Building Trust: How To Engage Skeptical Stakeholders

Nothing is more critical to an organization than earning and keeping trust. But in today's world of fragmented digital channels, influencers and misinformation, building trust with increasingly skeptical stakeholders has become a major challenge.

It begs the question: How do corporate storytellers tackle this issue in 2024 and beyond?

To help answer this question (and more), we partnered with PRWeek to bring together a panel of industry leaders to discuss the evolution of influence and its impact on public relations.

Featuring Adam Christensen, Chief Marketing Officer at Notified, Bevin Maguire, CCO & VP of Corporate Communications at Applied Materials and Glenn Zaccara, VP of US Media Relations at UPS, the group shared valuable insights and important insights every corporate communicator should know.

Keep reading to learn more - and then watch the full conversation on demand.

Increasing Stakeholder Skepticism

A striking finding from a new Notified/PRWeek survey of leading PR pros is that only 10% of respondents believe businesses or brands are trusted sources of truthful, accurate information for consumers.

This underscores a deep-rooted issue facing communicators today – a lack of trust in the very entities they represent.

Christensen expressed his concern over this lack of trust in brands by communicators themselves - this contradicts what Edelman and others have found.

He questioned whether communicators are disillusioned or perhaps too close to the issue to see its significance.

“However, this presents a huge opportunity,” he said. “We, as communicators, should encourage our colleagues to be more confident and proactive in building trust.”

Christensen also challenged fellow communicators to step up and play a more significant role in building trust, urging them to be more confident and proactive in their approach.

Maguire echoed similar sentiments, highlighting the importance of corporate character and employee advocacy in building trust. She also emphasized the role of employees as brand ambassadors, outside of using owned channels and PR campaigns.

“Companies must empower their workforce with the right tools and messaging to represent the brand effectively,” she said.

Zaccara emphasized the need to differentiate between consumer trust and business trust in the communications landscape. Corporate storytellers must keep this distinction in mind and approach their messaging with a positive outlook.

Additionally, he stressed the significance of leveraging data to understand trust metrics comprehensively. “Communicators should not solely rely on intuition but must delve into data analysis to gain deeper insights,” he said.

In a world where skepticism abounds, building trust and influence is more crucial than ever. And the insights from our recent webinar shed light on the challenges facing communicators today and the strategies for overcoming them.

This was just a snippet of this important discussion. Watch the full webinar on demand!