The Collapse of Trust

Thu, Jan 29, 2009

Edelman_Trust_Barometer After waiting around, twiddling my thumbs, it’s finally been released.

That’s right…it’s time for the Edelman Trust Barometer 2009.

The Edelman Trust Barometer is an annual credibility survey performed by the world’s largest independent public relations firm.

So here’s the deal: as one might expect, we live during an era where the importance of trust in business cannot be underestimated. The Edelman report had this to say:

“The 10th edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer reports on a year unlike any other. Government bailed out banks in New York and London. Melamine-laced baby formula rolled off assembly lines into the homes of Chinese parents. American auto executives descended on Washington hungry for handouts. An Illinois governor was led away in handcuffs. And as a $50 billion Ponzi scheme collapsed, an Indian tech mogul’s fraudulent enterprise started to crumble. This year, the world had more reasons than ever before to suspend its trust—and for the most part, our data reflect this.” – The Edelman Trust Barometer ’09

Fostering trust is a garden-of-Eden breath of fresh air that is all too often ignored or forgotten in business and marketing. And here’s why trust in business is critical: Neurologists are now discovering that humans are uniquely gifted to detect and respond to trust in other humans and we use these abilities to reduce uncertainty or to avoid risk and the pain of loss. Which means your customer relies on these same abilities when making buying decisions.

The bottom line: consumers are more likely to buy from companies they trust.

Sounds simple, right?

Then tell me, why do so many companies screw it up?

Subscribe and in the coming weeks I’ll discuss the most common credibility killers in marketing today.

Credibility, Edelman Trust Barometer, Tom Wanek, Trust

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This post was written by:

Tom Wanek - who has written 113 posts on MarketingBeyondAdvertising.com.

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Tom Wanek

Adam,

First, let me say that the copy should be exactly as long as it has to be.

Web copy is often expanded far beyond its optimum size because marketing gurus claim long copy works best. Let the copy be whatever length it becomes. Don’t try to stretch it out longer than it ought to be or make it shorter than it needs to be.

You would benefit from reading up on my colleagues Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg. They're experts on persuasive copywriting using a methodology called Persuasion Architecture. It's based from Myers-Briggs personality type indicators.
Adam Steer

This idea touches on something that has been on my mind a lot lately. I recently published an e-book on bodyweight exercise. It is an excellent quality resource which really adds something to the market. But what is the best way to get the word out beyond those people who are already part of our "Tribe" (and who trust us already).

Everything one reads about online marketing points to the "long sales copy" approach, but that seems to fly in the face of the process of building trust. And at a time when people are more cynical than ever (or presumably so), does long sales copy still work best, or is there something better on the horizon?