With Mike DiGiacomo and Clay Campbell of Greater Maryland Better Business Bureau

When you think of the BBB, you likely think of a place to file your consumer complaints. But Mike Digiacomo, President & CEO of Greater Maryland Better Business Bureau, is out to refresh what people know about this century-old organization. Why? Because today, with a few dollars and an idea, almost anyone can start a business. New technology has made it easier than ever to get started with minimal experience and infrastructure. Unfortunately, these same advancements allowed poorly run or fraudulent businesses to easily blend in and appear credible. ​

With B2B fraud surging, trust has become a critical differentiator for attracting new business. The Better Business Bureau (BBB), that has always been a flag bearer for trustworthy business practices, is on a mission to help your business stand out.  

“We’re a 117-year-old organization whose brand identity has become synonymous with consumer protection. But our current mission is to build an ecosystem of ethical businesses across multiple industry sectors so they can network with each other in a trusted environment,” explains Mike.  

As a VP of Business Development of an accredited business (Reliable Technology Services), I sat down with Mike and Director of Marketing Clay Campbell to highlight all the ways the BBB can help your business become a symbol of trust in the age of rampant fraud.

BBB Accreditation

The BBB (Better Business Bureau) Accredited Business Seal has long been recognized as a mark of trustworthiness. However, achieving BBB accreditation offers more advantages than you might realize. Becoming a BBB-accredited business provides you enhanced visibility and consumer confidence through valuable resources such as:

Seal of Trust: A long-standing symbol of business ethics, the BBB seal of accreditation shows that you have demonstrated the BBB’s eight Standards for Trust. But if you think this symbol is just a simple piece of window dressing, you are drastically underestimating its power.

As Clay points out, “8 out of 10 consumers will choose an accredited business over a non-accredited one. The seal can be used on something as small as a business card or as big as a billboard, so you should use the seal everywhere, especially as marketing collateral.” 

BBB Trust Monitors: This resource helps accredited businesses make sure different listings across business platforms, like Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc., are consistent. The Center will also notify you of any major mistakes that might damage your brand image, such as spelling errors, broken links, or expired certificates. This service helps boost Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as well as consumer confidence.

“If people see a misspelled word or broken link on your site, they’re probably going to hesitate. The monitors that we have help improve the online presence of your businesses to make sure you fully demonstrate that you are trustworthy,” explains Clay.

CEO Forum Group Membership: The exclusive benefit offers BBB Accredited Businesses access to exclusive leadership insights, including interviews with over 1,000 top CEOs. Members receive weekly CEO surveys, invitations to quarterly CEO Summit events, and a subscription to The CEO Forum Magazine. 

As Clay describes, “We like to call it Netflix for CEOs. So it’s an on-demand learning and training resource that will help you continue your education as a business leader.” 

Small Business Google Ad Management: For small businesses that don’t want to invest the large sums required to jump full bore into the Google Ad search console, the BBB offers banner ad management at a reasonable price. This value-added service is available exclusively to accredited members.

“We’ll even create the creative for you if you want. So you just tell us what industries you want to show up in the Google Display network, and we’ll target ads to consumers that are shopping for services that you offer,” says Clay.

Discount Program: The BBB has also partnered with Dell to offer a discount program on everything from laptops and desktops to peripherals like monitors or keyboards.

BBB Greater Maryland Foundation

Through its foundation, the BBB is also working to create a more tech-savvy community at large. 

This is done through programs like scam prevention seminars at senior centers, an Annual Shred Day, where they offer free document destruction services, and The Torch Awards, which recognize businesses that develop a culture of ethics and trust within their company. 

By helping the general population better recognize fraud and practice proper digital hygiene, the BBB Foundation shrinks the playing field for scammers and boosts the credibility of trustworthy businesses.

The foundation is a 501C3 charitable organization, so if you choose to donate, your donation not only supports a cause that is working to make your business more credible in the market but also may be tax deductible.  

The BBB Community

The largest value of becoming a BBB-accredited business is currently flying under the radar: a community of trustworthy businesses to network and partner with. 

“Typically, we’ve been the remedy to consumer worry, but whether you are looking for a business to hire or have services to offer, we’re also an incredible resource for B2B connections,” Mike explains. 

“We work with accounting companies, marketing companies, tax services, etc. There’s all kinds of services that each of these businesses might need from each other. So, we’re working with businesses to get engaged in this conversation about why trust is important. Because the more businesses we can get accredited, the more cross-pollination of services we can provide to each other from trusted sources.”

The BBB has committed to creating this community through two core initiatives:

BBB Directory:  Hosted on bbb.org, this expansive directory can help you discover other accredited businesses and is searchable by industry, service, or location.

“Your profile can include a custom description of your business, and for example, if you’re a contractor, you can upload before and after photos of a renovation job that you’ve performed. You can upload videos. You can upload your logo. There’s also a Request Quote button right on the profile. Plus, if you want to be positioned at the top of that list for your industry, you can subscribe to get an enhanced listing. All of these are only offered to accredited businesses on our website,” Mike points out.

Networking Events: Exclusively for accredited businesses, these events are designed to introduce businesses to potential referral partners, centers of influence, or service vendors. 

“We work really hard on these events because I believe that relationships are really, really important. So bringing businesses together to share information and ideas and give them options on where to go for specific services is really important to us.” Mike says.

In his quest to bring the right types of business together, Mike knows where he’s starting. “I am focusing on IT companies first. Because they are the linchpin for everything that we’re doing, IT businesses lay and maintain the platforms that everyone is using these days. Their core business is built around trust. Plus, they are knowledgeable and understand all the latest advancements that business leaders want to discuss and are in the news today.”

If you want to enhance your cybersecurity processes to ensure your business can be a trustworthy partner, reach out to Krister Dunn at kristerd@reliabletechnology.com.