Your Founding Date is Doing More Work Than You Think
New research explains why and how to apply it to your business!
If you run a small business, you’ve probably undersold your own history at least once. Maybe you left your founding year off your website because it felt like bragging, or maybe you skipped your three-year anniversary post because, honestly, who has time? Or maybe you lead every client pitch with what you do rather than how long you’ve been doing it.
Most of us do this! It’s a very Maine instinct, actually, we keep our heads down, do amazing work, and let it speak for itself. And, of course, there’s a real value to that approach, but there’s also some consumer psychology worth knowing about. It turns out your timeline is one of the most powerful trust signals you have, and a lot of small business owners aren’t using it intentionally.
What a New Study Found
Researchers Matthew Fisher and Adam H. Smiley
Journal of Consumer Psychology
Researchers Matthew Fisher and Adam H. Smiley just published a study in the Journal of Consumer Psychology that tested something they call the continuity heuristic. Across 24 studies with nearly 10k participants, they found that consumers consistently use one piece of information as a shortcut for predicting whether a brand or business is worth trusting: How long it’s been around.
The logic goes like this: When someone asks themselves, “Will this business still be here in two years?” or “Is this the kind of company I can rely on?,” those are genuinely hard questions to answer. So, the brain quietly substitutes a simpler one: “How long has this been around?” The company’s past becomes a proxy for their future reliability.
The researchers also looked at where this shows up in the real world, with real brands. Talea Bear Company lead their advertising with “Est. 2018.” Guinness has had “Estd 1759” on its label for years and years. Service businesses routinely celebrate “five years with us!” as customer loyalty milestones, and none of that is accidental.
Why this Matters More for Women-Owned Small Businesses
There’s a particular patter I see repeatedly with women-owned small businesses, especially in Maine and across New England. Owners who have been running strong, respected operations for years, still introduce themselves apologetically. “We’re a small shop,” or “We’re still pretty new,” and they’ve been in business since 2019.
2019 is not new!! That’s seven…7…years of showing up, serving clients, figuring out things in real time, and being a consistent force in their communities. But if you’re not saying that clearly, potential clients or customers are left to guess, and the continuity heuristic research suggests they’re making assumptions whether you give them information or not. So, it’s always better to give them accurate information they can use to base their decisions on.
This is also relevant if your business is genuinely newer. The study found that the continuity effect is strongest when people don’t have other reliable information to draw on. One thing that fills that gap is direct expertise. If your business launched two years ago, but you’ve spent 20 years in the industry, that history carries the real marketing weight. “20 years in hospitality marketing” is a continuity story that doesn’t require a long company history to tell.
How to Apply This in Your Marketing
Where this can help boost your marketing copy and efforts:
Your About Page - This is the most common spot where history gets buried or skipped entirely. What does your about page actually say? Does yours say when you founded the business? Does it mention how long you’ve been in the field you’re working in? If someone reads it start to finish, do they leave with a clear vision of your track record?
Your Website Footer and Bio - A founding year or “est.” note is one of the smallest changes you can make with a surprisingly strong effect. It doesn’t need to be a focal point, it just needs to be there, sitting quietly, acting like a strong trust signal.
Your Testimonials - Most client testimonials focus on outcomes, which totally makes sense. But ones that actually mention how long the working relationship lasted carry a little extra weight because they signal continuity directly. When you’re asking for a testimonial, it’s worth adding a prompt, like: “Feel free to mention how long we’ve worked together.”
Your Anniversary Posts - If you’ve been quietly skipping these, stop! Not because you need to make a big production of it, but because it is one for the few times that it is completely natural to say “We’ve been doing this for X years” in public. You’ve earned it!!
One more thing I want to note, from reading this research, the continuity heuristic doesn’t just apply to new clients or customers deciding if they want to hire or shop with you. It also helps explain why long-term client relationships tend to sustain themselves. The longer someone has worked or shopped with you, the longer they expect to keep working or shopping with you. That’s useful to remember when you’re thinking about retention, not just acquisition. Be sure you’re checking in with long-term clients and customers, acknowledging their anniversaries by noting your shared history. These small nods of appreciation reinforce a sense of continuity that benefits you both.
If none of this is currently reflected in your marketing, the good news is that the fixes are usually small and relatively easy. Add a founding year, update your bios to lead with your years of experience, ask a long-term client or customer for a testimonial or review that includes how long they’ve had a relationship with you. AND be sure you’re posting your next business anniversary when the time comes around.
None of these things require a rebrand or lots of effort. It’s mostly a matter of making the history you’ve already built a little easier for people to see.
Nimble Pixel Studio works with small businesses and nonprofits to build marketing strategies grounded in how people actually make decisions. If you want to talk through what this could look like for your business, get in touch!
Source: Fisher, M. & Smiley, A. H. (2026). The continuity heuristic: Temporal extrapolation in consumer judgment. Journal of Consumer Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.70032