Corporate Reputation Management: How To Protect and Elevate Your Brand’s Image

The term corporate reputation management refers to the process of creating, maintaining and improving a company’s public image. Every brand’s online reputation is shaped by various elements, including:

• Customer experiences
• Employee satisfaction
• Media coverage
• Online reviews
• Social media content

Today, information travels fast online, especially if traditional media or social media picks it up and spreads it around. Neglecting ORM for your company is risky, as it can result in the loss of customer trust and loyalty, which leads to lower revenue. 

Plus, a company with a negative reputation will have a difficult time attracting and retaining qualified employees. And that issue is cyclical because it can affect consumers and the corporate image as well — 64% of consumers stop buying from a brand after learning that the company treats employees poorly, according to CareerArc’s Employer Branding Study.

On the other hand, a strong reputation has many benefits for the company, including giving the brand a competitive advantage and improving relationships with stakeholders.

In this article, we’ll discuss the foundations of a solid corporate reputation management strategy, including monitoring online mentions and managing PR crises.

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Corporate Reputation Management Strategy: The Basics

A company’s reputation is the collective public perception of the brand’s actions, contributions and values. Key factors that shape a corporate image include:

• Communication: Brands with consistent and transparent messaging on all platforms show professionalism and credibility.
• Customer Experience: This is impacted by the interactions customers have with the brand. By regularly engaging with your audience and providing reliable customer support, you can deliver a great customer experience.
• Employee Advocacy: Company culture and the workplace environment affect how happy employees are working for a brand, which also impacts the company’s reputation.
• Media Coverage: Positive media coverage and effective PR strategies are hugely impactful when it comes to shaping brand reputation.
• Product and Service Quality: Companies that consistently offer high-quality products and services will earn consumer trust and customer loyalty.
• Social Responsibility: Your brand’s ethics, social efforts and sustainable practices play a role in the community’s public perception of your company.

Additionally, while no company wants to find itself in the middle of a PR crisis, the way the brand responds can make or break its online reputation. Preparing in advance for potential PR emergencies is crucial to navigating an unexpected event.

How To Monitor a Company’s Online Reputation

Proactively monitoring brand mentions online makes it possible to detect problems before they spin out of control. Quicker response times mean you can stop a problem in its tracks and avoid a potential crisis — or even retain that one customer whose brand loyalty matters to your business.

Additionally, regular monitoring aligns with industry standards. Most consumers expect a response to their review within 2 to 3 days and no longer than a week, BrightLocal found. And according to Sprout Social, when using social platforms to connect with brands, 30% of consumers expect a same-day response, 23% of consumers want a response within 1 to 2 hours, and 16% of consumers expect to get a response within minutes.

Real-Time Monitoring Tools

There are several ways that companies can monitor their online mentions and digital presence in real time:

• Feedback Surveys: By collecting internal and external feedback regularly, you can tune in to what your employees and customers feel about your brand.
• Media-Tracking: To keep an eye on media coverage and Google search results, you can use a paid tool like Meltwater or a free one like Google Alerts.
• Review Management: Google My Business, Trustpilot, Yelp and similar review sites let you set up notifications for new reviews so you can respond immediately.
• Social Media Listening: Tools like Brandwatch and Hootsuite track brand mentions and overall sentiment on a variety of social media platforms.

When monitoring brand mentions online and assessing feedback, there are a few metrics to pay close attention to:

• Customer Satisfaction: Surveys and reviews can tell you whether or not the majority of your customer base is satisfied with their experience.
• Sentiment: Many tools, like some of the ones mentioned above, will analyze sentiment by assessing the overall tone of brand mentions.
• Share of Voice: This metric compares your company’s visibility against that of your competitors.

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What You Should Know About Responding to Corporate Crises

There are a number of triggers that can lead to a corporate crisis, including:

• Product recalls or service failures, especially dangerous ones.
• Misguided social media campaigns or negative posts that go viral.
• Employee misconduct or unethical company practices.

Without proper management, a crisis can develop without you realizing it and escalate fast.

The Framework for Any Crisis Management Plan

1. Preparation: A crisis response team and rules of conduct are developed before any crisis occurs.
2. Identification: The crisis response team quickly assesses the impact and scope of the problem.
3. Acknowledgment: The company will acknowledge the problem, take responsibility and provide assurances that action will be taken.
4. Communication: Using the proper channels, the company will regularly and transparently communicate with customers, stakeholders and anyone else impacted by the event.
5. Action: The crisis response team will implement whatever corrective actions are necessary and make sure to share progress updates with interested parties.
6. Recovery: Once the crisis is over, executives will debrief to figure out what went wrong and the lessons learned from the experience.

When recovering, you’ll want to update your crisis policy and process as needed. Over time, you can rebuild trust with your customers, employees and stakeholders with regular communication and positive action.

How To Strengthen Your Brand Reputation

There are a number of ways to strengthen your brand reputation, whether you’re starting from scratch, recovering after a PR crisis or simply want to improve your digital presence.

Keep Brand Messaging Consistent Everywhere

Having a unified communication strategy makes your brand more recognizable to the public, and it helps customers — both current and potential ones — trust your company more. Here are some ideas for engaging and communicating with your audience:

• Avoid using business or marketing jargon, which can over-complicate messaging and get annoying to customers. 
• Spread your presence across multiple platforms, including your blog, social media, newsletter and more, to reach a wider audience.
• Tailor messages to different demographics of your audience based on their behaviors, preferences and the platforms they prefer.
• Use visuals like infographics, photos and videos to make your messaging more memorable.

With clear, regular communication, your brand will build lasting relationships with customers that will buoy your online reputation.

Prioritize Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) encompasses community engagement, ethical business practices, environmental initiatives and more. Here are a few examples and suggestions to consider:

• Create accessible products and services to be inclusive to all customers.
• Donate to local charities and community programs.
• Establish a foundation to help an environmental or social issue.
• Offer employees professional development opportunities.
• Promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.
• Switch over to eco-friendly and sustainable packaging.
• Use energy-efficient practices to reduce your company’s carbon footprint.

How your company goes about CSR will be specific to your brand, its values and what you’re capable of doing. 

Turn Your Employees Into Advocates

Many consumers want to buy from companies that treat employees well. Since your employees can be your best advocates, here are a few ways to ensure they have a positive experience working for you:

• Celebrate employees who perform exceptionally well and advocate for the company.
• Create a workplace culture where employees feel heard and know they’re safe to have open, work-related discussions with you.
• Empower employees to make high-level decisions, especially when they’re in a customer service role.
• Give employees clear guidelines so they know what’s expected of them, which allows them to succeed.
• Offer incentives and rewards for a job well done, such as bonuses, gift cards or paid time off.
• Provide the necessary training and resources so employees feel well-equipped to carry out their jobs.

By improving employee advocacy, you can increase positive word-of-mouth marketing and improve your business’ reputation.

Professional Help With Corporate Reputation Management

Every corporate reputation strategy should include communication, customer experience, employee advocacy and social responsibility initiatives. Tracking media coverage and creating a PR crisis plan are also important components of protecting your company’s digital presence.

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