Reputation management: How are you really perceived by your industry?

You may be weighing up the idea of PR for your company and asking yourself, is it worth it?

You may be considering the pros and cons of PR and have come to the conclusion that you’ll be fine, – especially if you think that you’re already well known within your industry.  And, this may well be the case; you may already have an established reputation within your industry – but the most important questions to ask and consider are:

• Do you know how your business is perceived?
• Do you actively manage your reputation, or do you leave it to chance?
• And more importantly, are you ‘top of mind’ for your customers?

Be familiar

When your customers (and potential customers) are considering making a purchase, your company should be right at the very top of their minds. You should be up there as the main firm they’re considering for their needs. This top-of-mind awareness can only be created by being well-known and well-liked within your industry; in other words, by being familiar.

You want to be perceived as a provider of useful information, communicating frequently enough not to be a nuisance, but providing value and insight each time.

A strategically planned, pro-active PR strategy delivers a regular and coherent presence within your industry, providing meaningful messages to inform, engage and inspire your target audience.

Be known for the right things

When you think of a budget airline, which brand do you think of first? The chances are EasyJet and Ryanair come to mind and that is because they work hard at being top of mind for anyone wanting to fly on a budget. But, as Ryanair have proven, just ‘showing-up’ doesn’t guarantee brand success.  The airline regularly appears in many of the UK’s ‘most hated’ brand lists.  In a recent survey, the airline was described as “greedy”, “sneaky” and “arrogant”. These are words that no brand should aspire to be aligned with.

A PR communication strategy helps position your company in the minds of your audience. It helps shape the perception of your business to create positive awareness and support your business goals. By driving and managing the conversation, via proactive media outreach, you position yourself as a Thought Leader in your industry. You become the go-to experts.

The value of reputation

Your brand’s reputation is the sum of all your actions and is a result of everything that you say and do as a business. Your reputation already exists and is an extremely valuable brand asset, therefore, it’s imperative that you proactively manage and protect your company’s reputation. You can’t afford to lose the value you’ve built up over the years and so, it should be nurtured like the prized brand asset that it is. 

So, when weighing up the benefits of PR, consider your brand reputation within your industry and ask two key questions: are you proactively managing your company’s reputation and are you at the top of mind for your customers?