The battle for credibility: Communicating in an age of distrust

If there's one thing that characterises this era of communications, it's abundance. With digital platforms and social media, publishing is instant and nearly costless. With AI, the speed of producing content has multiplied up to 5 times. Yet trust in institutions, businesses, media, and public administration keeps declining. The problem is no longer that organisations communicate too little. The problem is that the public increasingly doubts what it hears due to a glut of content and an endless number of information sources.

Organisations that continue to focus solely on visibility are running into trouble. The era of simply grabbing attention is over. For years, measuring impressions, reach, clicks, and engagement was the way to determine whether your communications were performing well. Were you seen and heard a lot? That meant success. But in a market of AI slop and content gluttony, attention matters less because it doesn’t equate to trust..

So standing out alone is no longer enough. What you need is trust and influence. And that brings a major shift in what counts as an effective communication strategy.

The shift from volume to authenticity

The drive toward authenticity is growing considerably. Three key factors driving it are institutional trust, polarisation, and AI.

Institutional trust

Trust in governments, media, business, and public institutions in the Western world is declining. The public no longer accepts institutional authority at face value. Openness, competence, and accountability are expected, not just more expertise. Moreover, for organizations it matters more than ever to tell a consistent story and act accordingly. (Sources: CBS Continuous Survey of Citizen Perspectives and Eurobarometer)

Polarisation

Social and political issues are increasingly interpreted through the lens of identity rather than facts alone. That doesn't mean organisations should speak out more often on political and social issues, but they should be aware that staying silent is also seen as taking a position. As a result, actions become all the more important. Organisations are judged not only by what they say, but especially by the alignment between their actions and the positions they've taken.

AI as a major information source

The fact that AI provides us with information whenever, wherever, and about whatever we want is a third major factor. But it's not just searching for information that's now within everyone's reach, now the same goes for content creation. This means the information overload that's been building for years has accelerated dramatically. Yet the credibility of content is becoming scarcer. Where the battle used to be over attention, it's now a battle over credibility. Because how do you prove that your content really is authentic?

The path to trust

You gain attention by being newsworthy, communicating quickly, and creating a "surprise effect." Trust is built on entirely different factors. A consistent story matched by consistent actions, predictability, and transparency form the core. That requires a different communication strategy, and a different approach to the media. Instead of stimulating with novelty, you create touchpoints built on recognisable, strong messaging.

The role of the executive

Building trust, moreover, largely rests in the hands of executives. Stakeholders judge companies by their leaders. Employees are driven by trust in leadership, investors consider whether management can deliver on its promises, and customers wonder whether the "sales pitch" actually matches reality. Bringing an authentic and consistent narrative from the executive is crucial to building trust. This can be done, for example, through visibility in the press, podcasts, and on LinkedIn.

Not more content production, so what then?

Success no longer lies in riding the wave of trending topics, in other words: communicating about trends. It's no longer about reacting to every news event that even remotely touches your business. No more bulk content production, and certainly no more measuring success purely by brand awareness, visibility, and clicks. So what should you do instead?

Build consistent narratives. Choose topics that truly touch the heart of your business and are woven into the entire DNA of the organisation, so that words and actions align. Talk about what you believe really matters. Authenticity matters more than ever before. This requires a multi-year plan in which you regularly measure your reputation and market presence. It's not about how often you appear, but about what sentiment surrounds your organisation and which stories the public associates with your brand.

Attention can be bought, visibility created. But trust is earned slowly, constantly challenged, and unfortunately also quickly lost. Trust may well become the most valuable competitive advantage an organisation can possess.