Building your reputation, where to start

What exactly is reputation management? Is it public relations (PR) and clever marketing? Perhaps, crisis or social media management?

A reputation is the perception or opinion that others hold about your company. It is formed based on numerous things such as past behaviour, actions, and achievements, and can have a significant impact on how your company is viewed and treated by others. It also impacts whether people want to spend their hard-earned money to be associated with your brand.

There is a tremendous amount of information and opinions available on reputation management. It is indeed all of the above, PR marketing, crisis management, social media management and so much more! It can all get rather overwhelming. “At Reputation Matters, we go back to the basics of reputation management,” shares Regine le Roux, founder and managing director of Reputation Matters.

“It can all be simplified and explained as the perceptions that the stakeholders have of a company based on its behaviour and how it consistently interacts with others. We pride ourselves in helping companies to quantify their value and to understand exactly what part of their business is building or breaking down their reputation.”

Building a positive reputation requires consistency, integrity, and a commitment to meeting expectations. Le Roux shares four tips to serve as a starting point for you and your organisation when it comes to building your reputation: 

Follow the four C’s as a starting point to build your organisational reputation: 

Core values: What are your company’s core values? Are these values something that everyone in the business can speak about fluently? It’s not just about words that sound appropriate, but words that drive decisions and ultimately behaviour. Does everyone in the company know what your core values are?  At Reputation Matters, we share weekly stories of interactions that we’ve had that either resonated or didn’t resonate with our GREAT values; Growth, Respect, Excellence, Authenticity and Trust.

Contribution: What is it that your organisation does? How is it sustainably contributing to the economy, community, and environment in which it functions? What is its unique selling proposition? Are you able to succinctly communicate what your company does in eight words? Does everyone in your company share the same eight words? This is also the golden thread of what needs to be communicated in all your messages and shown through all your interactions with everyone associated with your company.

Communication: It does not help being the best kept secret. Communication is key to building your reputation. Do you have a clear communication strategy and plan in place to engage with all your stakeholders? Are your messages, channels of communication you’ll be using, communication frequency, as well as feedback mechanisms in place? Do you have a clear communication policy so that everyone knows and understands what to communicate to whom, and does this policy include social media protocols?

Count and keep track of the numbers. How do you know that you have a good reputation? Measuring your reputation and the relationship that you have with your different stakeholders will help you to build even closer relationships with them. It will also help you to speak the language of the C-Suite (CEO / CFO / COO / CIO), i.e. numbers, which will add even more value to your contribution around the boardroom table. Understanding what is building or breaking down your reputation, will help you to know what behaviours need to change. Why is this important? Research has shown that a positive reputation contributes to a positive bottom line. 

Would you like to get a snapshot of the health of your reputation? Follow the link to find out more: www.surveymonkey.com/r/HealthFitCheck.

Need help with getting started? Get in contact with the Reputation Matters team on research@reputationmatters.co.za.

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