Trust it marketable because it offers prospects a reason to make a purchasing decision with a relatively low level of fear and/or apprehension. It is a win/win for marketing, advertising and public relations pros and their clients because it provides clients a measure of freedom and confidence in acting, and marketing agencies a nonpareil differentiator.

It can be a win/win only if it proves to be justified and honored by the marketing agency and appreciated by the client. More than a relationship builder, it is the cement that binds repeat advertising and marketing business into a neat package wrapped with enthusiastic and plentiful referrals.

Indeed, trust within the public relations and marketing field is a commodity rarer than one might suppose. And like precious gems, it retains or increases in value while bringing pleasure and a measure of satisfaction to those who dispense it as well as those who “bank it” through a purchase.

Wiki who?

That trust is a rarity was attested to the other day when I, as the only representative of the Phoenix advertising and marketing community, attended a workshop among a group of about 20 sophisticated thought leaders. The question arose as to whom or what entity did we in attendance feel could be described as the “embodiment of a truthful institution.”

While some could name relatives, partners, etc., coming up with a trustworthy institution proved to be infinitely more difficult. Just at the point when brains had been strained to no apparent avail, one answer came forth from a participant.

Was that answer The United States Supreme Court, The Church, The United Nations, The Congress? No, indeed, it was nothing of the sort. The answer (one to which no one challenged) was... are you ready?... Wikipedia! Upon hearing this, silence and bemused expressions soon were replaced with a sense of – dare I say – acceptance of with this answer.

What does this portend?

Wikipedia – ohmygod! Can we not do better than that? Apparently not. For marketers, those traditional, time-honored villains who have inspired such phrases as “buyer beware!,” getting beat up by consumers is nothing particularly new. But this “new reality” of, as it were, non-trust of all institutions, seemed to represent a rampant, across-the-board paucity of consumer belief. For me, it begged the following question:

What if, even, relative truth were to be attributed to a marketer would this be worth? The unimpeachable answer would have to be a lot! This is why we buy from people we tend to like and trust. Which came first – the linking or trusting – is not a matter for the purposes of this discussion, though an interesting thought it may be.

That said, if in this day of Wall Street greed and the widespread recklessness of our most revered financial institutions – not to mention those who govern – we can find someone to trust... what could be a more powerful motivator to make a buying decision?

O.K., Walter Cronkite has passed. But, thankfully, trust did not die with him. It lives on, as it always has, in the form of individuals and companies that keep their word. To marketers, whose reward may not be found in heaven, but here on earth in the form of loyal customers, this is good news.

In the marketplace of ideas, what better general marketing idea could there be than, simply, to tell the truth.