When you start a new business, you may not take reputation management into consideration. Maybe you’re caught up in the day-to-day operations of your business, and you’re trying to break even or even start making a profit. In general, this is what people focus on in the first year of starting a business. But, as time goes on and your business gets a foothold in the market, it becomes more important to manage your reputation as well.
What If You Don’t Manage Your Reputation?
The fact is that if you don’t try to manage your reputation, it might take a downturn. This could happen in various ways.
- If you emphasize the cheapness of your product, people might start assuming that it’s low quality.
- If there are some customer service issues with more than one client, then people might start assuming that you don’t provide good customer service.
- If a few clients are dissatisfied with a certain aspect of the product, they might start telling others about it and this might damage your reputation.
A reputation is a delicate thing. It can be hurt by any small mistake that you or your employees make. And sometimes, the damage to your reputation may not be caused by any mistake at all; it might just be something that people assume.
Taking Control of Your Reputation
The best thing is to manage your reputation right from the beginning. You have to take control of how people view your company and your product. You have to make sure that any marketing or advertising materials you put out there don’t have any negative connotations underlying them. And you need to set up your online presence in such a way that people perceive your company and your product in the way that you’d like them to.
More Transparency = Better Reputation
To take control of your reputation, you can try being as transparent as possible on your website and social media pages. Of course, if you have certain things that are worth emphasizing, such as the sustainability of your product, your environmentally-conscious policies or the great way in which you treat your employees, you should mention these things. If, on the other hand, there are certain aspects of your product or business that you’re still working on, it’s a good idea to be transparent about these as well.
Contact us to learn more about using transparency to manage your company reputation.