Business authenticity is all about staying true to your identity, cause, and the people you serve – your customers and workforce!
Nowadays where misinformation is rife and consumer scepticism is constantly on the up, there is no better time to turn the erosion of trust into delivering a new gold standard. Business authenticity is the solution to restore public confidence and offers a competitive edge for companies to engage, interest, and garner huge support from consumers as a result. We’ll shed light on the best ways you can showcase your business authenticity below:
Go deep
For consumers to really understand your business, you need to express what’s really important to you. The values you hold, the passions you share, and the mission you’re journeying towards are all central to business authenticity. By revealing the essence and opening up the core of your business to others, consumers will learn a great deal more about you.
Become a storyteller
It’s important to create a brand narrative that follows the reason you became established in the first place. Consumers want to know the ins and outs of your business journey right from the start and how it got you to the point you find yourself in today. Sharing stories that are real and get into some of the nitty-gritty details is a great way for you to show business authenticity. Hard truths are nothing less than genuine and consumers will gauge this straight away.
Stay human
Whatever size of your company, humanising your culture is crucial for achieving business authenticity. The moment you build up that corporate guard, your stakeholder relationship dynamics will begin to shift and distance. Staff, customers, and everyone in between are all human first. The roles and responsibilities that define each of them come second to this.
There is no better way to connect individuals than communicating on a human level, dropping any unnecessary formalities. Ensure your business is reachable for your employees and consumers to contact you easily. Whether your interaction then emerges over email, telephone, social media, or in-person, take time to listen and understand, be sincere, reveal your vulnerable side, and add personal touches where appropriate. These will all build up a reputation of business authenticity as well as grow trusting relations with your stakeholders.
Keep giving
With a significant proportion of consumers now expecting brands to contribute towards improving quality of life, being charitable is another great way for you to showcase business authenticity.
Companies should champion local causes and actively support their communities regularly to ensure their involvement is committed to making a real difference in the lives of residents. This could include volunteering a certain number of hours every month, making financial donations, or ongoingly contributing valuable resources, materials, and equipment. Giving back locally will not only strengthen the community but also earn trust and respect ideal for aiding your business authenticity.
Be consistent
Everything you have already established above for business authenticity also needs to be conveyed consistently. Mixed messaging and contradiction will soon create mistrust among your customers and undermine the trustworthy, genuine reputation you intended to develop.
Use evidence and be accountable
Always ensure you can support the claims you make and deliver on the promises you commit to.
Consumers are too savvy to see past any slip-ups or embellishments. If a mistake has been made, honesty is the best policy for you to take ownership, apologise, and diffuse the situation. Denying and mitigating will only cause further blows to your reputation publicly and undermine your progress for business authenticity. Everyone has flaws so embrace yours to secure the trust of your audience.
You can also showcase unfiltered testimonials from real people as well as point to any business awards and affiliations that help to command respect for your company. This evidence will round the impressions of your audience and add to your reputation, credibility, and business authenticity. A set of ‘too good to be true’ reviews, an absence of industry recognition, or limited involvement with the community can provoke questions of mistrust and disbelief from consumers.
To conclude, there is a multitude of ways that you can showcase your business authenticity and all are important in the process of nurturing stakeholder relationships. The more value you can give to others, the more support you will receive in return.
The trend for business authenticity is here to stay and companies that welcome it in their culture with open arms will see the upper hand to their competitive position. Businesses will likely see a significant influx of consumers as a result, converting to using their services and products and supporting the overarching mission.
At Investors In Community, we provide an online platform that champions business authenticity and enables companies to give back as part of their cause. By connecting businesses, charities, community groups, not-for-profit organisations, and individuals all in one space, we are able to work together on our shared mission to improve the quality of life for others. Our Community Credits scheme is a fantastic way for companies to showcase the extent of their local impact. For every effort, donation, and volunteer work they give, a sum of credits is received in exchange.
If you’re looking for ways to become more involved with your community, Investors In Community offers the perfect solution. Request a free demo of our digital platform and begin enhancing your business authenticity with us.