Marketing Matters: Trust as a Competitive Advantage

Originally pubished in the August 2026 edition of Business North

Marketing strategy assumes one thing: that people believe you. This is the reason third-party endorsements carried weight, until we stopped trusting them, too.

We live in an era where consumers are bombarded by advertising, AI-generated content, fake reviews, exaggerated claims, phishing expeditions and endless noise. As a result, skepticism is everywhere, with trust increasingly scarce. 

For local businesses, I believe building trust can be your competitive edge. Being trust-worthy is more valuable than ever.  

Reputations Matter
A business reputation compounds like interest in a savings account. Early efforts—delivering quality, honest communication, and exceptional service—create initial trust. Satisfied customers then become advocates, sharing positive experiences through reviews, referrals, and word-of-mouth. 

When I was at AMSOIL we kept track of the sources for every lead. We also tracked conversion rates for those leads. Leads that came from “word of mouth” continually exceeded the rest in becoming customers.  

It’s not astrophysics. Each positive interaction multiplies reach: one happy client or customer tells five others who arrive pre-sold with higher conversion rates and loyalty. Over the years, new customer acquisition costs drop, pricing power grows, and resilience to setbacks increases. What begins as modest goodwill evolves into a powerful, self-sustaining asset that drives sustainable growth. Consistency is the interest rate—small daily deposits yield exponential returns.

(By consistency I mean quality customer engagement. Not all employees are upbeat or capable of being warm and engaging. They may be excellent in other areas and an invaluable asset there, but people who smile easily and exude warmth are want you want on the front lines. MOO)

To reiterate, every customer interaction is marketing because it shapes perception, builds (or erodes) trust, and influences future behavior. Whether it’s a sales call, support chat, delivery, or follow-up email, each touchpoint tells a story about your brand’s values, reliability, and care. 

 

Positive experiences create advocates who refer others and leave glowing reviews. Negative experiences spread quickly and can damage your reputation. Examples abound. In today’s world, customers are the most powerful marketers. 

 

Soft Skills
How do we achieve this? I would suggest that it begins with business owners and management choosing to value and develop what is now called “soft skills.” Corporations hire consultants to cultivate them. Books and seminars promise to improve our emotional intelligence, communication, and ability to work with others. 

Yet not that long ago these weren't considered specialized skills; they were simply part of growing up. Children learned to listen, cooperate, and respect others through everyday life with family, friends, classmates, and neighbors. Today, the very qualities businesses prize most—listening, empathy, integrity, and basic friendliness—are the foundation of trust.

Today, many of these "soft skills" have become "power skills" because they have grown increasingly rare. Yet in business they are more important than ever. Customers want to know they are being heard, not merely being processed. They want to feel understood, not managed. They want to do business with people who look them in the eye, keep their promises, and genuinely care about solving their problems.

This is one of the advantages local small businesses have over the Amazons of this world. 

Getting a New Business Off the Ground

One of big mistakes I’ve seen several new businesses make is the failure to preserve enough start-up resources for marketing. Potential customers need to know you exist and you need to let them know who you are, where you are and why it matters to them. This takes an investment of time, effort and start-up capital. Keep in mind, however, that once you attract consumers to your door, you get only once chance to make a first impression.

Starting a new business can be compared to turning a large concrete wheel with nothing more than a short handle. You lean into it with all your strength, yet the wheel hardly budges. With enough effort, the wheel begins to turn. As the wheel gains momentum, each push becomes more productive than the last. Eventually, the wheel’s momentum begins to work in your favor. This is what your reputation will do for you.

Practical Tips for Small Businesses
Consistency is like the interest on your investment. Showing up the same way every single time compounds the value of your reputation.

Amplify it. Actively ask for reviews, showcase testimonials, tell customer success stories. I enjoy giving good reviews, but I don’t always think of it till I’m asked. Ask and you will likely receive. 

Protect it. Handle complaints publicly and generously—turning negatives into positives can accelerate trust.

A Real-World Example
There are any number of local businesses that are already modeling this principle. When Tom Hanson opened the Duluth Grill in the Lincoln Park neighborhood in 2001, and his farm-to-table offerings, friendly atmosphere and reputation for first-rate food and service made it a “place to go” in the eatery space. The reputation he built paved the way for the launches of OMC, Cork Town and other creative eating ventures. Even when one of these faltered, his quick response actually strengthened his cred.

