by  , Columnist
Source: www.mediapost.com, June 2021

Many studies report on consumer trust in brands. Here’s one that does the same for B2B: The 2021 B2B Trusted Brands Report from Sagefrog.

Trust this year is largely based on how companies have supported their customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study notes that “the first year of the pandemic resulted in the closure of roughly 200,000 small businesses,” forcing customers to fulfill their needs online.

First, let’s get the suspense out of the way. Apple is once again the most trusted B2B brand this year because of its focus on serving work-at-home needs.

Apple released a campaign titled “The whole working-from-home thing” that drew over 30 million views on YouTube. The lesson for other marketers: “Relate to your audience and show where you fit in.”

Second is Amazon, which has set itself the goal of providing SMBs with a lucrative online sales platform. Amazon is offering a new beta feature that reports on how third-party channels like email marketing and social media affect purchasing patterns. The lesson: “Focus on the critical needs of B2B companies.”

Next on this list is Adobe, which also helped work-at-home overcome the loss of face-to-face collaboration by integrating communications platforms like Gmail, Microsoft Teams and Slack. The company turned its creativity conference, Adobe MAX, into a virtual event.

LinkedIn has also helped business users with insights on working the post-pandemic world. Its LinkedIn for Small Business built a resource center featuring news, tools and networking. The lesson: “Engage your audience with resources that help.’

These results are based on votes from 2,500 B2B professionals. Sagefrog conducts this survey early each year.

The brands that nailed an exceptional trust factor score of 70 or more include, in this order:

  • Apple
  • Amazon
  • Adobe
  • LinkedIn
  • Google
  • Microsoft
  • FedEx
  • HubSpot
  • UPS
  • American Express

Here are the brands that pulled an “excellent” score of 55 or more:

  • Visa
  • 3M
  • Starbucks
  • Marriott International
  • MasterCard
  • Johnson and Johnson
  • Samsung
  • Salesforce
  • Costco
  • Dell

Finally, here are those that pull a good score of 40+ or more:

  • John Deere
  • CVS Caremark
  • Canon
  • IBM
  • Sony
  • YouTube
  • Home Depot
  • Ford
  • Proctor and Gamble
  • HP

The trust factor is based on the percentage of customers who trust a company with a value of 100%. For the most trusted brand, 49.55% report that they trust it.