9 Strategies for Building a Positive Company Reputation

Building and maintaining an outstanding reputation should be one of a company's top priorities. 

A strong reputation can lead to more customers, better relationships with partners, improved employee morale, and a slew of other benefits. 

Here are some tips and tactics for building a positive image and keeping it intact.

Establish Core Values and Stick to them.

First and foremost, it’s important to establish core values that will drive business decisions. These values should be in alignment with the organization’s mission, vision, and goals. Once these are established and communicated within the company, it’s important to ensure that all actions taken follow them. 

From customer service initiatives to marketing campaigns to employee performance reviews, decisions made should always be reflective of the organization’s core values. 

This will help foster an atmosphere of trust and loyalty with customers and partners alike.

To maximize impact, Adidas leverages brand moments to raise awareness and create opportunities for its employees to engage and get involved.  

In 2020, Adidas launched a collaboration with Impact Hub, the biggest social entrepreneurship network, to support start-ups in accelerating their common mission to make the world a better place through sport. The “She Breaks Barriers” program focuses on removing the barriers faced by girls and young women in sports. 

She Breaks Barriers is an Adidas initiative to encourage and empower the next generation of female creators, athletes, and leaders. 

Develop Strategic Partnerships.

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Part of building a strong, trusted business reputation is to form relationships with other established and reputable companies in your industry or field. 

Developing strategic partnerships allows you to tap into existing networks, build credibility for yourself and your company, increase visibility for your brand, and boost customer trust. 

MasterCard and Apple teamed up to introduce Apple Pay. 

MasterCard users were able to use a global contactless option. Apple also had the benefit of the experience and knowledge of an international credit card company to help develop its contactless system.

Burger King launched the campaign “Day without Whopper ", where they stopped selling their top-selling product The Whopper for a day to redirect and increase sales to McDonald's.

McDonald's launched the campaign to raise $2 for Children With Cancer every time they sell a Big Mac or signature burger.

Based on numerous social media posts, this seemed to have a great impact on consumers and patrons. Burger King sales didn't suffer much as many customers had already visited the restaurant and then, after becoming annoyed, they ordered something else.

This can also help generate leads and mobilize referrals from partners, leveraging their existing customer base to grow yours even more quickly.

Ensure Open and Honest Communication.

Transparency is a major component of any successful company's reputation. Keeping stakeholders, both internal and external, informed about the actions taken and changes made will build trust and help avoid any surprises later on down the line. 

The social media management company Buffer provides full transparency in its business operations. They will publish everything, including financials, revenues, expenditures, and salaries. They share their information with everyone in the hope of creating a trusted and authentic community. 

While this level of honest communication is not necessary, it can help build a stronger company reputation. 

Communication initiatives should include a system for quickly responding to feedback, proactively making announcements about new initiatives or changes to policies, and providing regular updates on progress toward achieving goals.

Consider Your Online Presence.

Managing your online presence should be a part of your company’s ongoing proactive communications efforts, especially when it comes to maintaining a positive reputation.

Your company's online presence should make it easy for customers to find you when searching for your products or services. This is important for branding, brand awareness, and visibility for your products or services to users searching for similar keywords.

Local Directories

For local businesses, focus on building your local citations. Local citations are often listed in online directories like Yelp and social networks like Facebook, as well as search platforms such as Google Business Profile. 

These listings will display prominently at the top of search results for “near me” searches. 

Blogging

Consider how potential customers perceive you based on the content you share—make sure it's relevant, informative, entertaining, and inspiring.

Blogs can help you convert website traffic to leads, turn them into subscribers, and social media followers, and allow you to reach them later. 

Want to increase your online presence? Start blogging.

Manage Customer Reviews

People want to feel safe before making a purchase online. Online reviews are a great way for potential customers to find out more about you and your product. Yelp and Google My Business let customers give feedback or read about past customer experiences.

This route to the market has a huge impact on the buying decisions of customers. It is quite powerful. 91% of 18-34-year-olds trust online reviews as highly as personal recommendations. 93% of consumers believe that online reviews have influenced their purchasing decisions.

Invest in Community Relationships & Charitable Contributions.

Philanthropy has become a more prominent form of advertising or public relations. It promotes a company's image and brand through cause-related marketing, sponsorships, or other high-profile sponsorships.

Companies cannot function alone in the society they live in. Their ability to compete is dependent on the conditions of the location in which they operate.

While improving education is often seen as a social problem, the level of education in the local workforce has a significant impact on a company's competitiveness. A social improvement can have a significant impact on a company's ability to compete.

Community and stakeholder relations can create positive public opinion if your organization plays a role in projects, charitable contributions, and engagements with local governments or organizations. 

Establishing relationships in the community that promote environmental initiatives, diversity, education, safety, and human rights are great ways to increase public favorability. 

Supporting charities and partnering with professional organizations can also help build goodwill while demonstrating thought leadership.

Utilize Customer Reviews & Testimonials Effectively.

Asking customers to share their experiences with your products or services is a great way to showcase your credibility and generate positive emotions. Utilizing customer reviews on your website, through PR channels, or on social media can create a stronger online presence, attract more customers, and ultimately lead to higher levels of consumer trust. 

Customers are skeptical about buying a product or service. As you can see, customers are hesitant about making purchases. Customers' testimonials are a great way to find out how helpful a product/service is.

Your company can post testimonials in any format on its website. You can use interactive video or text. These are great ways to increase sales and build the online image of your product/service. 

Customer testimonials provide valuable feedback that can help fuel marketing efforts and increase sales! Positive feedback from customers is the best marketing tool.

Conclusion

One of the most effective and direct methods of company reputation-building is by connecting with customers. Be honest and open with your customers and potential customers at all times.

Let them know the rules you operate by, deliver on your promises, treat everyone fairly regardless of gender, race, or religion, and never engage in any sort of data manipulation or exploitation. 

Additionally, transparency with pricing will also help in building trust for your company and allowing customers to make their own informed decisions.

To start managing your company reputation today,  contact NewReputation today for a free online reputation analysis.