Why Nobody Trusts Your Brand (And How To Fix)

Summary

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Sweat Equity – Why Nobody Trusts Your Brand (And How To Fix)

Podcast: Sweat Equity
Hosts: Alex Garcia & Brian Blum, (Marketing Examined)
Episode Date: September 2, 2025

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Brief Overview

In this episode, Alex Garcia explores why trust in advertising and brands has hit a record low—and, crucially, actionable ways your brand can rebuild that trust through content marketing. Going beyond theory, Alex breaks down the three most effective approaches—building in public, leveraging social proof, and demonstrating subject matter expertise. Real, successful brands are highlighted for each strategy, with practical ideas to implement in your own business.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Brand Trust is at All-Time Lows

• Traditional advertising is increasingly ignored or mistrusted.
• Building trust must move beyond classic promotions: “It's essentially impossible to grow a business without [trust].” (00:00)
• The scariest—but most powerful—tool is content creation. Many brands miss this opportunity because it feels uncomfortable or unfamiliar.

2. Three Core Ways to Build Trust Through Content

Alex details each method with critiques and real brand examples.

A. Build in Public

• Definition: Openly share your journey, mistakes, upgrades, and milestones—not just the highlights.
• Example: Glizzy Street Dog
  • Two teens start a bacon-wrapped hot dog stand, document everything on TikTok and Instagram.
  • Their journey covers context (“summer hot dog business”), conflict (“what if no customers come?”), and resolution (“sold over 20 hot dogs”).
  • This transparency and “wholesome” storytelling makes viewers want to support them.
  • Notable Quote:
    • “They're just being themselves... people are very in demand for transparency instead of being polished.” (05:14)
  • Content Tactics:
    • Launch video, milestone updates, upgrade announcements (new cart, canopy, mist fan, payment methods, new menu items).
    • Let readers feel part of the journey; celebrate small upgrades and shout out helpers/supporters on the way.

B. Create Social Proof

• Definition: Show real people authentically enjoying and responding to your product—live, unfiltered, and unforced.
• Example: Elijah’s Hot Sauce
  • Uses street interviews and “taste tests” to capture genuine reactions.
  • Headline overlays are essential for engagement (for silent viewers).
  • Viewers notice: “Didn’t force a sale at all. Let’s his product do all the talking.”
  • Notable Quote:
    • “You can't do that... running meta ads... You cannot build that trust... just putting it in front of people in a paid way.” (10:00)
  • Other brand mentioned for this tactic—Dr. Malaxin—uses hundreds of real TikTok videos showing people use their “peel little lotion,” addressing buyer skepticism through demonstration.
  • Takeaway: Get into your community. Record frequent, real-world interactions with your product instead of just relying on paid ads.

C. Demonstrate Subject Matter Expertise

• Definition: Prove your credentials by answering questions, showing behind-the-scenes actions, and sharing genuinely helpful expertise—not just making claims.
• Example: Bearded Butchers
  • Sell seasoning by making deeply engaging and educational butcher content (e.g., “cutting a Wagyu section”).
  • Mixes titles, ASMR content, and visually intriguing actions to hook and educate viewers.
  • No Meta ads running—their organic content drives 120,000+ visits a month.
  • Notable Quote:
    • “[Trust] is about believing what someone is saying. It's kind of that simple. So how do you prove it? Well, you don't say ‘I'm the best butcher in the world’...” (12:20)
  • Practical Tip:
    • Use interesting hooks (“What does your shorts inseam say about you?”) and stimulating visuals to answer real customer questions, building authority and trust over time.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• Setting the Scene:

  • “Trust in advertising has hit an all time low, but it's essentially impossible to grow a business without it.” (00:00, Host)

• On Building In Public:

  • “They’re just being themselves, and it’s a leg out that they’re young and doing business stuff. By being genuine, you’re going to build that familiarity. People don’t want polished things. They want to see real authentic.” (05:14, Host)

• On Social Proof:

  • “Can’t do that—you know, running meta ads… You cannot build that trust in your product just putting it in front of people in a paid way.” (10:00, Host)

• Elijah’s Customer Interaction:

  • “Anyone else satisfied with how nice the advertiser is?... Did a great conversation, didn’t force a sale at all. Let’s his product do all the talking.” (10:16, referenced viewer comments)

• On Demonstrating Expertise:

  • “Trust is about believing what someone is saying. It’s kind of that simple. So how do you prove it? Well, you don’t say, ‘I’m the best butcher in the world.’” (12:20, Host)

• On the Bigger Picture:

