How to Build Trust in a “Fear Economy”

Consumer trust in brands is at an all-time low, but smart advertisers can boost sales through building trust
The debt ceiling crisis may have been averted for now, but consumers are living in what some call the fear economy. We call it the “eek!-onomy”: a shaky marketplace in which consumers trust brands about as much as they do Congress — even those brands that they deal with on a regular basis.
A Gallup/Better Business Bureau poll from a few years ago showed that Americans had lost trust in 13 of the 15 industries in the poll. (Least trusted: auto dealers and real estate agents.) Half the people surveyed said they had “some,” “very little,” or “no trust at all” in companies they do business with regularly.
And Edelman’s 2011 Trust Barometer shows the cooling trend continuing: Only 46 percent of consumers now say they “trust business to do what is right,” down from […]

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