Consumers form opinions about a company based on how the business reacts during crises more than on what others say about the company.
According to a new Weber Shandwick study, 85% of consumers form opinions about companies based on how they react during crises. How an organization responds to issues and crises is more important to public perception than what the media says (76%), what employees say (76%) and what the company says about itself – whether that is on its website (68%), what its leaders say (61%) or its advertising (61%).
“Proactive reputation risk management has never been more critical than it is today. Preparedness is a must, with a plan that ensures agility in mitigating and addressing issues and crises,” states Micho Spring, Weber Shandwick’s global corporate practice chair, in a press release.
The research also finds that promoting how good or healthy a company’s products are for individual consumers may be the best reputation management strategy. That is more important to consumers than how much company products improve the collective good, such as improving society or the environment. According to the study, emphasizing the effect of a product on the individual now seems to be the preferred focus for PR and marketing communications.
The “Good for Me” Factor
Weber Shandwick calls it the “good for me factor.” The research reveals a need for more personalized corporate narratives, it says.
“Such narratives today are most relevant when they relate directly to individual consumers’ well-being in addition to a company’s commitment to tackling broad societal issues,” states Andy Polansky, Weber Shandwick CEO. “Communications, marketing and R&D need to be more integrated than ever to achieve this new reputation paradigm.” Senior executives at companies with highly esteemed reputations are much more likely than those at less reputable organizations to say their companies promote how healthy or good their products and/or services.
PR & Marketing Take-Aways
Weber Shandwick urges corporate communicators and marketers to be aware that:
Besides functional utility and basic quality, products must address customers’ well-being – whether that is in the form of health, safety or simply being “good for you.”
A crisis response plan and or insights into potential future troubles are now imperative. Brands need to respond to and engage with their stakeholders on a continual and agile basis.
Being Proactive is Essential for Reputation Management
PR crisis management experts emphasis the importance of proactively managing corporate reputation rather than waiting for a crisis to strike. Being proactive entails regularly monitoring your public reputation — not just when a specific incident requires your attention. Integrated news monitoring and social media listening collects online content, including blog posts, online reviews and social media comments to better understand public perceptions about the company and its products or services.
With an integrated news and social media monitoring service, organizations can monitor worldwide news and multiple social media channels simultaneously and analyze large volumes of data quickly through a single interface. Some services measure the overall sentiment by grading news articles and social media posts with automated software and human analysts.
Comprehensive social media monitoring can provide real insights into consumer sentiment. It can also identify a developing PR crisis before it explodes. And it can keep close watch over a crisis in progress. All that seems essential to understand how the public perceives the company, what is harming its corporate reputation, and what the company must do to improve its reputation.
Bottom Line: New research delves into the most important factors influencing corporate reputation and how those factors are shifting. The study can help guide PR and corporate communications strategies.
William J. Comcowich founded and served as CEO of CyberAlert LLC, the predecessor of Glean.info. He is currently serving as Interim CEO and member of the Board of Directors. Glean.info provides customized media monitoring, media measurement and analytics solutions across all types of traditional and social media.
