How to improve your company’s reputation
Want to improve your company’s education? Discover seven things you can do starting right now.
Many people focus on product as the be-all and end-all of brand feasibility. They falsely presume that businesses with good solutions will always win the market race and, vice versa, those with subpar products will quickly go under. If you ever start a company, you’ll realize that things are not as simple as they might seem.
Reputation, in particular, is the real difference maker for businesses. It’s the intangible asset that sets your brand apart in a sea of similar no-name solutions. So, given its importance, we suggest you proactively look for ways to improve it. Hopefully, with this article, you’ll be able to do just that!
1) Great customer service
When you start reading Google reviews for any company, you’ll notice that the majority of negative reviews revolve around customer service. If you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. In this modern, digital world, most people buy products online, without having any contact with company’s sales representatives.
Only when things go awry will they communicate with one of the brand’s representatives. Unfortunately, this first contact can be disastrous. Unless you have excellent staff and a reasonable rebuttal to every comment, clients might assess you as negligible and downright unprofessional.
2) Competitive prices
You would be shocked by the sheer number of businesses that perish just because they were overpricing their products and services. While high prices might seem like a good strategy for brands that have a dominant market position, it’s something that can quickly come back to bite you.
Businesses that follow this policy quickly become known as greedy corporations, with many of their clients just waiting to jump ship. When a new, cheaper solution hits the market, they usually lose the majority of their client base, even if they match the competitor’s price.
While putting a bit higher price tag might be warranted in some cases, you need to pick and choose your battles. Even if you’re the lone solution on the market, you shouldn’t alienate your client base by being too greedy.
3) A diverse approach
By creating a diverse team and working with a certified diverse supplier, your brand will gain public acceptance. Stakeholders will perceive your brand as progressive, liberal, and willing to give everyone the same opportunity.
However, diversity has a much more practical application than just showcasing your brand. By having people of different ethnicities and backgrounds on your team, you can get creative juices flowing. Furthermore, if your employees hail from different countries, they will use a different methodology for solving problems, all of which can go in your favor.
4) No Exploitation
Companies that use cheap labor, harm animals, or use children in an unsightly manner quickly get a bad reputation. As someone who affects the lives of many, you need to implement policies that will prevent any form of mistreatment of jeopardized groups.
Whether we’re talking about your operational or marketing processes, you need to think twice about your every action. For example, even if it was inadvertent, there’s a chance you might exploit kids during a marketing campaign. Similarly, as you’re looking to cut costs, you might undercut some of your suppliers struggling to make ends meet.
5) Partnerships
Partnerships are perhaps the best way to increase your reputation, as you’ll have an opportunity to work with other clients and the general public face-to-face. Stakeholders will have a chance to see your policies in practice while determining whether you’re reliable and trustworthy.
Another great thing about partnerships is that they increase your exposure. Live events and guesting on other websites and social media can significantly boost your brand awareness, which will open additional opportunities for profits.
6) Full transparency
The best way to make public trust you is by being transparent. People are generally skeptical toward companies and are looking for smallest signs to label them as exploitative or immoral. Because of that, you need to share every single detail about your business as long as it won’t jeopardize your operations, that is.
Specifically, most clients want to know whether you procure resources in an ethical manner. They always want to know more about your logistics, packaging process, quality of ingredients, diversity policies, environmental policies, and so on. Providing as much information as possible about your processes will also show you have nothing to hide.
7) Better future
People also want to know in which direction your business is heading. Many consumers have a panic fear that you’ll start exploiting workers or destroy environment once you have a stable client base and enough resources at your disposal. To put their fears aside, you need to create a mission statement that will outline your future intentions.
Ideally, you should outline or your plans in the following several years. Focus on things that people care about because they don’t wants to hear about your profits. As long as you fulfill these promises, you’ll build a reputation as one of the most responsible, ethical brands on a specific market.
