Brand Reputation and what you need to know
Brand Reputation and what you need to know
Brand Reputation is often something we do not think about every day. Our reputations are bringing opportunities to our doors or diverting them elsewhere. Branding is living with intent and making sure you’re taking the right steps to maintain the reputation you and your company are building. One of the most overlooked aspects of building your brand is your brand reputation and how it is formed.
Remember branding is aligning what you want people to think about your business vs. what people actually think about is and vise versa. It’s dressing your business for the right part – in the most authentic way possible. When it comes to brand reputation, there are so many things that some do not think of.
Maintaining your brand reputation is sort of like choosing your friends, I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying, “ choose your friends wisely” maintaining your brand reputation is similar, do business and only business with people who add to your brand, never take away from it. It’s similar to extending your brand through others. Do business with people who not only share your values but in fact live them.
Here are two questions that can help you vet your partners, clients, and even friends
What is of value to you? What is important to them, as a person. Business is personal and whether we like it or not – we want to do business with people that value the same things and that equally share in our sets of values.
What are your goals – personal + business? Are we headed in the same direction or are things confusing and miscommunicated? Sharing in common goals is what moves you forward. That’s why branding an organization is so crucial to long-term success.
To give a bigger perspective, it could be a speaking engagement or event, a partner, a client, a referral group, association, and even a friend. Picking the right people to be associated with can correctly position your business. It’s branding really, choosing to work with an individual industry, person or group lets others form an opinion on whether or not they think your company is the right fit for them – it’s usually a subconscious thing that happens, but it happens, every. Single. time. That is why it’s super important to have a focused approach with your target audience and referral partners.
Who are you aligning your business with and does it help or hurt your brand? How can you be more intentional?
How can we be more intentional about making sure we are aligning ourselves with the right people.
Know yourself. Know your values and not only know them but live them. Stand firm with them. They should be written down. You should be aware of your brand purpose by heart.
Add values to your question set. Take the list of your values and add them to your consult questions, this way you’re vetting them out and knowing you’re not wasting your time. It could be a partner or client.
Consistently. Make sure the experience with the person or company is consistent. You need to have the same experience they are saying the same things and acting the same way every time. Consistency = trust.
Be willing to look beyond the initial meeting. Sometimes it’s not until later do we see or understand that they may or may not be a good representation for us.
Take a look at what they say and HOW they say it. There are so many other things going on than we can see. Where they’ve asked to meet you, Starbucks or parking lot, where they are hosting the event, what type of food they are serving. These are all tells of their brand – these are experiences that they are providing you with to see if you might be a good fit. The question is to ask yourself – Does this align with my organization and me? These are ways to engage if they are the right fit.
It can also work the other way around. Say a brand is hurting and they need a leg up per se. Big brands are known for piggybacking off another strong brand to drown out the poor PR or misrepresentation of them in the minds of their customers.
They want our minds to say, Oh no X brand just a huge mistake and I won’t buy their product, but a month later that brand then align with another in a commercial we see on tv, and we can forgive them and potentially become a customer again.
Ultimately you don’t want to damage your brand in any shape or form. Be intentional with who you align yourself with to make the best out of any potential referral partner, client, or group.
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About Michelle Roberts
President of Novus - Be Known, Inc.
