Can you imagine asking Amazon’s Alexa to respond to the question, “Alexa, how does my company improve its reputation?” Try it…you might be surprised by the response. Like Alexa, the folks at ReputationUs are often asked this question in various ways. Our response is as quizzical and indecisive as Alexa’s answer…”That’s an interesting question and it depends.”
Building and retaining a strong reputation continues to rank as one of the top assets in the corporate environment. It’s not a quick fix and certainly not something you want to leave to the identity-less Alexa. HAHA!
CORPORATE REPUTATION IMPORTANCE
The C-suite and board directors are increasingly recognizing the importance of their companies’ reputations. Businesses with strong, positive reputations attract better people. They are perceived as providing more value, which often allows them to charge a higher, competitive price for their products or services. Their customers are more loyal and buy broader ranges of products and services.
Conversely, when a company’s reputation is damaged by faulty products, unacceptable services, errors in supply chain or a publicly damaging crisis, businesses promptly lose trust. Here’s a quick snapshot of attributable stats about the importance of corporate reputation:
- 95% – Corporate reputation matters when purchasing a product/service of similar quality or price (source)
- 69% – Job seekers would not take a job with a company with a bad reputation (source)
- 50% – Consumers will question a brand’s competency if they have negative reviews (source)
- 95% – Customers browse online reviews before they commit to a purchase (source)
- 54% – Executives believe reducing unfavorable search results would drive revenue growth (source)
REPUTATION STRENGTHENING SOLUTION
Before you can improve a reputation, you must first know if/where/how/why it’s broken. ReputationUs advocates starting with a “Reputation Audit” – A comprehensive assessment of your company’s image through a series of analytics of your internal and external audiences via focus groups, surveys, meeting key stakeholders and influencers, connecting with target customers and analyzing relevant media and social media channels. Think of it as an MRI for the health of your company’s reputation. This audit puts you in a better position to understand your company’s reputation strengths and vulnerabilities. After the audit comes the improvement part. Based on the audit, we offer a step-by-step roadmap via a “Reputation Enhancement Plan.”
The Reputation Enhancement Plan is ultimately what you’re seeking when you originally asked, “Alexa: How do we improve our corporate reputation?”
Let’s start improving your corporate reputation NOW. Thanks Alexa!