  • “Every brand is now able to run static image ads at scale… [customers] are going to want to drift towards things that are real, that are transparent, that are not polished, and most importantly, that they trust.” (18:23, Host)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00 – Introduction: Trust Crisis & Content Opportunity
• 01:50 – Build in Public: Glizzy Street Dog, Storytelling Tactics
• 04:00 – Milestone Content: Updates, Community Engagement
• 06:36 – The Value of Genuine, Unpolished Content
• 07:20 – Social Proof: Elijah’s Hot Sauce, Capturing Authentic Reactions
• 10:00 – Headline Usage: Tools for Video Engagement
• 11:22 – Community Activation: Real Product Interactions
• 12:20 – Subject Matter Expertise: Bearded Butchers & Educational Hooks
• 14:00 – ASMR & Visual Elements to Demonstrate Expertise
• 18:00 – Recap: Three Pillars of Content-Based Trust
• 18:23 – The AI Content Onslaught & Imperative for Authenticity

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Takeaways & Actionable Ideas

• Don’t Overthink Authenticity: Document even mundane milestones—they’re trust-building moments.
• Capture Real Interactions: Get out into the real world; let customers demo and react to your products on camera.
• Educate, Don’t Just Claim: Become the most helpful/knowledgeable resource in your niche—content is the proof of your expertise.
• Leverage Visual Hooks: Use strong titles/headlines and arresting visuals, especially for video.
• Stay Human Amidst AI: As more brands automate and polish content, realness and transparency will become increasingly valuable and (paradoxically) rare.

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“People are craving real world stuff because a lot of the rest of media is coming across very stale, extract.” (11:00, Host)

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For further questions or episode ideas, Alex encourages comments and feedback from real listeners, teasing upcoming guest appearances and a return to the studio soon. Catch the next Sweat Equity episode for more creative marketing breakdowns and actionable strategies.

Transcript

[Host/Presenter]

Trust in advertising has hit an all time low, but it's essentially impossible to grow a business without it. Now, the scariest part of building trust in your brand is that it involves doing something super uncomfortable for most people, creating content. And if you don't do that, you're missing out on the best opportunity in history to get eyeballs on your business. In today's video, we're going to break down how to build trust through content for your brand. There are three core ways to do this. One is build in public. Two, create social proof. Three, demonstrate subject matter expertise. I've got a great example account for each one, so let's dive in. Now real quick, if you're an audio listener, I highly recommend you go over to YouTube and watch this one on video. It's going to be very visual. I'm going to walk through all of these different examples and subscribe while you're at it, because we're making a lot of good stuff on there. All right, let's get into the video. So the first account that I wanted to go through is called Glizzy Street Dog. And these guys are legendary, right? I mean, it's, it's two kids that, you know, decided to start a hot dog stand. And generally speaking, that's not a inherently viral niche. It's not a product that shows a transformation. It's not really a problem solution narrative at all. Right, so how are they going to build trust and get, you know, eyeballs on their brand? Well, they chose to take the content route. They started making TikToks, they started making Instagram reels. So I want to go through this first video, which was their launch video, and just kind of walk through these three different videos because in succession, they are the perfect example of building in public. And it's crazy. These guys are, you know, they got to be in their teens. I'm not sure the exact age, but the storytelling principles that they use are incredibly valuable. So let's go on to video number one. So right off the bat, right, what he did is he set the, the context of what they're doing. You know, like this summer we decided to start a hot dog business. We saved up some money and, you know, initially it sounds all good, right? But then he introduces a conflict. So this is that, you know, conflict setup framework that we've talked about before in storytelling, where it's conflict resolution, conflict resolution. Like basically everything is this dance of going from context to conflict to pay off, right? So it's like, here's the context, you know, me and my twin brothers started a bacon wrapped hot dog business. On our summer break, we saved up $400. So now you're kind of bought in, you've got the context. But then next is the conflict. At first we were worried that, you know, no one was going to come, right? There were no customers and so we weren't going to sell any hot dogs. And then the resolution, right, is hot.

[Glizzy Street Dog Representative]

Dogs, the 2, the 5, 10 and at the end of the day, win of some over 20 Honda's. Which is pretty good in my opinion.

