A new study by Fishburn Hedges and Jigsaw Research reveals that almost two-thirds of the public believes brands say one thing through their marketing and communications, but in reality do another. Quoting PR Week, “64% of the public did not believe that companies' marketing and comms were backed up by the way they behaved and interacted with customers.” Interestingly, only 15% of people would trust a company again after a crisis if a senior executive had offered an apology or an explanation. What’s more, 52% do not believe corporate stories if they are only transmitted via advertising or communications; 20% even said they didn’t believe brand stories at all. Ouch!

Surprised? I am not.

As I highlighted in my recent blog post with 44 social media and sustainability facts and figures, ordinary people simply don’t trust traditional company communications and messages and have a lot less faith in corporate figures, even CEOs.

But what can brands do to change this?

In my opinion, there really is only one thing organisations can do to make people trust them – walking the talk because actions speak louder than words. And how do they do that? With full transparency.

I am not talking about revealing company secrets; I am talking about developing a genuine dialogue with the public that is open, honest, frequent, authentic and most importantly two-way. Why? Because brands can no longer hide behind closed doors; today’s savvier consumer can see through corporate stories and easily discover what’s true. Social media for one has made this process a lot easier. People have so gained enormous influence and power and are the ones who control the conversation. What brands can do is to participate in it in a way that is engaging and that is aimed to be useful, interesting, relevant, fun etc. for the audience, i.e. it is not based on what the company is supposed to or wants to communicate, but on what the public wants to hear, and is also backed up by real corporate activities and behaviour.

As Brian Solis says, transparency in itself is genuine value proposition. Thereby companies can not only gain trust in the hearts and minds of stakeholders, but can also develop a long-lasting and loyal relationship with them that is based on collaboration and mutual desire to help each other. In other words: the perfect symbiotic relationship that creates value for both sides.

Do you trust what you are being told?