The around-the-clock connectivity, communication, and sharing that the world wide web provides has been instrumental in helping companies build, strategize, and execute their reputation strategy. Still, it can also take it away with a few clicks of a keyboard.
One wrong public perception can ruin businesses and destroy the positive brand image they worked so hard to create, highlighting the need for proactive reputation management processes before things get rough.
While it might not seem like it, your company’s reputation is yours to control and is imperative for driving the behavior of your employees, generating leads, attracting investors, and securing alternative financing options.
Fortunately, there are various ways to safeguard your company’s reputation and ensure it stands up in the face of potential challenges. From being vigilant about customer service mishaps to monitoring your digital footprint, we outline several of the best reputation management tools below:
Deal With Mishaps If And When They Happen
No matter how well-trained your staff members are or how well you mitigate potential conflict-arising situations, the day will arrive when a customer has a negative experience with your company. Whether an employee gives them inaccurate advice or turnaround times aren’t quick enough, no company is granted immunity against mishaps.
Generally, most customers appreciate this and can be lenient depending on how well you deal with the mishap and the scale of it. To save any damage to your reputation, it is essential that you deal with accidents when they happen, as it makes it easier for your company to recover any damages that might have been incurred.
As an extra layer of protectivity, you can get professional liability insurance from providers like The Hartford, which can protect your company and its reputation against various mishaps. From coverage for inaccurate advice to coverage for misrepresentation, consider visiting their website to see how their policies could help you proactively protect your company’s reputation today.
Keep Your Employees/Associates Satisfied
If your employees or associates feel wronged in any way, you’ll find that they can be the primary source of harmful content about your company. To avoid potential harm to your company’s reputation, you’ll want to keep your employees/associates as happy as possible by conducting business with transparency, honesty, and integrity.
Fostering positive relationships between your employees and associates allows your company to reap many rewards, from improving your overall business strategy to minimizing employee turnover. Thankfully, there are many ways that you can boost employee morale and keep your associates happy, some of the most popular being the following:
- Creating an open line of communication.
- Building a culture based on feedback and positive thinking.
- Taking part in team-building exercises.
- Implementing an employee reward program.
Google Your Business Regularly
While we’re constantly told that Googling ourselves is terrible, typing your brand name into a search bar can generate all kinds of information that you weren’t aware of – good and bad! Whether it’s online reviews you haven’t seen before or other public commentaries about your business, keeping an eye on what is said is an excellent way to manage your reputation.
So long as it isn’t a genuine review of your company, you can control what is said about your business online by deleting what you can, posting a rebuttal, replying to bad customer experiences, or generating positive SEO-optimized content to push any harmful or inaccurate information further back into the search results.
