How to build credibility and trust with your audience

Building trust and credibility is vital to making your argument, especially in writing. If you can’t build both trust and a rapport with your audience, you will have lost your readers before they read a single word.

No matter if you’re trying to promote a product or service, write an argumentative essay, or convey your authority, you’ll need to establish your expertise through strong messaging. Learn how to win friends and influence people through your work with these essay writing tips.

A whiteboard drawing of the word “audience”

What is the importance of credibility?

Credibility is vital to establishing trust with your audience. They will believe that what you’re saying is logical and makes sense, and that the arguments you make (and your sources you cite) will be trustworthy, relevant, and believable.

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Diligence is key. Falsifying the support in your argument will serve as a weak point and can undo your entire thesis: with powerful search engines like Bing at your audience’s disposal, and tools to check for plagiarism or accurate facts, it’s easier than ever to check the credibility of a writer’s argument.

Share your personal experiences

Everyone has a unique story to tell. Personal experiences with the subject matter you’re writing about lend credence to because nobody else will know your story as well as you do. If you’re writing about student loan debt, for example, you can discuss your time in college and how it’s affected your post-graduation work and budgeting experiences. Or if you’re enthusiastic about Microsoft 365, you can discuss how it has benefited your family across generations and kept your home and personal lives organized.

Write with authority

An air of authority in your writing imparts confidence and expertise: you don’t have to be the world’s foremost expert on a topic, or hold advanced degrees, to be able to convey these attitudes. Use an active voice instead of a passive voice and make sure you are making an argument that isn’t cliché or handled before.

Don’t talk down to your audience

Conversely, writing with confidence and expertise doesn’t mean that you need to sound smarter than your audience. Writing from a tone that is too serious might seem condescending, while writing in too informal a tone might seem like you don’t care about the subject at hand. Learn how to balance the right tone in your writing and strike a fine line that can reiterate your trust.

“Above all, be honest—there is nothing to be gained from lying to your audience, because your credibility and trust rely on these traits.”

Research facts with discernment

Disinformation is a problem in this modern digital age. Fact-checking tools can scour the web to find out whether you’re inadvertently making a mistake, since we all make them. But above all, be honest—there is nothing to be gained from lying to your audience, because your credibility and trust rely on these traits. The word “essay,” after all, comes from the French word “to try,” and you are trying to convince your audience to believe and trust you. For more essay-writing tips, check out Microsoft 365 to make sharper arguments.