Secrets of the 10 Most-Trusted Brands Dreaming of the day your business becomes a household name? Follow these examples.

There's no better way to dissect the how-tos of branding than to dig deep into the companies everybody knows and trusts. To accomplish this, Entrepreneur teamed with The Values Institute at DGWB, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based think tank that focuses on brand relationships, on a consumer survey that explored the reasons some brands manage to stay on top.

What became clear: Though they may not have the biggest sales or market share in their categories, today's most trustworthy brands have created relationships with consumers through experiences that trigger a visceral response.

"We're seeing more of an emphasis on brands building emotional relationships with consumers because it's powerful and it works," says branding consultant Jim Stengel, former global marketing officer of Procter & Gamble and author of Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World's Greatest Companies. "When you do it, you have a much stronger affinity, a much stronger business, much stronger growth and much stronger results.