By: Castalia Vargas
Email: [email protected]
Ms. Vargas has a degree in Marketing from the Pontifical Catholic University Mater et Magistral (PUCMM), an MA in Public Relations and Communication Agencies Management from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and an MA in Management and Productivity from the Apec University (UNAPEC). She is currently a Professor of Marketing at the Graduate School at the UAPA University. She is the director of the communications agency UTOPHI.
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At this point in time, brands and their managers understand the importance of media prestige and the recognition by audiences regarding the value they provide, both in the market and in society. Reputation is an important asset of organizations and people; its relevance is such that it determines institutional permanence and sustainability over time.
Around the credibility industry there swirls a specialized team of professionals that seek to favorably impact public opinion, and this has been consolidated over the years, and particularly in the Digital Age.
We have identified 7 vital aspects that serve as a guideline to build a favorable reputation.
1. The key is to gain trust: Reputation is the trust and validation gained through consistent, correct, ethical, and consistent behavior over time. Having a good reputation equals credibility, which adds value to the brand, fosters a better business climate, and customers become more receptive and willing to pay more.
2. It is vital for employees to be aware of what they stand for: An organization’s employees are crucial in building and maintaining a company’s reputation, as they are the ones who interact with customers on behalf of the organization, and therefore, they are the main ambassadors of the brand.
3: This approach is comprehensive and quite serious: Reputation is usually consolidated at three levels: functional (operational, financial, commercial), emotional (the feelings that arouse in the public) and social (its consonance with the norms of society) . Reputation management is carried out from the field of Public Relations.
3. An important consideration: When a crisis threatens to break the trust or credibility of an organization, having a good reputation mitigates the impact of the crisis because there is a predisposition in favor and a position of strength as a starting point, which together to a satisfactory management of the crisis, allows it to be overcome.
4. It is a 24/7 job: The interactivity of Web 2.0 had a profound impact on reputation management, transcending all time and space margins. Consumers have a voice online, their comments are recorded forever, stories are global and spread like wildfire; monitoring and response margins must be immediate, continuous, and efficient.
5. Everything in its proper dimension: Problems must be differentiated from crises; a problem is any issue or conflict situation that can affect an organization; it is already considered a crisis when it considerably affects a brand’s reputation or operation. It can arise suddenly or derive from a problem poorly managed over time.
6. Stay alert and healthy: Don’t wait until you have a crisis to seek specialized help. Having a reputational risk mitigation and crisis management plan is as essential as health or accident insurance. Get good advice from experts.
7. At the least survive; the best result is to come out with flying colors: Understand that good crisis management can not only save you from the situation but can earn you respect and, in the endy you will come out of it stronger.
There are no magic formulas or artifices that are better than a strong foundation built on a good reputation, which is always doing the right thing. However, this being such an important asset, it is not surprising that it is the first objective to be destroyed by adversaries in any scenario; so it is not enough to always do the right thing, but the public must not have the slightest doubt about it.