Why Trust Is the Growth Lever Modern Marketing Can’t Ignore

Growth today isn’t limited by awareness, reach, or even technology.
It’s limited by trust.

And in modern marketing — where AI shapes experiences and audiences are increasingly fragmented — trust isn’t a soft metric or brand sentiment score. It’s the growth lever most brands underestimate.

That reality came through clearly in my recent conversation with Benny F. Johnson, CEO of the American Marketing Association. With visibility into marketers at every stage of their careers, Johnson has a unique vantage point on how marketing is evolving — and why trust now determines whether brands grow, stall, or quietly fade.

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Why is trust the most important growth lever in modern marketing?

Trust is the most important growth lever in modern marketing because it reduces friction, accelerates adoption, and determines whether consumers stay engaged or walk away. As AI reshapes experiences and audiences gain more choice, trust becomes the deciding factor between relevance and rejection.

We’ve seen this happen quite often with brands, especially in recent years. Sometimes that shows up as a values breach. When customers were upset that retailer Target rolled back their diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments, they felt like the brand had broken their trust it had been working to build for years.

When American Eagle published its controversial Sydney Sweeney campaign, consumers grew irate, because the message they felt the brand was communicating was in conflict with their values. And that values conflict — was really a violation of their unwritten trust agreement with the brand.

In today’s market, growth doesn’t stall because brands lack reach. It stalls when trust breaks — quietly at first, then all at once.

That’s one of the reasons I advise clients and brand leaders often – to ensure they invest time in establishing and living their brand values — but also to communicate how the brand lives its values on a regular basis. This is one way to reinforce to consumers, that the brand is trustworthy, because it lives what it says is important to them.

Inclusion Has Always Been Core to Marketing Success

One of the most important reframes Johnson shared is that inclusion isn’t a new marketing trend — it’s foundational to marketing effectiveness.

At its core, marketing has always been about:

• Creating new markets
• Expanding relevance
• Connecting innovation to real people

Those outcomes depend on understanding diverse audiences, contexts, and needs. As both the profession and the marketplace become more diverse, inclusion becomes less about ideology and more about execution.

Put simply: brands don’t earn trust by speaking louder — they earn it by understanding better.

“Marketing for Good” Isn’t Separate From Business Results

Too often, marketers are presented with a false choice:
Do what’s good for society or do what’s good for the business.

That framing breaks down quickly in practice.

Marketing’s job is impact — moving audiences, shaping decisions, and creating demand. You can’t deliver sustained social impact without business performance, and you can’t sustain business performance without trust.

When brands separate purpose from performance, they weaken both. The brands that endure understand that doing well enables doing good — and doing good reinforces doing well.

What does “trust in marketing” actually mean?

Trust in marketing refers to a consumer’s confidence that a brand will act transparently, respect their data and identity, and consistently deliver on its promises across channels and experiences. It’s built over time through relevance, reliability, and respect — and it’s lost when brands prioritize efficiency or growth at the expense of people.

In modern marketing, trust isn’t optional. It’s the foundation for loyalty, advocacy, and sustainable growth.

Inclusive Leadership Is Now a Core Marketing Competency

As teams become more global, multigenerational, and culturally complex, leadership itself has to evolve.

Inclusive leadership isn’t passive. It’s active. The most effective marketing leaders today are those who:

• Continuously adapt how they lead
• Create environments where different perspectives inform strategy
• Design collaboration across borders, identities, and lived experiences

From Johnson’s perspective, the leaders who thrive aren’t those with all the answers — they’re the ones who know how to extract insight from difference and turn it into advantage.

AI Raises the Stakes on Trust

Artificial intelligence is reshaping marketing faster than most organizations are prepared for. But the biggest risk isn’t speed or efficiency — it’s erosion of trust.

Many of the ethical questions surrounding AI echo earlier debates around data and privacy:

• Are consumers aware of how their data is used?
• Are systems transparent?
• Are efficiencies benefiting people — or only corporations?

When brands prioritize automation without accountability, trust erodes. And trust rarely announces its exit — it shows up later as churn, backlash, or declining loyalty.

Innovation without trust creates friction. And friction is expensive.

Why Audience Fragmentation Changes Everything

Modern marketers now have unprecedented access to insight and personalization. AI and data make it possible to build highly relevant, culturally specific journeys — but relevance comes with responsibility.

When brands:

• Understand communities deeply
• Respect cultural norms
• Create value instead of extracting attention

They earn trust.

When brands overstep, exploit insight, or treat relevance as a campaign instead of a commitment, backlash is swift — and often disproportionate to the initial misstep.

Fragmentation doesn’t reward shortcuts. It rewards authenticity over time.

Generic Marketing Still Works — But It Won’t Help You Win

General-market approaches can still deliver baseline results. But this is where the distinction between surviving and thriving becomes clear.

Generic marketing may help a brand exist.
Relevant, trust-centered marketing helps a brand lead.

Consumer expectations are set by best-in-class experiences. When personalization, relevance, and cultural fluency become the norm, brands that don’t evolve are judged — not by intent, but by comparison.

How modern brands build trust at scale

Modern brands earn trust not through a single campaign or message, but through systems and behaviors that hold up across time and touchpoints. The brands that do this well tend to focus on:

• Designing inclusive experiences that reflect the real diversity of their audiences
• Using AI and data transparently, with clear boundaries and disclosure
• Maintaining consistency across fragmented channels and communities
• Prioritizing relevance over reach
• Treating trust as something to earn continuously, not claim once

Trust compounds when brands show up the same way — even as the market shifts.

A Brand That Gets Belonging Right

When asked to name a brand that consistently makes people feel like they belong, Johnson pointed to LEGO.

Not because LEGO chases trends, but because it’s anchored in a clear ethos: play is for everyone.

Through community-driven platforms, cultural partnerships, and a willingness to let fans shape the brand itself, LEGO demonstrates what trust looks like in action — consistent, inclusive, and community-led.

Trust Is the Growth Strategy

In modern marketing, trust isn’t a byproduct of success — it’s the condition for it.

As AI accelerates, audiences fragment, and expectations rise, the brands that win won’t be the loudest or fastest. They’ll be the ones that earn relevance, respect, and trust — again and again.

Building trust isn’t about perfection. It’s about transparency, accountability, and the willingness to course-correct when brands fall short.

And in a market defined by choice, that’s what separates brands that grow from those that get left behind.