People need to be certain that what they’re about to buy is worth exchanging their hard-earned money for.

And for that, they need to trust your business.

But it isn’t enough to say things like:

“The best jewellery designers”

“Our 10 years of experience guarantee the quality of our products”

“The best marketing agency”

Such statements ring hollow and unless you can add specific details as to why you are “the best” it will sound like tactless salesmanship to your prospects.

However, when we demonstrate our authority with concrete details we increase our credibility at the same time.

The 2 go hand in hand and are inseparable.

Authority + Credibility = Trust

Without trust, there’s no sale.

If your prospects don’t trust your business they’ll go somewhere else.

In this post, we’ll look at ways to demonstrate authority and credibility.

Are you staying?

Here we go.

Narrow down your area of expertise to be more specific

Wanting to cover too much is counterproductive.

Everyone knows that if you try to be an expert in everything you’re in fact an expert in nothing.

Instead of offering too many services or products, concentrate on a few and become an expert in your niche.

Choose what you do best, and above all, what you enjoy doing most, and put all your energy into it.

Demonstrate with details why you are the go-to expert in such cases.

Words are, as always, your allies and will help you demonstrate authority without having to lie or resort to empty statements.

Legendary copywriter Joe Sugarman sold thousands of products in the 1970s and 1980s through his mail-order business JS&A.

He proclaimed his company to be “America’s largest single-source of space-age products”.

In reality, they were selling electronics, watches, gold chains, etc.

When they said, “space-age products” they meant products made in the present day (back then) when people were still impressed that man had been able to get to the moon and walk around in space like it was nothing.

And when they said “single-source” Sugarman meant that they shipped their products from a single warehouse, however, the sentence gave the impression that it was the only place where you could buy those products.

In short, with these words, they impressed their customers without having to lie or use superlatives left and right.

With this example what I want to say is that sometimes you don’t need to be the biggest, or the most experienced, but the way you play with your words can do all the work.

For example, imagine you want to sell a book about a vegan diet created by a nutritionist you’re working with.

And you write this headline “The vegan diet that will make you lose weight without starving yourself created by the eminence in nutrition, Alfredo Wagner”.

And it turns out that neither your prospects nor anyone else around them have ever heard that name.

What will happen then is that all will sound like an exaggeration and they will be off because they won’t believe a word you’re saying.

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However, if you write something like “The vegan diet that will make you lose weight without starving, created by the nutritionist most demanded by celebrities”, we’re already getting into something more concrete.

We’re giving more details and being more concrete in our arguments.

If his contract with these celebrities allows him to do so, you can even give some names.

But you don’t need to sell something endorsed by the rich and famous either, you can also demonstrate authority and credibility without resorting to resources beyond the reach of most of us.

Let’s look at another way to do it for the same example of the vegan diet book.

“The vegan diet that will make you lose weight without starving, created by the nutritionist who has helped 1,350 people lose weight”.

Adding concrete numbers always instils more credibility than saying “more than 1,000 people”.

Yet another way:

“The vegan diet that will make you lose weight without starving, created by the nutritionist most consulted by pharmaceuticals”.

And one more:

“The diet that will make you lose weight without starving, created by Spain’s first vegan nutritionist”.

And one more to conclude this section:

“The vegan diet that will make you lose weight without starving, created by the most quoted nutritionist in medical circles”.

Do you get what this is all about?

Exactly, being specific.

To add figures, examples, situations, in other words, everything necessary to create a short, credible and concrete story around the product you want to sell.

This is how we demonstrate authority and credibility in our copy.

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Never say “Trust me”.

Sometimes when we write our ads and sales pages we are so sure that what we’re saying is VERY true that we tend to add expressions like “Trust me” or “Believe me”.

This is a mistake.

Well, not always.

If you use expressions like these too early in your copy, when the reader knows nothing about you or your business, you’ll set off the red light.

Yes, that little red light we all have ready to light up as soon as we think they’re trying to sell us a pig in a poke.

Your prospect might have been engaged into the copy and your story, but when he reads “trust me”, he remembers that you haven’t given him enough reasons to do so, and he may start to distrust you.

Don’t say “trust me”. Make your prospects trust you with concrete arguments.

Maybe if you’re writing a long piece of copy, such as a sales page for a service or product, you can introduce an expression like those to emphasise your arguments.

But never do it before you’ve given them all the arguments your prospects need to hear in order to take the decision to buy from you.

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Place the reader at the centre of everything

This is the number one rule of copywriting and sales in general, and in the matter of showing authority and credibility, it also plays an important role.

As always you should know your buyer persona really well.

Knowing what they’re looking for and how to talk to them so they connect with you and what you want to tell them is essential if you want to be successful in your business.

Because you know, no story, no argument, no sale. Unless you’re Apple or Nike.

Your prospect needs to trust you and she will if you give her sufficient arguments to do so.

If you think about it, it’s the same in life in general.

When do you trust the opinion of a friend the most?

When you know that friend knows you really well.

You will then follow his or her advice and let yourself be guided more comfortably because you’re sure this friend knows what’s right for you.

Well, this is exactly what you have to aim for when writing copy.

Make your sales copy sound like a conversation with a friend who knows you, knows what she’s talking about and wants to help you.

See you next time!

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