It is an established fact that every organization and brand, regardless of scope of operation, must have a positive reputation and established footprint across several media and communication channels. Simply having a footprint across the multiple channels available isn’t sufficient either; a brand’s presence and reputation must be effectively monitored and modified to reduce risk and negativity around them.
A positive corporate reputation is important to attracting customers and building long-term relationships with them. Having a positive reputation also impacts relationships with shareholders, regulators, and employees. It impacts the ability of an organization to expand the scope of its operation and retain the best talent.
Consistency is an important aspect of building a positive corporate reputation as customers need to know that a company stands by its promises and delivers every time. This is more important than spending on promotional campaigns and advertisements that consumers no longer place much value on. The reputation of a company, similar to its goodwill, is an intangible asset that impacts the ability to make profit and has wide internal and external implications.
Corporate reputation management involves managing the information and details available to members of the public as well as internal stakeholders in order to modify the views and thoughts of internal and external parties about a company. It requires monitoring and sometimes correcting the impressions people hold about a company, its management, and products.
Scope of Corporate Reputation Management
Corporate reputation management has expanded in scope beyond press releases and communications released in the media. It now incorporates elements of social media, brand monitoring, content marketing, public relations and search engine optimization all together. These elements have the power to determine a company’s revenue and expansion. Below are some more elements of corporate reputation management:
● Leadership and top management: The values of the top managers and leaders of an organization. How they carry themselves at events and their views on societal and economic issues form part of the impression people have about the company they represent.
● Quality of products and service: This is a crucial part of managing corporate reputation. Customers need consistency in service delivery so they know they get the same quality of products regardless. The quality of the company’s product or service also has to be consistent.
● Corporate Social Responsibility: The amount of times an organization engages in social issues as well as initiatives created by the organization to create a positive impact on the environment with which it operates. Doing this periodically helps spread positive impressions about an organization.
● Ethical Corporate Behaviors: The amount of compliance to basic everyday norms in an organization molds corporate reputation.
● Online Footprint: The totality of articles, comments and content related to a brand that is available on the internet and social media molds corporate reputation. This has the effect of determining how stakeholders relate with a brand.
● Customer Focus: The experience that customers have when interacting with a brand to buy the products and services they need leaves a lasting impression in their minds.
