In business, how audiences perceive you is in constant flux. You might enjoy popularity or a positive reputation for a time, but repeated disappointments or controversies can destroy that image and have people turning away. This is daunting, and it means that you have to consistently work to ensure that you’re honing your image, but it also means that there is always the chance for the opposite – for redemption.
It doesn’t even need to be so dramatic – early on in business, you might simply struggle with anonymity. Therefore, knowing how to build up a reputation might simply be about getting people to hear the right things about you.
Make the Right Choices
This might sound obvious, but it’s important that it isn’t overlooked. After all, you’re trying to avoid negative press, and that means that you’ve got to reduce the likelihood of finding yourself at the center of a PR storm. This might be because of how you treat your employees, for instance. If you create a toxic or negative workspace, a myriad of negative outcomes might follow. First of all, your employees might frequently leave, leading to a high staff turnover and a lot of time and money lost to training new staff and struggling to find replacements. Secondly, however, word of this might get out and begin to see your business labelled as one that treats its staff poorly, which can be a difficult connotation to shake once it’s been established.
Another area where this might occur could be in your security. Massive data breaches can be devastating for your business just in terms of the costs that they can incur, but if customer data is lost, it can also damage trust in your brand. Therefore, making your business as secure as possible is one that can work to boost trust. Modern security systems come in all kinds of forms, but finding one that also gives you access to a team of security professionals means that you’re provided managed detection and response to any sort of problems that emerge with your security.
Put Customers First
Seeing as how you’re trying to make yourself appear positively to your customers, making it known that you’re putting them first might be a good place to start. Two main areas where this can be improved might be in the quality of your central product or service, as well as in your customer service.
If the product that your business is all about is of a high quality, and you’re consistently trying to deliver the best experience possible, customers might not have the need to overthink the finer details of your business. After all, you’re providing a service that they’re more than happy to pay for. Once this quality dips, though, it might start to feel as though you’re more concerned about making a quick profit than providing satisfactory service.
On that note, if your customers do want to voice some concerns or put forward a query, it’s important that they feel heard. This might be through giving them as many ways as possible to provide feedback, but it means that when they do talk to a member of your staff, they feel as though what they had to say was taken on board – turning a negative experience into a potentially positive one.
Work With Other Brands
If you’re trying to improve your visibility, you might find that working with other, more noteworthy brands is the most effective way to go about this. Collaborations are a strong form of marketing due to how it can provide both brands with access to the other’s audience – and in that regard, you might find it difficult to strike a balance with bigger brands due to what you do or don’t have to offer. In that case, while you’re still in the early days of your business, you might find that the answer is to work with brands in an outsourcing capacity – marketing teams, for instance, who have experience with taking larger brands to where they are today.
Effective Marketing
The most straightforward way to draw attention to your brand will, of course, be through marketing. However, marketing can be broken up into multiple different elements – are you marketing to those who are already in your target audience? Or are you trying to extend your reach by appealing to new crowds? Marketing is a term that’s broad enough to include all kinds of business decisions, such as how you might decide to collaborate with other brands or influencers as mentioned previously.
However, you also need to understand what gives you reach. Every brand might dream of going viral (at least in a positive capacity), but this is something that’s difficult to force. All you can do is understand where those kinds of audiences might be, and what kind of marketing often is effective in that regard. Short videos are seeing a lot of popularity due to platforms like TikTok and even how they’ve been enabled by other platforms like YouTube and Instagram.
Policies and Ethics
While you might feel as though everything related to your business reputation should strictly be about business, it’s important to understand how much is encompassed under that umbrella. For instance, the stances that you take on social issues can make a big impact with how audiences perceive you. When it comes to topics like climate change, where people will always be looking to businesses to make a change due to the impact that they have on the environment, your stance matters.
Sometimes it might just be about not taking a stance that is controversial or bound to draw negative attention. Other times, though, you might find it beneficial to make positive action a core aspect of your image. Taking the example of climate change again, showcasing what you’re doing – such as planting trees or enforcing cycle to work schemes for your employees – can at least show that you’re serious about making a difference. Failing to make good on your stances and promises, however, can lead to accusations of greenwashing, which might ultimately be damaging for your reputation.
