Trustworthy: How the Smartest Brands Beat Cynicism and Bridge the Trust Gap

by Margot Bloomstein
Page Two Books, March 2, 2021

In today’s economy, marketers need a new strategy to earn trust, act with transparency, and help consumers and citizens make confident decisions. But undermining confidence is cynicism: it erodes trust in the media, government, public institutions, and consumer brands. To regain the trust of consumers and citizens, marketers talk about empathy and authenticity. But how do you get beyond those buzzwords? Give more control to your audience―and they’ll put more trust in you.

It might be a scary proposition, but trading control for confidence fuels a surprising range of high-performing organizations. Airbnb, Zoom, the FBI, TED, the United Kingdom Government Digital Service, The New York Times, America’s Test Kitchen, local election commissions, and other organizations have all embraced strategies of content and design that transform their audiences into empowered decision-makers. Smart organizations teach their audiences to evaluate product options, engage in continuous self-education, and make more informed choices.

Examining what works among these teams of all stripes and sizes, content strategy expert Margot Bloomstein casts a broad net to capture the experiences of copywriters, designers, creative directors, and CMOs―people who work to build trust through imagery, editorial style, storytelling, and retail design.

In an actionable framework focused on voice, volume, and vulnerability, this book will teach you how to employ concrete tactics to help your brand regain trust, respect, and customer loyalty. Lead your organization and audience from cynicism toward something far more productive: hope.

About the Author

Margot BloomsteinMargot Bloomstein is one of the leading voices in the content strategy industry. She’s the author of Content Strategy at Work: Real-World Stories to Strengthen Every Interactive Project and the principal of Appropriate, Inc., a brand and content strategy consultancy based in Boston. For more than twenty years, Bloomstein has led workshops, keynoted conferences, and advised marketing teams around the world. She developed the popular message architecture-driven approach to content strategy and created BrandSort, a tool embraced by consultancies to help their clients clarify their communication goals. Bloomstein shaped the communication of corporate social responsibility at Timberland, crisis response at Harvard University, and cultural tourism in the state of Nevada. Her clients also include the American Montessori Society, Fidelity, Lovehoney, Scholastic, Sallie Mae, Pitney Bowes, and the Rhode Island School of Design. A participant in the inaugural Content Strategy Consortium and featured speaker at SXSW, Margot Bloomstein keynoted World Interaction Design Day, Content Strategy Forum Frankfurt, and OmnichannelX. She advises Women Talk Design, a platform for speakers in design, and teaches in the graduate program at FH Joanneum University in Graz, Austria. She brings her trademark blend of insight and encouragement to guest lecture in business, design, and humanities programs, sparking students to embrace a more thoughtful vision of their role in the broader industry. appropriateinc.com