How To Build Brand Trust When Consumers Trust Advertising Less?

Advertising can buy attention. It cannot automatically buy belief. That distinction is becoming increasingly important for marketers trying to understand how to build brand trust. Consumers today are surrounded by brand messages across search, social media, streaming platforms, influencers, retail media and their own inboxes. Generative AI has made producing polished marketing content cheaper and faster still.

The result is a strange contradiction: brands have never had more ways to speak, yet simply saying something about yourself may carry less persuasive weight than someone else saying it about you. The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report makes the commercial importance of this particularly clear. Across 15 countries, 88% of respondents said trusting a brand was an important or critical consideration when buying, virtually identical to quality at 89% and value at 88%.

Trust is no longer a soft reputation metric. It is part of the product.

The Problem Isn’t Advertising. It Is Self-Declaration.

Advertising remains enormously valuable. It creates awareness, builds memory, introduces products and gives brands control over reach, timing and message. But there are limits to what a brand can credibly declare about itself.

A company can say, “We are the most innovative,” “We provide exceptional service,” “We are committed to sustainability,” or “We are a trusted market leader.” But the consumer’s perfectly reasonable response is: Of course you would say that.

Trust becomes stronger when there is evidence around the claim. A customer recommends the product. An independent reviewer tests it. A journalist reports on the company’s investment. An industry expert quotes its research. Employees speak positively about their experience. A credible publication carries news of its expansion. In each case, the brand is no longer asking the audience simply to believe what it says. There is corroboration.

That difference between claim and proof may become one of the most important distinctions in modern marketing.

Earned Credibility Has Acquired New Value

The 2026 Edelman research found that unpaid voices such as customers, peers and advocates carry substantially greater weight in building trust than paid brand voices, particularly among consumers with narrower circles of trust. This is where PR and earned media play a different role from advertising.

A company can purchase an advertisement in a leading newspaper. It cannot purchase that newspaper’s editorial judgment. Journalists decide what deserves examination, what needs context and what is relevant to their readers. That independence is precisely why genuine editorial visibility carries a different form of credibility.

For brands, the implication isn’t “advertising versus PR.” It is advertising plus evidence. Paid media creates reach, owned media explains, earned media validates, social proof reinforces, and search makes the evidence discoverable. Strong brands increasingly need all five.

Turn Corporate Claims Into Evidence

Suppose a company wants to be known for sustainability. It could run a campaign saying, “Building a Greener Tomorrow.” Thousands of companies could say the same thing.

Now imagine the company announces that 60% of the electricity used across its manufacturing facilities comes from renewable sources, compared with 25% three years earlier. It provides the methodology, investment figures, future target and an executive willing to explain what worked and what didn’t.

That is more interesting. A journalist may choose to investigate it. Industry publications may reference it. Customers can verify it. Search engines can discover it. The communication has moved from assertion to evidence.

This should increasingly be the job of corporate communications. Don’t merely tell people what the brand stands for. Show them.

Press Releases Can Become Trust Assets

Press releases are sometimes treated simply as vehicles for announcements. They can do considerably more when they contain meaningful information, verifiable facts and useful context.

A well-constructed press release establishes what happened, when it happened, who was involved, what the numbers are and what accountable executives say about it. When professionally distributed, that information can be picked up across multiple media and online publications, creating a broader digital record of the company’s activities.

Over time, meaningful announcements create something surprisingly valuable: a corporate evidence trail. A new factory, a significant customer win, an international expansion, original research, a leadership appointment, a product innovation or a sustainability milestone may each have a short news cycle. Collectively, however, these announcements tell the story of what the company actually does.

This matters even more in the age of search and AI-powered discovery. Customers increasingly research brands before engaging with them. They encounter websites, news articles, reviews, executive interviews, press releases and increasingly AI-generated summaries. A strong digital footprint allows them to find evidence rather than simply advertising.

Put Real People Back Into Corporate Communication

There is another casualty of today’s content explosion: personality. AI can generate a perfectly polished CEO quote in seconds: “We are delighted to achieve this important milestone, which reinforces our unwavering commitment to innovation and customer excellence.” It sounds corporate. It also tells us almost nothing.

Trust requires people. Let leaders have opinions. Let engineers explain how something works. Let customers describe their experience. Let employees talk about what changed. Use genuine photographs rather than endlessly interchangeable imagery.

When executives are quoted in press releases, give them something worth saying. A statement such as “What surprised us was…” can be more believable than “We are delighted…” Similarly, “We got this wrong initially…” may occasionally build more credibility than “We have always been committed…” Human beings trust human beings, yet corporate communication sometimes forgets this.

Don’t Manufacture Trust

The temptation, particularly with AI, will be to industrialise credibility. Hundreds of articles, synthetic reviews, AI-generated experts, manufactured endorsements, automated comments and influencer content that barely acknowledges the commercial relationship may create the appearance of credibility, but they do not create genuine trust.

That is dangerous territory because trust accumulates slowly and can disappear remarkably quickly.

The smarter approach is almost boring: make a good product, be transparent when things go wrong, produce useful information, provide evidence for claims, give journalists access to knowledgeable people, encourage genuine customer advocacy, communicate important developments consistently and correct misinformation quickly.

Then use advertising to amplify a reputation that has substance behind it.

How to Build Brand Trust: Earn Trust, Then Amplify It

Perhaps marketers have been asking the wrong question. It isn’t, “Should we spend on advertising or PR?” The better question is, “What will make people believe us, and how do we make sure enough of the right people see it?” For marketers, learning how to build brand trust means moving beyond self-declared claims

Edelman’s 2026 brand research puts the principle neatly into strategic terms: lead with earned credibility and use paid media to scale it. That could become a useful model for CMOs and CCOs.

Create something worth believing. Earn independent validation. Make the evidence discoverable. Then amplify it.

Advertising still has enormous power. But in a world overflowing with messages, the most valuable thing a brand may possess isn’t the ability to reach millions of people. It is giving those millions a reason to believe what they hear.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is brand trust important?

Trust directly influences consideration, loyalty, advocacy and willingness to buy. Edelman’s 2026 global brand study found that 88% considered brand trust important or critical to purchase, putting it alongside quality and value.

Is PR more trustworthy than advertising?

They perform different jobs. Advertising provides controlled reach and repetition, while earned media can provide independent validation. The strongest communications strategies typically combine paid, owned and earned channels rather than treating them as substitutes.

How can brands build consumer trust?

Start with product and customer experience, then support them with transparent communication, verifiable claims, genuine customer advocacy, credible media visibility, accessible leadership, original information and consistent behaviour.

How does press release distribution help build trust?

Press release distribution can make genuine corporate developments more widely discoverable across media and online publications, contributing to a searchable record of a company’s activities. Distribution itself does not create trust. The credibility and substance of the underlying announcement matter.

Can earned media help brand growth?

Yes. Current Edelman research argues that earned voices can strengthen both trust and relevance and that the combination can give brands greater permission to expand into new audiences and markets.

Does AI make brand trust more important?

Potentially. As generating professional-looking content becomes easier, consumers face a larger volume of synthetic information. Verifiable facts, authentic people, credible third-party sources and transparent communication can therefore become stronger differentiators.