Your Reputation Is Your Reality: How to Strengthen Your Company’s Public Image

Why is a company’s reputation important?

Your company’s reputation is one of its most valuable assets because it directly influences your business’s overall success. A strong public image fosters trust with your customers, which increases customer loyalty and word-of-mouth referrals. It can also help you attract top talent to your business and improve employee retention.  

“Having a steady reputation is important to the entire company because it comes with less distractions,” said Alyson Austin, principal and co-founder of Gaffney Austin LLC. “If the leadership team is constantly under scrutiny for reputational issues, it can be distracting from the day-to-day business.”

A good reputation also gives you a competitive edge and attracts supporters and brand advocates. It may even make it easier for your company to charge more, said Tim Hodges, a business and digital marketing consultant. 

“My father worked for a civil engineering firm. By working on the difficult challenges, they were able to position their firm as the experts,” Hodges explained. “When others took the easier work for lower fees, they were able to charge 50 percent more. In the long term, this paid off, as the small firm was bought for a premium price by a much larger engineering firm that needed experts with credibility as project managers to win bigger contracts.” 

How can you build and maintain a strong company reputation?

Here are some easy actions you can take to keep your business’s public image strong, positive and healthy.

Keep your promises.

If your business makes a promise, you must keep it. If you say you’ll ship within 24 hours, you must ship within 24 hours. If you say you offer no-questions-asked returns, don’t ask any questions.

You also need to remember that not all promises are explicit. The simple buyer transaction is a promise, and the customer believes they will receive the products or services they purchased in a timely fashion. They also believe that what they bought is worth what they paid for it. If you’re not keeping this most important promise, your reputation will suffer.

Reward customers for positive interactions.

“The customer is always right” is a nice idea about how businesses should treat customers. It’s also wrong. Companies that follow this saying to the letter can end up spending their resources trying to please their most irate, least rational and least devoted customers.

What if, instead, salespeople were empowered to reward customers who are a pleasure to work with? What if, at the end of a transaction, a customer heard, “It was such a delight to assist you today that I’ve been authorized to give you an extra 5 percent discount”?

How would that change your conversation with the customer for the better? How do you think that person would talk about your business in public?

Do more than expected.

Another phrase that gets tossed around a lot in customer service is to “exceed customers’ expectations,” but what does that actually mean?

Many companies try to include some unexpected service at no cost — for example, Goulet Pens always ships its orders, no matter how big or small, with a tiny Tootsie Pop. But the easiest way to approach this tip is to offer customers what they need before they ask for it.

For example, if a customer calls because they are frustrated that the product they purchased doesn’t work, don’t wait for them to demand a return. Instead, offer to exchange it for them. 

If they reveal that their service was unsatisfactory, offer to make it right before they have to tell you that it’s what they need. It’s no secret that great customer service is the best marketing tool for the money.

Be consistent.

In all of the areas and platforms where your company interacts, be consistent and be yourself. If you try to create an alternate persona, it will eventually crack, and people will be frustrated that you were cold, dismissive or rude in a different environment.

When you represent your company, make sure you’re doing so in a way that is reasonable and approachable.

Engage your audience.

In the modern market, where there are so many channels competing for customer attention, you aren’t going to build your audience by waiting for customers to come to you. You need to find your customers wherever they hang out.

Whatever you do, there’s an internet forum, page or Facebook Group dedicated to it. If you put yourself into that environment and work to become an authentic expert and resource, you will grow your audience organically.

Hodges recommended engaging your audience by offering them evidence. “Showing proof of success in challenging situations with case studies can provide proof of your organization’s expertise,” he said.

>> Learn More: How to Engage Your Audience on Social Media

Apologize when you make mistakes.

No company is perfect, and at some point, your company will make a mistake. You might say something insensitive or react poorly to a review, or you might encounter a problem in a supply chain that causes products to be delivered late.

What sets good companies apart from the bad ones is how the companies handle these issues. Just saying, “I’m sorry,” isn’t enough. Apologies can’t be rushed, hurried or handled awkwardly.

Take control of your reputation.

If you remember only one thing from these tips, make it this: You are in control of your own reputation. At no point should you feel like your business has a good reputation only when it’s perfect or when it bribes its customers into posting good reviews on Yelp.

A business that commits to its goals, lives its mission and keeps its promises will have a good reputation. Take control of your reputation by managing the factors that would give you a bad reputation. The rest will take care of itself. [Read more on how to protect your brand reputation.]

What factors affect your company’s reputation?

These four factors have the biggest impacts on your company’s reputation:

• Your company’s reviews: Consumers like to do their research before making a purchase, and reviews are an easy way to get a snapshot of a business. People can go on a variety of review sites and social media platforms to share their experiences with your company. Reading these reviews gives you great insight into how people perceive your business, what is working well and how you can improve. [Read related article: 10 Ways to Get Good Customer Reviews]
  
• Your response to reviews: How you respond to your reviews is just as important as the reviews themselves. Interacting with people who leave positive reviews shows that your brand appreciates its loyal customers. When you’re faced with negative reviews, offering great customer service shows that you care about making things right, which may change the minds of nonsupporters.
• Your online presence: Your presence should be consistent across your website, review sites and social media — anywhere you communicate with your customers. Respond to customers on social accounts, keep your online presence updated, and maintain a consistent brand voice. Potential customers will recognize your efforts and be more likely to engage with your business.
• Your employees: It’s hard to maintain a positive public image if your employees are unhappy and don’t enjoy their work. “Today, everyone has the ability to attack or defend a company on social media or at the dinner table,” Austin said. “It’s important to have employees that are the first to defend and promote the company they work for.”

Examples of good company reputations

These are a few examples of companies that have built great public images:

• HubSpot: The software platform works to understand their clients’ experiences by listening to their needs and coming up with actionable solutions to any issues that arise. HubSpot’s review sites are filled with positive comments about the company’s customer service.
• Shopify: The e-commerce platform has built a reputation as a one-stop shop for website maintenance that provides top-notch technical support. Shopify also proudly displays real customer testimonials on its website.
• JustFab: JustFab excels at providing a unique, tailored customer experience in which users take a brief style quiz that personalizes the items that appear in the online shop. This user experience yields many positive reviews.

Sean Peek contributed to this article.