Authentic Marketing

CHAPTER 9Infuse Trusted Voices in Paid, Owned, and Earned Media

We are a society in search of truth. As noted in Chapter 6, there’s a collapse of trust taking place in the United States, caused in part by a “staggering” lack of faith in government. Additionally, media—search engines and social media—is the least trusted institution globally, reports the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer.¹

Moreover, the rise of fake news leaves society without “a shared base of facts,” creating uncertainty and interfering with productive societal discourse, the report notes. Globally, nearly seven in 10 survey respondents worry about fake news or false information being used as a weapon, and 59% say that it is getting harder to tell whether a piece of news was produced by a respected media organization.²

There is a desperate search for the terra firma of stability and truth. The fourth wave of the trust tsunami, the rise of disinformation, is perhaps the most insidious because it undermines the very essence of rational discourse and decision making. Silence is now deeply dangerous—a tax on truth.³

Richard Edelman

With all of this uncertainty, people are increasingly turning back to experts as sources of trusted, reliable information. Edelman’s barometer showed technical experts, academic experts, journalists, and CEOs have emerged as the voices of authority that are regaining our trust and credibility.⁴

Put Earned Media First in the Paid, Owned, Earned Equation

All of this points to the renewed ...