[Host/Presenter]

I mean, first of all, it's the most wholesome thing I've ever seen. These guys are legends. But think about how much this allows you to build familiarity. You know, I mean this at, at a certain point, because they're creating this content, people are going to show up to interact with them. They're so genuine that you know, they want, they're inviting support and any, any brand really has this opportunity. I, I mean truthfully, like, if you have a reason for starting your thing, whether that's, you know, supplement business, you're, you're in the electrolyte game and you know, you've decided to, you know, fix hydration for everybody or you know, if you're starting a, a protein snack, right, like you wanted to, you know, change your body composition, like weight loss supplement, no matter what it is, introduce the conflict or introduce the context, then introduce a conflict and then show the transformation. Show that payoff after the conflict. So that's one way to build in public. This is obviously their launch video and I mean keep in mind, nine weeks ago, like these guys are going mega viral, right? This is a proven storytelling framework. Um, and then I, I love this because they, they show the journey. So we'll, you know, we'll watch this one real quick. But I want to, this is like building in public 101, right?

[Glizzy Street Dog Representative]

We read all the comments and we agree the lines were getting pretty long. So with the help of you guys, we got two cards, one for vegetables and one for our dogs. This way it should be more efficient. And thank you so much for all the positive comments and we'll keep you guys updated on Glizzy street.

[Host/Presenter]

You know, just documenting the progress, taking people alongside with the journey. I would call this a milestone based piece of content. You know, documenting those milestones, showing like, hey, we're invested in this. Like we're trying to, you know, actively improve our offering. You know, our friends over at Midday Squares have done an amazing job with this. They're always expanding their production Capacity to meet up with demand. You guys keep selling us out, you know, so we had to add a new line at the manufacturing facility just for this, right. We had to create a new mold on the machine. We had to add new, you know, lines for packaging. Like milestone based content is an absolute hack when you're building in public because you might think it's mundane as a business owner, but in actuality it's a reason for people to buy in and watch what you're talking about. And again, you know, they do this one as well. I mean it's, it's, it just makes you want to root for them. And this is, you know, these guys aren't performing characters necessarily, right. They're just being themselves and, and it's a leg out that they're young and they're doing business stuff. But at the same time, I think, you know, by being genuine, right, you're going to build that familiarity. Like people don't want polished things. They want to see real authentic. You know, the word authentic is like a brand new adjective really. Like for the longest time people weren't even being authentic. There was no such thing as being authentic because there wasn't inauthenticity, you know, without social media. And so, you know, it's, people are very in demand for transparency instead of being polished. And these guys are a perfect example.

[Glizzy Street Dog Representative]

We made some new upgrades. We finally got a canopy. It's blue, it goes with the brand very well. So, so that's pretty cool. We also, personally, my favorite thing we added is this right here, the mist fan. We got this from Home Depot, from Richard and Daryl. Thank you so much for hooking us up for free. We also have this right here. It's square. Shout out to square. This takes card payments and also leaves tips. And we also got this hat right here from King Cap. Thank you so much for hooking us up for free as well. We also got this right here. You guys been asking for this for a long time. We have drinks, we have Kool Aid, lemonade and also strawberry agafresca pairing right now. So that's very cool as well. That's all for the updates for now. We're getting a third car very soon, so look out for that. We'll see you guys in the next one. Peace.

Thank you so much.

[Host/Presenter]

It couldn't be more basic, couldn't be more straightforward. They're just telling you what their upgrades are, shouting out these people that helped them along the way, providing an opportunity for everyone to be super genuine and supportive. So you know, this is a great brand to study for building in public. I mean, shout out to these young dudes, you know, doing an amazing job. Um, but a lot to kind of break down there, a lot to understand. Like, okay, milestone based content, launch based content, like upgrade content. Like all of these different little things that you're introducing into your brand and your journey as a founder. Opportunities to, you know, build a relationship with people, build trust in what you're doing. You know, everyone will probably trust you more if you're saying, like, we just made an upgrade to this, right? Like, we just, you know, think about it. If you're a stick pack manufacturer or if you, you know, have like a container, right, of anything powder related, it's like, you know, we heard your concerns, it's hard to open. So, you know, we went to our manufacturer, you know, Jack, and said, hey, Jack, like, we need to fix this line and our customers need it, right? Like, that is just, it's an opportunity to get in front of your people that, you know, are following the brand and care about it. So great job of these guys. Let's move on to the next one, which is creating social proof. I think this Elijah's hot sauce company does an absolutely incredible job of getting in the wild and documenting real life, you know, experiences with his product. His product is a hot sauce, obviously. And he's not like the, you know, hot ones guy. Like, he doesn't have that type of, you know, content engine, but he is very good at, you know, TikTok. And I just want to watch this video because it's a great example of like, he's got the meta glasses on and he's not. This is totally unscripted, you know, but he understands his products. Intrigue is related to how hot it is, the taste. Like, you kind of have to identify, like, okay, what are those things that people are interested in my product for? You know, if you're selling a weight loss supplement, then people are obviously interested in like, does it work? What is the timeline of it works? What are some of the side effects? And so when you're thinking about, well, what kind of content would I want to make? It would be stuff where people are able to, you know, kind of address those objections live, like on the spot, right? Same with any energy supplement. Same with anything, you know, like a, a cookware thing, anything, right? You want people, you want your content to inherently answer a lot of the questions people are going to have about your product. So let's watch this video and it's, you know, really, really great in terms of. And some of the comments as well will kind of show what I'm talking about.

