Who do you trust?

It’s official: The Traitors is back, and once again it has taken over everyone’s social media feed, creating excitement and conversation across the country. Players assess who they believe, based on what the traitors and faithful have to say, how they act and gather evidence to support their theories.

Brands face a similar challenge. Consumers are constantly deciding whether a company feels credible and authentic, gathering evidence such as reviews to help them decide if they should trust your brand. In a world where brands produce more content than ever, trust can be harder to gain and easier to lose.

This is where content has an important role to play. It gives brands an opportunity to show rather than tell audiences why they should be trusted, supplying evidence as if they are sat at the round table.

In a 2025 EdelmanTrust report, 90% of consumers agreed that trust is important to them when buying or using from a brand, emphasising how crucial it is for brands to develop this relationship with their consumers (1). Trust scarcity has been seen to occur between consumers and brands, especially since the growth of Ai. The use of consistency, trust signals and expert proof are highlighted as key points to help decrease trust scarcity and build trust (2).

You can’t simply tell people you’re trustworthy

The two words ‘I’m faithful’ isn’t enough for traitors to be trusted at the round table, and this is no different from when brands say ‘We’re experts’ or ‘We’re trusted’ without providing evidence of this. These claims are easy to make and hard to differentiate. This is where content can assist in supplying the evidence.

Instead of saying that you’re an expert, you should demonstrate this through useful insight, research analysis and opinions that matter to your audience. This supplies evidence to your audience by showcasing your expertise.

Instead of saying your customer-focused, show the experiences and outcomes of real customers. This helps consumers to visualise how your brand could work for them and builds credibility from previous consumers reviews.

Instead of saying you have great people, introduce them. This style of content tends to perform well for brands because it shows transparency and authenticity (3). It allows consumers to put faces to your brand, building a sense of community, creating a relationship and strengthening that trust.

Put real people behind the brand

Having people at the forefront of your brand can help to build credibility, making your organisation appear relatable and human. Brands can use a combination of content types to boost credibility including; event/ behind-the-scenes content, leadership interviews, employee-led content and podcasts. This type of content was said that 92% of B2B buyers trusted employee recommendations more than traditional advertising (4), showing the true impact of people-focused content. This is especially relevant for marketing in the financial services, where expertise is one of the biggest factors brands need to communicate.

Let your customers prove it

Case studies are one of the strongest ways to build trust. Showing the challenge, the client’s situation, what your brand did, the outcome and the customers perspective is a beneficial process to follow. Testimonials and client reviews provide third-party proof, rather than relying on your brand to make the claim. The more authentic these stories appear, the more useful they will be. After reading positive reviews and testimonials it was said that 72% of consumers are more likely to trust a brand (5), showing the sheer impact this can have.

Expertise is something you demonstrate, not announce

Technical expertise can be difficult to communicate without becoming overly dry or complex. Content gives brands a way to demonstrate expertise in accessible ways. In financial and professional services using content such as insights from events, Q&As, podcasts, expert interviews and thought leadership can be great options to execute this. The aim is to make complicated content easier to understand. Does the content teach the audience anything, or is it telling them how knowledge your brand is? Interviews with industry experts are said that consumers will trust a brand 4x more than content promoted by celebrities (6).

Consistency gives people confidence

The traitors have a very distinctive world. You know what you are watching from the setting, language and tone. Brands can build familiarity through consistency and content should feel connected across all platforms including websites, socials, emails, events and employee communications. This doesn’t mean all your content should sound the same, it means your audience should be able to recognise who you are, what you stand for and what you know wherever they encounter you. This is something brandformula’s content has adopted creating consistency across brand, digital and social.

Don’t make everything a sales message

One of the easiest ways to undermine trust is for every piece of content to ultimately say ‘buy from us’. A successful content strategy should give audiences something before asking them for something. Think about content that informs, educates, challenges, answers questions and shares expertise. This is particularly important for complex B2B and financial services brands where the buying journey can be long. Content-led marketing such as newsletters or LinkedIn posts are said to encourage 70% of the buying decision before a potential consumer engages with your brand (7). This shows the influence your content can have on your audience.

Give people enough evidence to make up their own minds

Players in the traitors aren’t handed a definitive answer. They are given clues and evidence to help them decide who they can trust. Strong content can work in the same way for your brand.

Instead of saying ‘we’re the expects’ provide original research, credible data, customer reviews, evidence of results and independent recognition. You can then let the audience reach their decision on their own behalf. This is where content becomes a trust-building tool rather than simply a communications tool.

Give your audience a reason to trust your brand

Building trust takes more than making bold claims. It comes from consistently demonstrating your expertise, putting real people behind your brand and giving audiences credible reasons to believe what you say.

At brandformula, we help brands turn these principles into content and digital experiences that build credibility, strengthen connections and engage the audiences that matter.

Want to build more trust in your brand? Get in touch with the brandformula team to see how we can help.

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