If you have only recently started your business, you could too easily treat reputation management as an afterthought. However, adverse publicity about a business can spread quickly especially online, where just one negative opinion can potentially ‘go viral’.
However, when you proactively work on enhancing your corporate reputation, it can act as a cushion against crises that not only hit your business but also attract headlines as a result. Here are five reliable methods for bolstering your nascent organization’s image.
Introduce a new category of products or services
Naturally, this can be much easier said than done but, if you do succeed in following this path, you will initially have the advantage of running the only business dealing in this specific category.
Therefore, people will come to strongly associate your business with it so much so that, even if other companies start offering competing solutions, you will remain renowned as the pioneer that identified the niche first.
Establish a monopoly while still providing high quality
Of course, you can build that monopoly as a result of following the previous tip and put yourself in a situation akin to that of Apple when it launched the first iPad back in 2010.
However, though this original iPad arrived at a time when alternative tablet computers were not exactly in abundance, it is also worth emphasizing the high quality of the iPad itself.
The takeaway from this is that, if your business does become a monopoly, you shouldn’t allow its quality control to slacken.
Target an exclusive market
This is famously a strategy pursued by Apple as well as other companies with a prestigious image; think the likes of supercar manufacturers and designer brands.
Ultimately, if you want to court an affluent crowd, you will need to make sure what you offer is of a stunningly high standard the kind that the wealthy will be willing to pay for. Fortunately, the wealthy tend to become sentimentally attached to high-end brands.
Be consistent with how you portray your brand image
You have various means of advertising at your disposal. For example, you can place ads on social media sites, distribute printed marketing materials, and engage in out-of-home (OOH) advertising with help from an OOH ad space provider like Clear Channel.
However, Maryville University warns: “Getting all the relevant information to form a harmonious picture instead of sending complicated mixed messages is essential for any business that hopes to capitalize on its reputation.”
Add CSR to your company’s marketing mix
CSR stands for ‘corporate social responsibility’, as a LinkedIn article implies, adding: “Building a good relationship with the community is important for a new business because it represents a willingness to work together with the people that it is targeting as its customers.”
It would be wise for your business to get involved in causes crucial to its CSR mission. For example, if you run a tech repair shop, you could encourage customers to donate unwanted laptops and smartphones to charities that would be able to recycle them.