Why managing your corporate reputation should be an integral part of protecting your business
A common misunderstanding that some executives have is they think about reputation as an add on to having satisfied customers. However, reputation goes far beyond customer experience, and it is more and more driven by third parties, whether that’s the media, social media, or other customers.
No matter how big or well know your company is, its standing and reputation can be called into question at any moment.
Recently the BBC came under fire for the way it handled the Princess Diana interviews back in the early nineties.
The home secretary, Priti Patel said: “There is no doubt this world-class institution, its reputation has been highly damaged,” she said. “Lessons will have to be learned – there is no question about that.”
The home secretary said next year’s mid-term review of the BBC’s royal charter – focussing on the governance and regulation of the organisation – would be “a very significant and serious moment, at a time when the reputation of the BBC has been compromised”.
Successful leaders in business across the country, face frequent investigations and proceedings by aggressive prosecutors, government regulators, HMRC as well as from within their own companies.
The glare of unwanted attention from journalists, social media and politicians can quickly turn initially minor issues into a full-blown crisis.
Meeting these challenges quickly and effectively is critical to defending your success.
To achieve a swift and satisfactory outcome and to prevent your personal and valuable brand reputation from being tarnished, you’ll need the services of a multi skilled team of legal professionals.
They must have the acumen, experience, and know how to be able to tackle to any possible issues in a timely manner, to preserve the good name of your company and key people.
Being proactive is key
It’s unprofessional to fail to have a disaster recovery plan for a whole range of potential damaging issues and looking after your business reputation should be high on that list.
Successful reputational strategies should be designed, tested, and documented before a crisis occurs, simply surveying customers, investors or other business partners isn’t sufficient.
If you get to the stage where there is unrest among your customers or that investors start to worry, it is too late – acting after the event can be a long arduous task and leave your reputation scarred for many years to come.
Standard business research tools such as customer feedback and focus groups can only measure the damage – they don’t help you prevent the potentially crippling issues the first place.
Proactive reputation management can’t exist without quality intelligence, including the recognition of early warning signs – sometimes as simple as monitoring the noise on social media.
Resolving matters privately and discreetly is often the best way to preserve business reputation.
Sometimes this will be achieved by quiet negotiation without the outside world getting a whiff of any issues, however on other occasions it may be necessary for your legal team to pursue matters through the courts.