We have many such examples in the Twin Ports. I’d start listing a few here but would feel guilty leaving others out. 

   

A Word About Pricing
At some point in my career I heard the saying, “Price attracts attention, trust earns the sale.” It’s catchy and could make a nice closer for this column, except I myself don’t entirely buy it. 

The matter of trust also applies to pricing, one of the Four P’s of marketing. Not every customer bases his or her buying decisions on price. In fact, when prices are too low we often get a niggling fear that there’s a catch here that we’re missing.

Last Thought

In marketing terms, trust isn’t just “nice to have”—it’s a defensible moat that gets stronger and more valuable every year. For small businesses without massive marketing budgets, it’s often the ultimate competitive advantage.

 

A Brief Introduction to Portugal's Most Celebrated Poet, Fernando Pessoa

Around 15 years ago I was introduced to the writings of the Fernando Pessoa, Portugal’s most celebrated modern poet and one of the 20th century’s greatest literary innovators. Born in Lisbon in 1888, he spent part of his childhood in South Africa after his father’s death, returning to Portugal as a teenager. A reserved, meticulous man who worked as a commercial translator, Pessoa lived a quiet existence while producing an extraordinary body of work.

His genius lay in the creation of heteronyms—fully developed fictional authors with distinct biographies, styles, and philosophies. The principal ones include Alberto Caeiro, a nature-loving pastoral poet; Ricardo Reis, a classical, stoic epicurean; and Álvaro de Campos, a futuristic, Whitmanesque modernist. 

Pessoa also wrote under his own name and as Bernardo Soares, the restless semi-heteronym of The Book of Disquiet, a fragmentary masterpiece of introspection and existential unease.

Published mostly posthumously (having died in 1935), his writings explore identity, the multiplicity of the self, and the nature of reality. Today Pessoa is revered as a cornerstone of modernist literature, his influence stretching far beyond Portuguese borders.

In addition to being a poet he was a prolific writer, literary critic, translator, and significant literary figure. Harold Bloom, author of Closing of the American Mind, referred to him as "the most representative poet of the 20th century," along with Pablo Neruda. He was trilingual in Portuguese, English, and French.

Here are two of Pessoa's poems extracted from a blog entitled Poems of Fernando Pessoa.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

This great wavering between
Believing and not quite dis-
Believing troubles the heart
Weary of knowing nothing.

Estranged from what it knows
For not knowing what it is,
The heart only has one vital
Moment, the finding of faith --

The faith that all the stars
Know, for it is the spider
Whose web they weave, and it is
The life before everything.


Sunday, December 26, 2010

I devote my higher mind to the ardent
Pursuit of the summit, leaving
Verse to chance and its laws,
For when the thought is lofty and noble,
The sentence will naturally seek it,
And rhythm slavishly serve it.

Sources: britannica.com and poets.org

John Stossel Says The Climate Apocalypse Is Bunk. I Agree.

As I have noted on numerous occasions, the public would be better served if they listened to more contrarians. One of my favorites is John Stossel. This week I watched his latest video You Don’t Understand the Environment: Lies about Greenhouse Gases, Polar Bears, Recycling, and More and wish everyone would watch or listen to it. You have my permission to quibble with a few details, but check out the facts first. Stop listening to the nonsense designed to keep you in a state of fear.

Stossel's guest in this half hour program is Research Fellow Linnea Lueken of The Heartland Institute. She is a Senior Fellow with the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy.

Global Warming and Climate Change Myths

Stossel opens by challenging popular alarmist claims, moving from "global warming" to "global boiling." He asserts that many scientists do not agree with the apocalyptic predictions made by activists and the media.

1. Melting Ice Caps

The arctic will be ice-free, oh no! Stossel disputes claims that Arctic ice is melting at a catastrophic rate and that the Arctic could be ice-free in summers by 2030 and sea levels will rise more than 20 feet. 

Stossel points out that while some melting has occurred, the trend has stabilized over the past 20 years and that predictions made in past decades have not come to fruition. Sea level rise is acknowledged but is described as occurring too slowly to prevent adaptation, debunking predictions that it will imminently flood cities. For over thirty years the Greens have been warning that coast cities will be underwater in ten years. Millions will be displaced. Malaria will kill even more. 

I'm reminded here of Michael Crichton's State of Fear, which argues that the threat of global warming is heavily exaggerated, driven by alarmist media, political agendas, and vested financial interests. The novel’s central message is a warning against "politicized science"—the dangerous intermixing of scientific data with politics, propaganda, and fear-mongering.

