Earned Media, Emotional Marketing, and the Real Work of Building Brand Trust

In a digital world overwhelmed by noise, algorithms, and AI-generated everything, one theme rang loud and clear at this year’s SocialNext: Toronto conference: marketers must earn trust—not just buy attention.

With sessions led by some of the sharpest minds in marketing and communications, SocialNext offered a timely reminder that authenticity, adaptability, and audience empathy aren’t just buzzwords—they’re brand imperatives.

Survival of the Scrappiest in the World of Marketing

The day kicked off with a keynote from Sarah Stockdale, founder of Growclass, whose talk, “Cockroaching it Out,” was equal parts rally cry and reality check.

“Don’t just die,” she said bluntly, describing what it takes for startups and marketers alike to survive 2025. “Be a cockroach—scrappy, adaptable, and impossible to kill.”

But it wasn’t all hustle-culture hype. Stockdale grounded her advice in something deeper: the emotional and often messy human stories that power great businesses.

“Friends are the basic unit of human understanding,” she said, pushing back against the sanitized, hero-centric narratives brands often use to introduce their founders. “No one does anything worth doing alone.”

Her message? If your brand stories omit pain, privilege, or people, they aren’t just incomplete, they might be lies.

This kind of raw storytelling isn’t just more honest – it’s more effective. In a saturated digital landscape, audiences crave real connection, not polished perfection.

Rethinking Earned Media in the Age of Noise

Another standout session came from Lana Rogers, a PR powerhouse known for redefining how brands build visibility. Her talk, “Overcome the Scarcity of Earned Media,” tackled the declining number of journalists (down 30–35% in Canada since 2008) and what it means for brands trying to get seen.

Her solution? A smarter, journalistic approach to storytelling, called the PRAC Method: Public Relations Audience-Centred storytelling.

Here’s how it works:

Craft a great story (through a journalist lens).
Create sub-themes that speak to different audience groups.
Activate the story across multiple platforms.
Pitch to media using the sub-themes to multiply impact.

In Rogers’ words, “A single well-crafted story can outlast ten mediocre ones.” The benefits?

Longer staying power across multiple channels
Time saved through repurposing content
Minimized risk by testing story variations across platforms

But the real takeaway was her gut-check test for any campaign:

“Does this resonate with your audience? What’s the emotion? Is it self-serving?”

In a world of clickbait and content churn, emotional relevance—not volume—is what earns trust.

Living Brands, Not Just Logos

While much of the day focused on storytelling and strategy, Nithya Ramachandran’s session on sponsorships added another layer: activation. Her talk, “Once the Ink Dries,” stressed that partnerships aren’t just about signage – they’re about shared values.

Brands should ask themselves: Once the deal is signed, how are we creating real-world, lived experiences that extend beyond the logo? It’s not just about presence – it’s about presence with purpose.

From EEAT to Emotion

As marketers, we’re often trained to think in terms of EEAT: Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. These are crucial pillars, especially in SEO and content credibility.

But SocialNext reminded us of something even more foundational: emotion. Whether it’s Sarah Stockdale’s reminder that “stories are nothing without people,” or Lana Rogers’ insistence that a bad pitch is just “a story without a heartbeat,” the theme was clear – emotional connection isn’t just part of brand-building, it is brand-building.

Final Thoughts: Marketing with a Human Core

At Foundery, we’ve always believed in putting audience understanding at the centre of everything we do. But SocialNext left us feeling even more convicted: great marketing today isn’t just strategic—it’s deeply human.

Whether we’re helping clients shape content strategies, pitch media stories, or activate partnerships, our job isn’t just to sell—it’s to connect.

Because in a world of fleeting clicks and endless content, earned trust is the only thing that sticks.

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