BlueChippers recently attended the AMR Corporate Reputation breakfast, where host and AMR General Manager, Oliver Freedman, brought the issue of reputation back to basics, looking at what organisations should do to ensure their brands continue to resonate with their audiences.
According to Freedman, reputation is the “emotional connection that stakeholders have with an organisation. It is a perception that is built on esteem, admiration, trust and feeling. And it is driven by leadership, performance, products and services, innovation, workplace, citizenship and governance.”
Here – and in no particular order – are some of the key messages we heard at the breakfast:
- Brand vision. Be clear about what your company stands for to build connection with your customers / clients / prospects.
- Align your business. Your vision needs to be communicated and understood by employees at all levels before it can be brought to life. All your company’s departments should be working towards that clear vision together.
- Measure against your competitors. Look at what your competitors are doing. Understand their key metrics and learn from their mistakes and successes. Don’t forget to look offshore – there’s a lot to learn from overseas counterparts.
- Combine marketing/comms and corporate affairs. Reputation management is no longer the sole responsibility of the corporate affairs team. The entire organisation must be involved, with corporate affairs and marketing driving the strategy.
- Consistent messaging. Thanks to the evolution of technology and digitisation, it’s harder to segment our audiences compared to ten years ago. For example, what is communicated to employees can easily be passed onto customers, other stakeholders, media and more via online channels. That means consistent messaging across all audiences, all the time, is key to maintaining your reputation.
- It won’t happen overnight – but it will happen. Building a reputation takes time and effort. It’s a continuous process. Be prepared for long term steady input to get the outcomes you want.
- Set reputation-related KPIs. Choose clear, measurable objectives on which the entire organisation can focus. And make sure they are achievable in practice. Without KPIs you have no means to measure progress or test (and improve) your approach.
In summary? Reputation doesn’t build itself; it takes a clear vision, company alignment, consistent messaging and constant campaigning. But avoid it at your peril.
