Key Takeaways

• Trust as a Vital Asset: In an increasingly skeptical world, trust is essential for companies to succeed. With public confidence in businesses declining, organizations must earn and maintain trust through transparent and ethical practices.
• Leverage Employee Trust: Employees generally trust their employers more than the broader business community. Companies can use this internal trust as a foundation to build external credibility by actively engaging in social and political issues, as consumers expect businesses and leaders to take a stand.
• The Power of PR Over Advertising: Public relations is more effective for building trust than traditional advertising. PR focuses on what others say about a company, enhancing credibility through third-party endorsements. A well-executed PR campaign can improve a brand’s reputation and visibility more effectively than advertising alone.

Why Trust Matters More Than Ever

Building trust with PR is what tomorrow’s leading companies are doing today. Trust is a truly earned currency. There’s no fast tracking it and it’s easier to gain than it is to get back, so trust is a cherished and worthy asset for any company with ambitions.

It’s essential for companies to build trust with key constituencies, whether those be consumers, investors, or other community stakeholders. After all, it’s virtually impossible to succeed if your audience can’t trust your company. And yet, it’s getting harder and harder for companies to win over skeptical consumers and communities.

Many factors have contributed to this volatile, and sometimes outright hostile, business environment. We’re all more engaged with the news and the world than ever before, which means we are more aware of what goes on “behind the curtain” at major companies.

The Decline of Public Confidence

Public skepticism is fueled by visible examples of corporate misconduct. Social media platforms are unethically harvesting and profiting from their users’ data. Major corporations are coming under the microscope for how they treat their employees. Income inequality has become a hot-button political issue. The environment is being irreparably damaged by companies exploiting it for a profit with little thought to how it will affect us and future generations.

Faced with innumerable examples of corporate greed and misconduct, it’s no wonder that the public’s trust in the business community has crashed. The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer found that only 56%  of people trust the business community to do the right thing. When nearly half of the marketplace harbors fundamental misgivings about businesses’ willingness to behave ethically, companies that want to earn consumers’ trust have their work cut out for them.

When nearly half the marketplace doubts companies’ willingness to act ethically, rebuilding trust becomes a major challenge. The same Edelman study also found low trust across other institutions: 57% trust NGOs, 47% trust the news media, and only 14% of Americans trust the government to do the right thing most of the time, according to the 2019 Pew Research Center.

 

How to Use PR to Earn the Trust of Your Consumers, Investors & Stakeholders

1. Start with Internal Trust

So, what can companies do to earn the trust of an increasingly skeptical public? The study suggests the right way to do it. The lone bright spot for companies is that while much of the public doesn’t trust the business community as a whole, they tend to trust their own employers. The 2019 Edelman report found that 75% of people generally trust their employer to do what’s right. This data suggests that when people get a chance to know a company better, they can be convinced to give that company the benefit of the doubt.

2. Empower Leadership to Take a Stand

Edelman’s research found that 58% of employees count on their employers to be reliable sources of information about social and political issues. Furthermore, 67% of employees expect their employers to join them in taking a stand on issues they care about. Employees also have high expectations of CEOs and other executives, with 71% believing their CEO should respond to social and political challenges. The general public agrees, with 76% saying that CEOs should directly address societal issues instead of waiting for governments to respond.

These data points offer a roadmap for brands looking to increase trust with their customers. Consumers are looking for businesses to drop their old ways of doing things and embrace the challenge of change. Brands that rise to meet this challenge can tap into the zeitgeist and build a better, healthier relationship with their customers.

3. Use PR, Not Advertising, to Build Credibility

One of the most effective tools to building trust with the public is a well-crafted public relations campaign. Why PR for trust building instead of advertising or marketing? It all comes back to the trust factor. Advertising and marketing are what you say about yourself, while PR is what other people say about you. Many people either ignore the content they see in ads or reject it out of hand because they don’t trust it. They believe that advertisers aren’t truthful or that companies exaggerate the claims in their marketing materials..

Why PR Outperforms Advertising for Trust Building

Unlike advertising, which seeks to persuade, PR seeks to inform and validate. It offers transparency and context that advertising often lacks.

Because consumers rely on third-party sources to verify claims, earned media carries weight that paid promotion simply can’t match. A thoughtful PR campaign shows accountability, authenticity, and confidence—qualities that resonate in an era of skepticism.

The risk is that you don’t control every word, but that’s also the point. Transparency builds credibility. A brand that invites dialogue and scrutiny demonstrates confidence in its values and actions.

Need Help With Your Trust Building PR Campaign?

Creating effective, striking PR campaigns for purpose-driven brands is what we do at Avaans Media, and we’d love to bring our expertise to your company. We have the media contacts, talent, and creative vision to craft the perfect PR campaign for companies of all sizes and in all manner of industries.

Our past clients have included consumer packaged goods manufacturers, nonprofits, and tech startups. We’ve even led a global campaign focused on boosting tourism for an entire country. In each case, we made sure to highlight the organizations’ values and strengths, and in each case, we achieved resounding success.

When you partner with Avaans Media, you’re getting a PR agency that knows how to showcase what makes purpose-driven brands special. We’ve been helping companies build trust since 2008. If you’re ready to see what we can do for you, visit our contact page to set up a phone call with one of our offices. You can also find our team locally in Denver, Phoenix, San Diego, Honolulu, Los Angeles, and New York.

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