Blog

June 2009 – Aisleen Marley writes…

‘Perception is Reality’

PR is primarily concerned with reputation – ‘what you do, what you say, and what others say about you”. In an age where it is easier than ever before to access not only information about a company but to dig deeper into other people’s opinions, thoughts and experiences, it has never been more important to proactively manage your reputation.

The nature of PR and its ability to appear “less obvious” than (for example) advertising or marketing, makes it one of the most effective and credible ways to ensure that the reputation of your company holds firm.

So what is ‘reputation’? Contrary to popular belief it’s not based on what you tell people you are like, or what your advertising tries to persuade people about your company. If only things were that simple. Unfortunately, building and maintaining a ‘good reputation’ involves a lot more work. Reputation is all about trust and credibility and is formed by all of the experiences, impressions, beliefs, feelings and knowledge that people have about an organisation.

A bad reputation not only impacts on the bottom line of an individual organisation, but can have a detrimental effect on other organisations operating in their sector It has therefore been said that companies should have a moral obligation to manage and improve their reputation, not only for their own business success but for the sake of their industry as a whole.

Take for example the car industry: this is an industry that for many years has suffered from a tarnished reputation – generated by reports of ‘rip off’ mechanics and ‘dodgy salesmen’. People cannot be expected to rationally separate out these individual experiences and give another company the benefit of the doubt; instead they will group ‘garages’ together - their perception is their reality.

With so many negative thoughts and beliefs about an industry – there are clearly not going to be any ‘quick fixes’; a tarnished image needs to be replaced over time, and PR can be the perfect thing to make this happen.

Now this doesn’t mean simply churning out good news story after good news story to divert attention from the real issues – a good news story may be effective in the short term, but building a reputation needs a longer term strategy.

Transparency is key. There is no point trying to hide from the issues, instead, it is important to acknowledge the reputation that exists in the eyes of the public. Admit that you may not be perfect and be open about the efforts you are making to fix this. Let people see that you care about what they think and that you are proactively working to change their opinion and earn their trust.

There are a number of ways in which this can be done. Yes, tell the media and the public that you are doing x, y, and z – but better still, show them how you are doing it – invite them in, be transparent. If people are worried about what happens to their car when they leave it in a garage – let them see for themselves. If your company is engaging in staff training in order to teach them about how to better treat their customers – don’t just post out a press release saying so – invite the media to come along too – let them see exactly what you’re saying to your staff and how committed your company is to improving your customer’s experience.

Once you start to make progress in the areas that effect your reputation the most – shout about it! But remember, it’s not enough to simply cover up the cracks without ensuring that real improvements are being made from the inside out. Only then will your communications and your company gain real credibility.