Clients are selecting entire things from cars to chicken sandwiches based on corporate values. Understanding an array of consumer personas can lead tactics for landing and keeping them. Studies have long proven that your conviction to do good will guide customers to spend more, suggest you more, and remain loyal. Yet they seldom describe the mechanisms that brand managers can use to benchmark and track reputation.

A new global study showed that 62% of consumers want organizations to take a stand on pressing problems such as fair employment practices, immigration, data privacy and climate change. In the same study, nearly half of consumers (48%) would openly complain about their dissatisfaction with a company whose words or actions are misaligned with their personal values, and one-fifth of consumers (21%) said theyd abandon that brand out of frustration and would never return.

Reputation is, by definition, opinions held. Like beauty, it is subjective, mercurial, and challenging to categorize. The key to the art of measuring reputation knows your audienceideally, every single member of your audience.

In 2020, having an extraordinary reputation both online and offline is even more essential as competition becomes harder. Managing ones reputation provided businesses the competitive edge as well as the confidence to carve a niche in their industries and work towards becoming a leader. This puts brand reputation management at the heart of building a authentic public corporate persona; an image that is based on a foundation of customer relations nurtured from the get-go.
Reputation management needs an all-encompassing approach. A good brand manager knows how to maximize key platforms to effectively convey a cautiously crafted and attracting message to the target audience. The aim is not just to bring the message out there but, more essentially, to influence or shape public views about the entity as well.

It needs great and constant efforts to create and retain an unassailable reputation. From providing top-notch products and services to setting up an emotional connection with your target market, reputation management is all about relationships between you, the brand, and your stakeholders, partners, and the community you serve.

The conventional way of measuring ones reputation is identifying what your target audience is saying about your brand both good and bad to understand the ever-changing sentiments of your public. Scouring each platform, which includes checking your social media notifications, reading reviews, and listening to views and opinions, is part and parcel of your work as a brand manager.

Being proactive in knowing the publics sentiments allows you to immediately act on their concerns to protect the troubles from spiraling out of control. It also allows you to contain any negative feedback, effectively nipping it in the bud. While acting on the concern, rather than being defensive, it is essential to let the other party know that their tips and ideas are valued and appreciated. One of the secrets to having a good reputation knows how to handle unflattering feedback.

Listening to the public concept of your brand gives you insights as well into what they find interesting and worth praising. You can keep track of and record how the public idea of your brand is being affected by every success story you communicate. By doing so, you can efficiently design your next campaigns to make them more powerful and impactful. Emphasizing positive reviews also help in drowning out the negative voices, which inevitably crop up.

Similarly, reputation management encompasses monitoring your market competitors to keep you on your toes at all times. It will protect you from being caught off guard. Having inside knowledge of what is happening within the industry you are operating in is also an advantage that lets you strategize more effectively.

Other traditional methods available regarding reputation management include word of mouth, direct and constant communication with the media, partners, and stakeholders, and the examination all brand-related keywords throughout channels.

There are cutting-edge tools and mechanisms particularly designed to keep track and monitor the reputation of your brand. We have automated media monitoring tools that are extraordinarily efficient in measuring prevailing opinions. Research, surveys, and studies based on the best industry practices are data-driven tools that are useful in managing an entitys public image. Technology-driven software programs are also highly effective, particularly in catching and handling negative comments.

For better management, many companies, particularly multinationals, outsource this service to an agency that is more experienced in dealing with the public. The agency is more adept at engaging with the target audience by timely delivering the message using the most effective channels.

Reputation management all boils down to building vivid communication with everyone internally or externally - and setting the right and practical expectations. Maintaining an outstanding reputation goes beyond delivering high-quality products and services, but it is also about showcasing what makes your brand unique, living up to your commitment and promises, and providing the best customer experience.

It is a constant process. You check, analyze, and tweak your strategy now and then in accordance to the prevailing demands and needs. In the end, reputation management is an effort worth investing in.