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PR Leading The Way To Better Reputation

Guest post by: Justin McKeown

Article Overview: Every business, no matter how large or small, ultimately depends on its reputation for survival and success. You should be asking what PR means for your company. What should you be doing to manage and enhance your reputation amongst your key audiences?

PR Leading The Way To Better Reputation

Every business, no matter how large or small, ultimately depends on its reputation for survival and success. Customers, suppliers, employees, investors, journalists and regulators can have a powerful impact on your business. They all have an opinion about your organisation and these perceptions will drive their decisions about whether they want to work with you, shop with you and support you.

You should be asking what PR means for your company. What should you be doing to manage and enhance your reputation amongst your key audiences?

Why PR is so strong?

The sector has grown rapidly in recent years, developing its reputation as business critical.

In fact, many PR agencies with turnover in excess of seven figures. Many of these organisations are significant national players in the industry, retaining and representing major business clients.

Finding the Right PR Advisor

But how do you find the right public relations advisor? Do you employ a freelance practitioner; PR consultancy; or in-house practitioner? How do you ensure the money you spend on PR is money well spent?

I recommend that you put PR at the centre of your business strategy and decision-making processes. As expert communicators, public relations professionals are ideally placed to advise you on how different audiences feel about you and how they will react to your business strategy.

Make sure the ‘chemistry' is right - that you feel comfortable working with this person and you are happy to trust them with confidential business information. After all, you'll be working closely together and they'll be managing one of your most precious business assets, your reputation.

Above all, check they are members of your relevant trade body. In the UK, this could be the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) as this means they have signed up to the Code of Conduct.

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Article Tags: audiences, communications, marketing, public relations, reputation, survival



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Picking a corporate lawyer - Hi Everyone, I was just curious to know what's the most important criteria a small business owner should look at when choosing a corporate lawyer? -Cost/hr? -Location? -Reputation/Referral? -Experience? -Personality? How did you pick your lawyer? And what's a fair price to pay per hour? Thanks
Re: How to Promote a MLM Business? - I have to agree with several of the previous posts here. Having your own site so that you can get it ranked is a big one. Also, as stated above, using a "passive" recruiting style works really well. Leading by example, people will naturally want to follow you over time if you prove yourself a leader. Bottom line, if you are promoting your opportunity or products, you are losing sales. About 85% of the population hates to be sold. Promote YOU, build relationships and let the business fall in place after that. Bill
Re: Managing Your Brand - Yes that is why Reputation Management came into existence. When people search your business they shouldn't get anything that can harm your business image. It is better to keep a good image over each channel people are using.
Web Pro News' "Mom's Top 10 Reasons to Social (Web)Mark - I belong to WebProNews, a weekly eletter which provides lots of good info. I reproduce their whole article below on "Mom's Guide To Social Marketing" (No intent on violating copyright - if you think this is good info you too should subscribe to Web Pro News too.) Your mother, if she did her job right, taught you everything you need to know about how to get along in the world and how to get ahead in it. When we were kids, we thought these rules were silly, but later we learned her advice was pretty valuable. In honor of Mother's Day (May 13), we've put her wisdom to work in online marketing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Editor's Note: Social marketing is quickly becoming an integral part of generating business online. While search is the on-ramp, social networks are the destination. And just like any social setting, your rep is important. Mom's Guide to Life, we thought, was a great Guide to Everything. Did we forget some valuable tip? Let us know in the comments section. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mom's Top 10 Steps To A Good Online Reputation 1. Put Your Best Foot Forward: As recently as a year ago, when things were newer, more experimental, a presence on MySpace only was fine. Not so anymore. You have to be everywhere, treating branding in the online world the way you would in the real world. Most social networks allow you to set up a profile page for free (the ones that matter most do anyway). Create your online persona (a polite one), then clone it as necessary. 2. Make Eye Contact: Just like in the real world, wallflowers don't get noticed. The wallflower is most likely an incredible resource – it's just that nobody knows her because she doesn't put herself out there. Be a participant by commenting, inviting, giving. Show up at your new neighbor's door with a gift. It always goes over well – just remember to button your blouse. 3. You Are a Reflection of Your Mother (Company): Nobody likes a poorly kept lawn except the lazy bum that lives behind it. Maintain your public face on the social networks, shine your shoes, crease your pants, embrace your OCD. It may not be your homepage, but it is a home away from home. Maintaining several of these online presences is work, but so is business. 4. Keep An Open Mind: There's an appropriate cliché for every situation – all your eggs in one basket comes to mind here – but I prefer my grandfather's chestnut: "You drove your ducks to a damn poor market." Poetic, that man was. For a long time it was search, search, search. Before that it was email, email, email. But now you need to integrate your campaign. Search is a staple, a pillar of your online campaign, but we also know that Wikipedia ranks consistently number one in the SERPs. 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Instead of competing with his biggest fan, Obama endorsed the site as the official MySpace campaign headquarters. That was the brilliant part. After the page "got too big" for the original operator, the campaign crew took staged a coup to wrest control of the page from their biggest fan. That was the not so brilliant part, even if politics is mean by nature. 7. Watch Your Mouth: Again with the clichés that still hold true – if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all. Steve Rubel learned the hard way that stream-of-consciousness blogging can have you saying something you wish you hadn’t. Transparency doesn't mean total access. 8. Don't Be a Fake: Who do we dislike most in civilized society (aside from the violent)? Liars, cheats, and thieves. We don't like them because we view them as betrayers. That principle applies online, too, when your network discovers you're not what you say you are. And the mob's wrath is one that is hard to endure. Ask Edelman PR about their Wal-Marting Across America campaign. 9. Mind Your Manners: Mom's favorite Bible verse still applies: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Commonly referred to as the Golden Rule on Earth, in Cyberspace, manners and etiquette are becoming increasingly more important. People are getting angry about anonymous drive-by (rude) commentary, salesy and useless comment spam (spam in general constitutes harassment in some form)…the list of ethics and etiquette violations is a long one, so it's probably best to ask yourself: Would I appreciate this if it were done to me? 10. Stay Hip. Right now, MySpace, Facebook, Wikipedia, and YouTube are essential, but they're still relatively new. Few really saw SecondLife coming as a virtual marketplace. Still yet, only the early adopters are talking about Twitter. But change online is swift, and the smart marketer keeps up with what's hot. The last thing you want to do is look outdated. Just don't sell out your core identity in the process. While that's just ten guidelines out of many, Mom always had one rule that ruled them all: Use your head, dodo bird! This is a thinking man's game. Indeed it is. Good luck with your campaigns.


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