[Elijah from Elijah's Hot Sauce]

If you like the Ghost, you might.

[Host/Presenter]

Love the Rick Rabbit, maybe. Crucial thing that so many people miss. Do not be one of these people. Use that. Use a headline in your video. I mean, imagine if we're watching this thing with no, no audio, right? So we don't know any of the context. And I could read this and I know immediately what it's going to be, you know, And I would say this is like one of the craziest things that we see over and over and over again, even with longtime listeners of the pod. It's like, hey, I just made a video. Why didn't it work? Use a headline. You know, frame the video, use the headline, and I promise you it'll improve your retention rates.

[Elijah from Elijah's Hot Sauce]

Tap that. Absolutely. Yeah. All right.

[Host/Presenter]

This is regret reserve taste test.

[Elijah from Elijah's Hot Sauce]

Regret reserve hottest hot sauce. Our extreme regret wasn't hot enough for our customers, so they said, can you make it hotter?

[Host/Presenter]

Oh, boy, did we make it hotter.

[Elijah from Elijah's Hot Sauce]

And here we go.

[Host/Presenter]

Yeah, that looks like, like death. Wait till you taste it.

[Elijah from Elijah's Hot Sauce]

70% peppers. Carolina Reaper, Trinidad.

[Host/Presenter]

What do we talk about on the last one? Familiarity. Ability to breed trust, right? Look at this comment. Anyone else satisfied with how nice the advertiser is? Like, you know, dude, take like all these comments. Um, great conversation. Didn't force a sale at all. Let's his product do all the talking. Can't do that. You know, running meta ads, right? Like, you cannot build that trust in your product. Just putting it in front of people in a paid way. So this is, this is creating social proof. He's, he's going into communities, he's filming interactions with his products. You know, this is why the street interview format has taken off so well, because you really, you know, people are craving, like just real, real life activity. Look at the success of all these dating shows and, and, you know, just drama around relationships, right? Like, people are craving real world stuff because a lot of the rest of, you know, media is, is coming across very stale extract.

[Elijah from Elijah's Hot Sauce]

I think the ghost is the good every day. You got it. And I want you to take this one with you, too. That one's on me.

[Glizzy Street Dog Representative]

Okay.

[Elijah from Elijah's Hot Sauce]

Thank you. You're welcome.

[Host/Presenter]

It was hot.

[Elijah from Elijah's Hot Sauce]

Yeah, it was doable. I think, I think you'll like both of them a lot. And when you're feeling a little extra fiery, you try the regret.

[Host/Presenter]

