To keep brands continue to survive and evolve, companies should protect their reputation. One theory defines reputation as an intangible asset, reputation represents a firm’s past actions and describes a firm’s ability to deliver value outcomes to multiple stakeholders (Mahon, 2002; Fombrun, 1996). Another theory by Doorley and Garcia (2008:4) explains reputation through a formula: “sum of images= (performance and behavior) + Communication = sum of relationships”.
From both theories, it can be concluded that just like a relationship between two people, to attain a good reputation, someone (a company) should have trust and maintain the trust given by another party (stakeholders). A slightest mistake in behaving, performing, and failing to communicate messages can make a reputation that has been built for a long time being harmed in a very short time.
Related: 4 Useful Tips on Maintaining Good Communication between Employer and Employees
In order to avoid unwanted things happen,you need to know here are few things that could jeopardize your brand reputation and how you should react:
- A company should have crisis management team. There are 5 major functions of this team, which are planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling.
- Whatever you do, there will always be someone who talks negative about you. No matter how well your brand performance, there will always be someone who dislike or disagree with your company’s decision making. It’s inevitable. The important thing is a company should have a media monitoring program to control the spreaded negative informations.
- Listen to stakeholder’s and (most importantly) customer’s opinions and reviews. Don’t be lazy to reply their inputs and critics. Make sure there is two way communication with customers.
- Provide training and organize meetings for employees to build social integration, the function is to prevent miscommunication in responding to the press.
- Build strong relationships with the mass media because it will help the dissemination of information, such as company press release.
- It’s important to build a corporate transparency toward employees and customers, such as releasing annual financial statement, etc.
The existence of reputation management is very important for your brand continuity and longevity.
Related: Avoid This Fatal Mistake to Prevent Losing More Customers
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