Our Reputation Management Agency Advice On Staying In People’s Good Books
Even the most self-assured of us are prone to caring about what other people think of us. It’s human nature to be liked and respected; there’s nothing wrong with that. When you’re in the public eye, however, it becomes doubly important. Building a rapport and a strong relationship with the public is hard enough without you then throwing it away carelessly.
If you damage your reputation, it’s incredibly difficult to get it back to its prior level. Think of it like a mirror. If you crack it you can probably piece it back together; but those cracks will still always be there, that damage will never fully go away. The team here at VerriBerri, a top reputation management agency in Essex, has put together this blog to expound the importance of a good reputation to businesses and individuals alike.
Business Reputation
Here at VerriBerri we prefer to work on preventative measures, rather than with reactionary strategy. That’s to say, where we can, we try to stop your reputation from ever being damaged in the first place. As a business, there are several things you can focus on to foster a deep-rooted, positive reputation amongst the general public.
The first value is that of transparency. Encouraging transparency wherever you can within your business will help shake any feeling amidst the public that you’re trying to fleece them somehow. Humans, by their nature, are sceptical beasts and won’t trust you easily. Transparency helps build that trust; laying all your cards on the table makes you more trustworthy. Transparency also helps massively reduce the risk of a crisis down the line.
Secondly, you’ll want your business to be focusing on communication. This is communication across the board and not just with the public. Yes, you want to be seen as a company that proactively handles enquiries and takes consensus on board; but you also want to be known as a company whose employees enjoy working there! Open channels of communication between staff members, from the most entry-level positions right through to the SMT. This is essential for workplace positivity. At our reputation management agency, we encourage feedback, regardless of position or rank within the company hierarchy.
The third way in which your business can maintain a solid reputation is to constantly be looking inwards and auditing your business to find any red flags or warning signs that may be apparent. The problem is, no matter how well intentioned you are whilst doing this; you can never really look at your business objectively, you’re just too involved with it! A reputation management agency can come into your business, evaluate the situation and help troubleshoot so that any fires are doused before they spark up into a full-blown bushfire.
Individual Reputation
Ensuring the reputation of an individual such as a celebrity or influencer is slightly different. The main issue here is the sheer workload they have to get through with one person. What we mean by this is that they must manage everything. Their social media, appearances, products, collaborations and any other number of tasks they need to take care of, are handled by them. With a seemingly bottomless well of activities to be getting on with, the chance for slip-ups increases exponentially. You’re tired, rushed off your feet, your brain isn’t filtering or gauging content the way it usually would.
You retweet one controversial tweet that you didn’t even read properly, and suddenly you’re the villain. Where a reputation management agency helps in these instances is by alleviating some of that burden. Anything that could conceivably affect your reputation as a personality comes under our remit of work. So, that means social media management, diary management, content creation and often just to act as a sounding board for ideas as much as anything else! Also, as a personality, an agency will encourage you to take the more personable route than they might with a business. They’ll secure you charitable opportunities to help put your public standing to a good and altruistic use.
How To Rebuild
Invariably, there are times when your reputation does come under scrutiny, and for whatever reason this may be, big or small, it’s obviously better to know how to deal with it than not. Reputation management and crisis management go hand-in-hand. In fact, many people treat them as one and the same, however we like to keep a clear distinction between the two.
Our decision to do this stems back from that toss-up between prevention and reaction we touched upon earlier. When crises unfold before your eyes, the gut instinct is to do the first thing that comes to your mind. This almost always results in you doing more damage to your business and your reputation. The best tonic on these occasions is to take a step back for a second and reassess rather than charging into the situation gung-ho. If you were a fireman, you wouldn’t charge into a burning house wearing just your underwear. You’d get properly equipped and wait for support – a reputation management agency can provide that support in the form of crisis management. This analogy seems particularly apt given that so many companies are left firefighting due to a lack of clear thinking.
Contact Our Reputation Management Agency
We live in a vitriolic, hate-filled world where people are quick to put you down – especially online. Your reputation is always at risk, no matter how much prestige you have as a company or personality. Problems can’t be swept under the carpet and nor should they be. They should be addressed head on. So, if you’d like to find out more about our reputation management agency, then get in touch! Contact VerriBerri today on 01376 386 850. We’d really like to sit down and discuss how we can go about putting you and your brand out there for the world to see, and to do so from a position of confidence and not fear!
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