In 2009 Al Gore stated, "There is a 75% chance that the entire north polar ice cap during some of the summer months could be completely ice-free within the next five to seven years." How do these people still have any credibility?

2. Polar Bears and Mass Extinction:

The next myth Stossel challenges is the polar bear crisis. Contrary to claims of polar bear extinction, Lueken points out the reality is that polar bear numbers have increased by more than 50%. I know it's old-fashioned and unfair to use facts in such a controversial issue, but what the hey. When environmental groups use misleading information to solicit donations, someone has to point out the truth.

3. Massive Global Food Shortage

He next refutes the idea that climate change has led to a global food shortage. Lueken smiles and says, "There is o claim less true." In point of fact, there has been an increase in agricultural outputs, attributed in part to higher CO2 levels aiding plant growth and technological advances.

4. Droughts 

We have had a lot of wildfires this year, but claims that droughts and wildfires are increasing are easily disputed by pointing to historical data showing that drought conditions were worse in the 1930s, and that current wildfire incidences are more linked to land management and urban sprawl rather than climate change.  The EPA has itself acknowledged that the last 50 years has been wetter than average.

5. Wildfires

Yes there has been a modest uptick in wildfires since the early 1980s, but that was the lowest period of wildfires in U.S. history Lueken points out. The data from 50 years earlier shows that more than twice as much land area burned. And we should know. Here in the Northland we should know. The 1918 fires wiped out 35 towns and communities. Was that the same year as the Hinckley fire? 

6. Rising Seas

Oh please. Climate alarmists predicted in the 1990s that major European cities would be underwater by 202o. I'm rolling my eyes.

6. Coral Reefs

How many times have you heard that the Great Barrier Reef is dying and will become extinct? I have heard this assertion numerous times over the years. It's convenient that none of us live there. Repetition of this lament is endless. Stossel challengesn this nonsense with data indicating recent expansions of the Great Barrier Reef, countering the image of them as dying ecosystems.

7. Plastic and Recycling

This one may cause pushback by some. Stossel criticizes the recycling industry, particularly the inefficiency in recycling plastics. He points out that very little plastic is actually recycled and much ends up in landfills or is shipped to developing countries. 

8. Honeybees

We've heard plenty about the ominous decline in the honeybee population. Lueken and Stossel say it just isn't so. There is no Bee Apocalypse.

9. GMOs

Hmmm. All we've ever heard is how bad GMOs are. There's another side of that story, too. Why do we never hear it?

10. Environmental Activism and Financial Motives
Environmental groups are scrutinized for their fundraising strategies, which allegedly rely on perpetuating myths and fears about the planet's future. Stossel suggests these groups, despite their activist image, hold significant financial power and often obstruct development that could lead to greater prosperity.

This is my own personal beef with the environmentalists. There is a "no compromise" stance toward everything to a degree that it almost appears that their intentions are to deliberately damage the economy (which creates wealth that creates jobs and enriches all of us).  Instead, Greenpeace and other groups spend bazillions on lawyers to thwart projects that are in the best interests of all of us. 

11. The Role of Media

Stossel has special contempt for those in the media for amplifying alarmist climate narratives without adequately considering contrary scientific evidence, driven largely by the pursuit of sensational stories that attract attention and funding. When I used to have a radio in my car I regularly listened to NPR and thought it almost hilarious how many ways they could tie any event into a climate change reference. If one did a study, I'm willing to bet that there has never been a day in 20 years that did not mention climate change in a story. I'm not making this up. (Does anyone have access to the last 20 years of NPR transcripts? Maybe an AI could quickly answer that question for us?) "When was the last time NPR did not mention climate change?" As we know, NPR is not alone in tooting this horn.

12. Summing Up

Stossel concludes with these observations:

"I'm ashamed that I once fell for their scams. Years ago, my TV station ran ads promoting my alarmist environmental reporting. Now I realize that what today's big environmental groups mostly do is stop progress and make lawyers richer. We invited the groups to come here and explain to me why I'm wrong, defend your work. Not one would agree. I still want to ask them how they justify making it so hard for people to build anything. It's a shame because really, when I think about what America could be, what we could be building, we could be so prosperous, so much more prosperous than we are." 

