Design for Trust: Find Strength in Vulnerability, Voice, and Volume

How do you earn the trust of your customers, readers, and fans when facts are out—and what “feels right” wins? Mass media and our most cynical memes say we live in a post-fact era. That idea undermines any marketing that promotes ideas, products, services, or politician… and it tracks with trends in social media: our customers turned away from experts and big brands to let “people like us” influence choices instead. But we’re popping those filter bubbles. Now consumers turn inward for the truth—and by embracing vulnerability and designing for empowerment, the smartest organizations meet them there.

Drawing on lessons from America’s Test Kitchen, Crutchfield, GOV.UK, and Volkswagen, we’ll discover tactics of content strategy and design to foster trust, build rapport, and increase loyalty:

•Uncover how to address cultural predisposition in public health, cause marketing, and socioeconomics
•Lean into vulnerability by learning to “prototype in public”
•Discover how voice allows companies to evolve without alienating an established base
•Learn how to shift between longform vs. bullets to determine “enough” content to do the job