1. Have
reliable and credible products/services: Even with the most sophisticated
social marketing and influence, people expect some basic quality and
consistency in their brand experiences.
2. Understand
your values and mission: Establish core values and a clear mission and make
sure all employees understand them. Brands are increasingly focusing on their
values and higher order purpose. It is not enough just to sell a
product/service; many brands, such as Dove, do better if they also project
their values. Linked to values and a clear mission, is having the right ethical
environment and the appropriate supporting culture.
3. Be
prepared to admit faults and correct them: Transparency is now expected from
brands and organisations. Past public relations practice would try to cover up
or reframe a problem in the hope of mitigating negative outcomes. Today,
companies are realising the value of openly acknowledging mistakes and making
public attempts to rectify them. Although one cannot be too naive about such an
approach, remedying a fault can generate good reputational equity so long as it
does not become too frequent an occurrence!
4. Develop
an effective social media strategy: Social networks are becoming complex eco-systems,
connected to a variety of platforms, which are increasingly mobile. Social
media is generating a need to develop social influencing skills, whereby you
talk - not at your customers but by providing them with a chance to participate
and engage with your brand. Having a presence on Facebook and Youtube, and
communicating and providing a brand voice through Twitter are essential, not
optional. Brands such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nike and P&G have all developed
successful social media strategies and in the case of P&G, Open Source
innovation strategies.
5. Ensure
that your structures and operations/processes are "fit for purpose":
Structure versus strategy is an established debate in business but nonetheless
it is vital that an organisation has the correct internal structures, teams and
employee engagement mechanisms to deliver the given strategy. Even the best
intentions to build a first rate company with an exceptional reputation will
soon become just another great idea unless the correct framework is in place to
achieve it.
6. Have a
credible CSR strategy: Corporate sustainability is now becoming mainstream and
corporations have to be mindful of their social and environmental
accountabilities and responsibilities.
7. Good
customer/brand experience: Brands must engage audiences and provide them with
an enjoyable and memorable brand experience, thereby converting social
influence into brand equity. Brands cannot afford to become commoditised and
need to differentiate. You only have to look at a commodity, such as the coffee
bean and look at brands such as Starbucks and Costa Coffee to see how a
commodity can be made into a genuine brand experience.
8. Have a
strong brand identity and clear positioning: Strong identity and position is
the cornerstone of good branding and reputation. Brands such as Coca-Cola,
Apple, Target, JCB, and Nike have powerful identities and brand positions.
9. Be
adaptable and innovative: The brand Apple has a good reputation because they
not only produce great products, but because they constantly innovate and adapt
their brands to the market. By focusing on second order capabilities such as
how best to adapt and change, businesses can be sustained and are less
vulnerable to disruptive technologies or market/regulatory forces. All of this
requires up-to-date and appropriate business models that will make the business
competitive and in-tune with how to generate income streams form a variety of
sources. Amazon and Lego are good examples of business models that are highly
agile and appropriately exploiting changes in the market.
10. Have an
effective intelligence or "radar": To stay ahead of the reputation
game, you must have an intelligence or radar system that detects signals.
Companies must now try and anticipate strategic directions through effective
risk and issue management systems that inform them of threats and
opportunities.
11. Have a
well-developed crisis management plan: A critical part of crisis management is
pre-crisis planning, which has direct links to risk and issue analysis. Being
well-prepared for a crisis can shorten recovery time and lessen reputational
damage.
12. Have
effective stakeholder engagement and communications strategies: A basic tenet
of modern PR and reputation management is that you must not only engage transactional
stakeholders, i.e. the ones that are involved in buying and selling your
goods/services, but you must also engage with your detractors, regulators and a
long trail of stakeholders who can affect your brand. Stakeholder engagement is
a management skill that cannot be underestimated or ignored. Shareholder return
and investor relations must be given priority so long as one does not lose
sight of the very factors that help generate them in the first instance.
Shareholder return is not a strategy, it is an outcome, and must be understood
in those terms.
13. Have a
solid brand narrative: The development of a narrative or organisational story
is an important and effective reputation tool. Story-telling is an ancient
technique of communication that is associated with archetypes. Many brands play
on the Jungian notion of archetypes, such as Harry
Potter (magician), Harley
Davidson (rebel, outlaw), Nike (hero), IBM (ruler).
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