I find it lamentable how any and every issue gets twisted once it has become political. Perhaps the real underlying issue is the fact that so much money is at stake. It seems like the doomsayers missed the point on the story of Chicken Little. Always screeching that "the sky is falling" should have consequences. The moral the story is that eventually no one takes you seriously. Children "got it." Why don't more adults get it?

Related Links
Climate Change Myths https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3vsyB84TcI
He Who Controls the Narrative Controls the People

Nadezhda von Meck, Tchaikovsky"s Patron: Influence, Encouragement, and the Quiet People Who Shape History.

The world has always depended upon people who quietly support genius without seeking the spotlight. Michelangelo had the Medici. Samuel Johnson had patrons. C. S. Lewis had friends who encouraged him. Van Gogh had his brother Theo. And Pyotr Tchaikovsky had Nadezhda von Meck.

Tchaikovsky's primary patron was a wealthy railroad magnate's widow. She supported him financially with an annual stipend of 6,000 rubles for 13 years, allowing him to quit teaching and compose full-time, under the unusual condition that they never meet in person.

I'd long known that this great composer had been supported by a wealthy patron, and that they agreed to never met, but it was news to me when I learned (while researching this story) that they had an extensive correspondence. During those 13 years they exchanged more than 1200 letters. That's almost 100 letters a year, or 92 to be more precise. 

Who was this woman? Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck (1831–1894) was one of the wealthiest women in Russia. She married Karl von Meck, who built a fortune developing Russia's expanding railway system. (Russia's equivalent of Cornelius Vanderbilt.) When von Meck died in 1876, she inherited his immense fortune and controlled a vast business empire.

In the mid-1870s Tchaikovsky was becoming recognized in Russian musical circles, but he was hardly wealthy. Von Meck first became acquainted with his music through her resident musicians. She was deeply moved by it and soon commissioned him to arrange several pieces for violin and piano for her household performances.

Another thing I just learned. I'd always believed that it was Tchaikovsky who created the condition that they never meet. It turns out that it was von Meck because she feared that meeting would destroy the idealized friendship they had built through letters.

What did they discuss in their correspondence? Music, of course, but much more. Literature, philosophy, religion, illness, depression, travel, family, artistic struggles and daily life were all recurring themes. He purportedly confessed thoughts to her that he revealed to almost no one else.

One reason this topic interested me this week is that I have many times over the decades thought about how valuable this woman must have been to Tchaikovsky, and how the world for 150 years has been enriched by his incredible catalog that includes The 1812 Overture, The Nutcracker Suite, piano masterpieces, concertos and six symphonies.

The thing is, you don't have to be J.P. Morgan or the Vandebilts or the Rockefellers or Elon, or Bill Gates to make a difference in another life. Even if you can't support artists, authors or musicians as an ongoing subsidy, you can purchase their work or simply give them encouragement. 

Although it's true that we have foundations and grants for the arts, somehow it's the personal human interaction that really adds meaning to the artist-patron relationship. 

Money isn't the only thing aspiring artists may benefit from. Mentors play an invaluable role in many artists' and writers' lives. My career as a writer was greatly advanced by a professional writer, John Prin, who took me under his wing when I was first starting out. Whether in the arts or in business, mentors often play a critical role in getting one's feet on the first rungs of the ladder.

As a writer I've sought to shine a spotlight on local artists whose work I've admired. The impact of Robert Shelton's review of Bob Dylan is legendary. Dylan was doing a two week residency at Gerde's Folk City in Greenwich Village. Shelton was a reporter for the New York Times whose review appeared in print on September 29, 1961 in which he wrote that a "bright new face in folk music" was in town. 

Bottom Line: You can make a difference. Encouragement is nourishment, and hope is what keeps us going. 

What Is "Gain of Function" Research?

Now that we are in the AI era, when I ask Google a question it no longer begins with sponsored links or a list of websites based on perceived value algorithms. Rather, it begins with an AI Overview.

From the earliest days of the Covid epidemic it was suspected that the Covid virus or organism was created in a lab in Wuhan, China. This was flatly denied by Dr. Fauci, the CDC and other spokespersons. Voices that questioned "the company line" were squashed. 

Once in a while we (the public) would hear references to what struck me as a strange phrase: Gain of Function research. We've heard it for years now, but frankly, I never really understood what it meant.

This week, with Dr. Fauci on the hot seat in DC, it seemed time to understand what this phrase meant, since it feels like a central feature of this story. 

