be active on at least one social media network where you know your potential clients spend their time. Facebook is always a safe bet and Twitter is an extremely popular and fast way to interact with your customers. This shows that actual humans work at your company and that customers are free to come to you with questions and to chat in an informal way. Social media sort of cuts through all of the fluff and red tape and lets people get straight to you with their concerns or praise. Be warned, however! People generally expect a much faster response time on social media networks than they do on email inquiries. Be sure to set up notifications on your computer and/or phone for whenever you have an online interaction.

How else do you build trust between your company and clients? Leave a comment below!