I mean, you can't fake that, you know, that is exactly why you want to get in there and get in your community, create social proof. You know, that. That face right there on a video with 250,000 likes, you know, countless amounts of hot sauce being sold right then and there, right? So, yeah, I mean, look, social proof is. Is like impossible to fake at this point. Like, people have their radar on and they're constantly looking to poke holes in what you're talking about. So how do you mitigate that? Well, I think it's pretty obvious that you want to, you know, go into your community and film all sorts of different interactive content with people trying your stuff. You know, a lot of products are not necessarily easy to immediate taste and see and feel. But, you know, I just did a. A pretty long Twitter thread on this beauty company called Dr. Malaxin on TikTok. And you know, they are just demonstrating social proof over and over and over again. It's. It's a peel little lotion, right? You put it on your face or wherever and it takes blackheads off. And so, you know, the social proof of 20,000 people on TikTok shop saying, you know, look at this, right? Like, I'm going to demonstrate for you how this takes blackheads off of me can apply to pretty much anything. But think about, like, where is a. Where's an environment where I can take my product and the content will inherently answer a lot of the questions that I'm getting about the effectiveness of it. You know, I think of even an apparel company, right? Like, how could you do this? Well, like, you know, would you wear these pants if you're building a running apparel, athletic apparel company, like, going to the gym, right? And think about, like, all right, let me ask someone who's powerlifting, like, do you think these shorts will rip if you go too low? There's a million different ways to incorporate this, but try and activate real people in person. And it, it. There's no substitute for it. So Elijah does this over and over and over again. It's like, you know, kind of his primary content format. He also does a lot of order packing as well. He takes you behind the scenes. You know, this guy is an excellent person to follow. Come see us tomorrow at the Charlotte farmers market. Pumping 112,000 views on come see us at the Charlotte Market. It's really no substitute for the ability to do that. You know, you could run ads for a week and say, hey, we're going to be at the, you know, Charlotte farmer's market. But ultimately, like, there's not a lot of trust there. So great example of how to create social proof. And this Next one is the bearded butchers. So I think these guys do a amazing job of, you know, basically creating subject matter expertise and creating trust through that. So ultimately, like, trust is about believing what someone is saying. Is that kind of that simple? So how do you prove it? Well, you don't say, I'm the best butcher in the world, right? You don't say, like, I, I know. See, you don't. In these guys case, I'll show you the product that they're selling. It's actually really interesting. It's seasoning. You know, they, they elevate the meat experience with seasoning. You know, they have like, that's their primary thing is they're, they're selling, you know, meat additives or meat accessories. And so what is their account all about? Well, it's basically a proof point of saying, like, hey, we are like religiously dedicated to meat. Like, all we care about is meat. And it's not just showing like, oh, you know, we're butchers. It's like, what is a pecaniary here? I have no idea. It's called, you know, Tell me. I might have seen it on a menu at some point. I might have seen, you know, might. Might have heard about it from a friend, but ultimately I'm not sure. So, like, it's answering a common question and positioning themselves as a subject matter expert on. Neat. So again, what is the hook on this video? Right, because this is super important to understand. There are some key visual elements in here that I want us all to pay attention to. Number one is in action. So he is. Got this big slab of meat and he's moving it to the cutting board that then goes hand in hand with the title of the video, Cutting a Wagyu section. It's a crazy visual. It's really intriguing. It's. It really, you know, kind of sets the stage for like, what you're about to do. Like, the expectation in the customer's head is like, he's about to cut this. Right? That's probably going to be visually, visually stimulating as well. So, you know, when you're, when you're doing stuff, and we've talked about underbrush gum in this podcast before, and he is probably one of the best examples of this where he just is always like, tinkering with things and like using ASMR to basically hook the viewer with his, his first three seconds. And, and I think more people kind of need to like, lock in on that because if you put a title and a stimulating visual with, you know, something that's decently packaged for a lot of people to be able to view. I actually think that's, I'm pretty confident in that working almost every time. So, like, just think about what is a really ASMR esque, stimulating visual. Pair it with an action, add a title that sets the expectation for what the video is about to be about. And you know, as long as you're answering questions or, you know, demonstrating subject matter expertise and that's a good piece of content, you know, that's, that's something that people are going to pay attention to. Let's go back to the apparel example. You know, measuring, measuring the inseam of, you know, my new trousers or, you know, is what, what is your, what does your inseam say about. What does your shorts inseam say about you? Right. Well, in the 1940s, you know, this guy as shorts were shorter because of XYZ, but then in the 70s and now you're kind of like demonstrating subject matter expertise. You know, you're showing your knowledge, your thought leadership and you're building authority over time. And it works for these guys, you know, I mean, they've got a thriving seasoning business. I mean, I'm sure they're butchers, you know, on and locally, but that's obviously not something you want to. It's a nightmare logistically to scale. So, you know, quick peek at their traffic, it's like, you know, we're seeing around 120,000, you know, visits a month. I look these guys up, they don't have a single ad running in their meta ad library. So they're always just reacting. You know, they're relying on purely organic content to drive traffic. And it's obviously working. Over 120,000 visits a month, all from organic content, all from building trust around their subject matter expertise. All right, so to recap, the three ways that you can build trust through content is number one, you build in public. Number two, you create social proof, and number three, you demonstrate subject matter expertise. These are only ways to mitigate what is coming, which is an AI onslaught of creative. Every brand is now able to run static image ads at scale without really putting much investment into it. So just think about what that means for the consumer. They're going to want to drift towards things that are real, that are transparent, that are not polished, and most importantly, that they trust. So hopefully you enjoyed this video. Leave a comment, let us know anything that we miss. Anything you'd like me to expand on? I'll do my best to answer for the real sweat equity listeners out there if you're still here. We will be back in studio starting next week. Alex and I are finally done with all of this travel crazy summer. We got some really fun announcements coming up, a lot of guest episodes. So thanks for hanging with us all summer. Definitely. Drop a, like, drop a comment if you enjoyed this video, and we'll catch you next week. All right, peace.