Marketing without Trust is Just Noise

Forget SEO - Time to get back to First Principles

For as long as humans have been around, the ability to decide who to trust  - and who not to trust - has been a crucial part of our survival tool box.  Individually, we human beings are relatively weak creatures, but our strength comes from forming social groups, to work, problem solve, and live together.  And that requires communication and the ability to learn from each other.  Life learning involves building a mental model of how our world works - from experience and information provided by those around us - our trusted sources. And crucially, we need these mental models and understanding of the world to make decisions - good decisions.

This is central to the success of marketing which at its purest level, aims to inform and educate people so that they can make decisions. But marketing (as we know it) is experiencing challenges—driven in part by an erosion of trust, but also by changes in consumer behaviour, ad fatigue, privacy concerns, and increasing resistance to the ceaseless bombardment of promotional messaging.

Outbound marketing is the more traditional form of marketing where businesses proactively reach out and push messages to a broad audience of potential customers, often interrupting their activities with promotional content such as advertising, cold-calling, email and direct-mail outreach, trade-shows, sponsorships, and partnerships etc

Inbound marketing focuses on pulling in customers through valuable content and organic engagement. It aims to be a customer-centric approach that attracts potential customers by providing useful content, engaging experiences, and solutions to their problems. The goal is to build trust and establish relationships before a purchase decision is made.  While it is often associated with organic methods like content production, social media, webinars, and podcasts, it also includes paid tactics such as PPC and remarketing that support organic efforts.

In reality, many companies use a hybrid approach, and use techniques associate with one to support the other, and while the original intent may have been good, there is always the question - the pressure - of ROI for marketing $ spent, number of sales, and ultimately revenue.  This quite understandably has impacted marketing messaging and techniques to maximise those KPIs.  Over time, the cost of this may have been to erode trust.

While the internet has enabled us to disseminate information in huge quantities which has been central to the success of inbound marketing, this sheer quantity has led to ad fatigue and messaging resistance.  It has also seen the proliferation of  misinformation, disinformation, misleading claims and manipulative tactics.  An example of this is greenwashing which has seen companies make unsubstantiated environmental claims; often unintentionally as they pass on misinformation from other sources. However, some greenwashing is deliberate—companies exaggerate their sustainability efforts because they know consumers prefer ethical brands. The resulting skepticism diminishes the effectiveness of genuine eco-friendly initiatives, as audiences question the authenticity of claims.

There are a variety of other marketing approaches and philosophies such as Community-led, Product-led, or Eco-system Led Marketing, Movement Marketing, or Dark Social Influence.  And while they all try to provide truly 'trusted sources' for fellow humans to make informed decisions, they ultimately are all susceptible to the same human vulnerabilities, and human tendencies to either deliberately or unintentionally corrupt, distort, or manipulate the message - causing trust erosion.

So what's the answer?

Let's get back to first principles. Humans need to have trusted sources - sources that they feel they can trust and rely on - until they learn they can't trust them.  Humans - people - us - like to feel informed and so be able to make the best possible decisions relative to what they consider is important to them; how can you help them with that?   Let this idea permeate all aspects of your business thinking and so guide your business decisions and actions. And not just marketing, but also strategy, customer service, and partnerships etc.

Trust-building is not just a marketing function—it must be embedded into the DNA and soul of the organisation. If trust isn’t present in product quality, leadership decisions, customer service, and partnerships, then no amount of marketing can compensate for that gap.  It is well known that trust is an investment, and can take a long time to build - so there is no time like the present to get started - here are some things to implement:

• Wherever possible, go back to first principles and build relationships person-to-person, foster real conversations, and create networks and partnerships based on mutual trust and shared value.
• Build 'building trust' into your lived values (beliefs and behaviours) and culture - say what you mean, and mean what you say.  If you stand for a cause, back it up with real actions, not just marketing.
• Information is meant to inform and enable people to make good decisions - ensure the information you provide is based on the best possible evidence or data.
• Be critical of information you use and information you pass on. Push back on mis-information or dis-information.
• Be transparent and honest about what your products and services can and can’t do. No exaggerated claims.
• Use real stories, customer testimonials, and employee voices instead of polished corporate messaging. Show measurable impact - case studies, third-party certifications, live demos.
• Have a customer-first approach; prioritise user experiences, listen to feedback, and act on it.
• When you build out your value chains, ensure you align with other credible and trustworthy brands, experts, and influencers.
• For your marketing material, create content that is useful, entertaining, educational, or informative, rather than just promotional material.

Building trust is not a marketing tactic—it’s a long-term commitment to authenticity, transparency, and customer respect. Companies that get this right can gain significant loyalty and brand strength, while those that cut corners risk irreparable damage to their brand.

Ad Futurum

Graham