The four critical drivers that make or break your business reputation

How much is your reputation worth? People are generally reluctant to put a dollar figure on their reputation because it’s worth is invaluable when it comes to building a successful career and or sustainable business. As Virgin founder Richard Branson says: “Your brand is only as good as your reputation.” While reputation may be intangible, reputation is currency because it influences your most important tangible results in business.

According to the Harvard Business Review, organisations with a strong positive reputation attract better staff, are perceived as providing more value so can charge higher prices and have more loyal customers. 

After more than 35 years of building brands and managing reputations, I believe that building a great reputation comes from being consistent in what you think, say and do. People trust other people when they have good intention and do what they say they will do. Similarly, people trust businesses that have good character and deliver on their brand promises. To establish consistency of thought, words and action, a business needs to align the three organisational dimensions of culture, communications and customer experience. 

1. Culture reflects what an organisation thinks — expressed through its beliefs, values, sense of purpose and traditions.

2. Communications reflect what an organisation says — expressed through the brand identity, imagery, stories, language and tonality it conveys.

3. Customer experience reflects what an organisation does — expressed through direct delivery of its products and services, and interactions it facilitates via customer touchpoints and marketing channels.

When culture, communications and customer experience are aligned — that is, when organisational beliefs, values and a strong sense of purpose (CULTURE) are embedded within marketing messages, branding and channels (COMMUNICATIONS), and then faithfully delivered upon through the product/service (CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE) — credibility and trust are built from the consistency of thoughts, words and actions. 

This alignment of culture, communications and customer experience also creates more cohesive and engaged teams, because the thinking, language and behaviours of employees are based on a common purpose and shared understanding of organisational vision and values. Over time, this consistency improves organisational results, relationships and reputation. 

Conversely, when culture, communications and customer experience are out of sync, organisational credibility diminishes, trust is compromised and reputation suffers due to mixed messages, inconsistent interactions across customer touchpoints, less engaged staff and unfulfilled customer expectations in product/service delivery.

While the three dimensions of culture, communications and customer experience have long been associated with reputation, a fourth organisational dimension has emerged as a key driver of reputation — corporate citizenship.

4. Citizenship reflects what an organisation gives — expressed through its sense of public spirit or community mindedness, and its contributions to society beyond its profit-making purpose.

The pandemic and other world crises have seen an increased desire and expectation for brands to stand for more than just profit and products. People want brands to act in socially-conscious, purpose-driven ways to help create a better world, and they are making choices in line with this belief.

More than ever, customers are buying  for purpose and not just with purpose. And workers are placing greater emphasis on joining mission-driven companies aligned with their beliefs and values. In response, there is a rising tide of organisations taking a stand on social, political and environmental issues. Businesses are joining school students in their protest against perceived political inaction on climate change, governments are mandating policy to ensure gender equity and CEOs are speaking out on societal matters not connected to the bottom line of their companies.

Research conducted in 2021 by reputation measurement company RepTrak, highlights the importance of corporate citizenship to company reputation. They found that environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance was among the top three factors determining whether someone will buy from, trust or recommend a company. ESG was also the number one factor influencing whether stakeholders will give the benefit of the doubt to a company during a crisis. 

Doing good not only drives a positive reputation, it’s also good for health and wellbeing, and this can have further positive flow-on effects for businesses. While individual employees benefit from a sense of fulfilment when they contribute to the greater good, when doing good is done collectively, morale is boosted and employee engagement increases. 

By aligning the four organisational dimensions of culture (think), communications (say), customer experience (do) and citizenship (give), you’ll not only enhance your reputation, you’ll also build a brand people want to work, buy from and invest in.