When I asked Google what it was, here is what was delivered to me:

Gain-of-function research is medical and biological study that genetically alters an organism to give it new or enhanced abilities, such as increased potency, wider host ranges, or faster transmission. It is used broadly across science to understand basic cell functions, create helpful products like insulin, and prepare for future viral outbreaks. However, when applied to dangerous pathogens, it sparks major safety debates over the risk of accidental leaks. 

Core Concepts and Goals

Genetic alteration: Changes an organism's DNA or RNA in a lab or through selective growth to add a trait.

General applications: Helps design vaccines, map out disease targets, and build better medicines.

Everyday examples: Modifying bacteria to produce medical insulin or altering crops to resist bad weather and pests.

Safety and Controversy
High-risk subset: Focuses on pathogens with pandemic potential by making viruses deadlier or easier to catch.
Dual-use dilemma: Provides crucial insights for stopping real-world outbreaks, but carries the inherent biological risk of creating or releasing a severe contagion.

I suppose we should not be surprised that governments are doing this kind of research. As Dylan wrote in his 1982 song "License to Kill": "Man thinks 'cause he rules the earth he can do with it as he please // And if things don't change soon, he will"

The surprise is how totalitarian-like the efforts were to force the public to "accept" the story that this was not a lab leak and then smother us with mask mandates and isolation, shutting down of schools. Covid-19 was essentially a bad flu virus. 

The whole Wuhan event makes me want to write a short story about a group of virions (singular for a virus cell) that are tired of being genetically altered in this foreign laboratory. The have meetings and discuss how to escape. In the end, one of the virions gets tired of the meetings and starts a new group called "Take Action." In the end, he concludes that meetings and protests aren't working, but clings to the hope that he might be able to escape on his own. His motive, he says, is this: "The world needs to know what is going on here."

Related Links

What Anthony Fauci's Defenders (and Critics) Get Wrong [Robby Soave, Reason Magazine]

Acting CDC director says Fauci "abused the place of power" during the COVID pandemic [Faris Tanyos, CBS]

Photo Credit: This image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Throwback Thursday: Four Ishiguro Book Reviews and a Bonus Track

Like most avid readers I read when I can, and never as much as I'd like. In 2010 I carried around with me a borrowed Spring 2008 edition of The Paris Review, chiefly with the purpose of reading a fascinating interview with Kazuo Ishiguro, author of Remains of the Day, which I then wrote about here.   

Kazuo Ishiguro is a Japanese-born British novelist and one of the most acclaimed contemporary writers in English literature. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017 for works that, in the Swedish Academy’s words, uncover “the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.” The first time I wrote about him here was in 2010

A 3-Day Ride with Ryder: Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled Is an Achievement of the First Order
When a world-famous pianist returns home to perform an important concert, he is forced to come to terms with who he really is. Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled has the feel of a cross between Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and the magical realism of Jorge Luis Borges. Like each of these authors, he has created a work that defies categorization.
https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2019/04/a-3-day-ride-with-ryder-ishiguros.html

In Awe of Ishiguro's The Buried Giant
The novel takes place in England in that period after the passing of King Arthur. The story follows an elderly married couple, Axl and Beatrice, who for some reason cannot remember their past, or rather, the memories they've lost touch with are hazy and dark.

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2020/08/in-awe-of-ishiguros-buried-giant.html

Ishiguro Again Shows His Mastery: Never Let Me Go
There's something special about the students living at Hailsham, a boarding school in England. At first we don't know what's so special about this school, and neither do the children who grow up there, but eventually a little light streams in and we learn that these children are here for a purpose.

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2020/09/ishiguro-again-shows-his-mastery-never.html

Ishiguro's Klara Is Apparently No Fiction
Ishiguro demonstrates once again why he is considered one of the great writers of our time. The English language has a shortage of superlatives to describe the power of his prose, so I shan't even attempt it. 

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2021/07/ishiguros-klara-and-sun-is-another.html

Interview with David Asch Offers Insights On A.I.
Klara and the Sun is about A.I. and David Asch's review demonstrated his deeper understanding of the current status of Artificial Intelligence and where it is headed. I asked permission to pick his brain on this topic and he graciously accepted.

https://pioneerproductions.blogspot.com/2021/10/interview-with-david-asch-offers.html

Have you read Ishiguro's work? What is your favorite novel of his? Please share it in the comments.