How communications drive your reputation

What would you say is the biggest asset of your business? Your employees, clients or your expertise?

Repeatedly, business surveys have shown that for customers, suppliers, employees, investors and journalists, a company’s reputation is its biggest asset.

So what is a ‘reputation’? As someone said to me years ago, ‘a brand is a promise, reputation is keeping that promise’, which is a good way to look at things.

Customers, suppliers, employees, investors and journalists can have a powerful impact on your business. They all have an opinion about the organisations they come into contact with.

Their perception of a business, whether they want to work with you, shop with you, etc., are all driven by your reputation.

Public relations is about reputation – the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you.

Every organisation, no matter how large or small, ultimately depends on its reputation for survival and success – so don’t underestimate the power of good PR.

For businesses’ it is vital to create a story about your business. This might be difficult, but it is up to you to create one where one may not already exist.

PR communicates through those channels which are the most trusted by consumers (editorial, consumer opinion online and peer recommendation) raising a company’s reputation and building trust, and this trust results directly in sales.

For businesses with limited budgets, public relations is a low-cost way of generating immediate business leads that can be converted into sales.

PR should be considered as a key sales generator by business owners as it leads to the trust of current and prospective clients in your business, which in turn leads to sales.

So there you have it. The reputation of your business is your biggest asset. It gives you that competitive edge.

I’d like to hear if you agree that reputation is your biggest asset. If not, what would you choose?