Despite the fancy title, brand reputation management is not a new concept. Most credible organisations have always taken their reputation seriously. It was called good old fashioned PR and word of mouth marketing. However, the arena has changed fundamentally since then. User generated feedback via social sites and review networks, is now common place, and this instant feedback means new challenges and opportunities for every business.

Today, brand reputation management is about pro-actively managing the references, conversations and feedback on your business. Typically, these occur online, but it is equally important to be mindful of what happens in the offline environment. Delivering poor service to a customer in a store will invariably make its way through the virtual grapevine, therefore it shouldn’t be ignored.

So, what course of action should you take? Basically, having a good defence and attack strategy is required. Here are some key areas you should address:

1.       Search engine dominance

2.       Brand monitoring

3.       Social media PR

4.       Reviews and recommendations

5.       Customer service and culture

6.       Negative PR management

7.       Brand advocacy

1. Search Engine Dominance
When a user types your business name into a search engine, your company website should be the first thing they see. This may or may not include a paid advert, but if your business name is not exclusive, then this is worth considering.
Although results will vary depending on device, the remaining listings will be a combination of local business results, news stories and social profiles. Wikipedia pages and review sites can also make the front page, so check that any facts printed are correct.

Your aim should be to dominate the first page results with listings you control. Set up key social profiles (if you haven’t already) and crucially, make sure you have a Google+ page. Google will include Google+ updates on the right hand side of its desktop search results, so being active on this channel is a great way to push positive news and information.

To exude authority you should also aim to dominate for key search terms within your industry. The more a customer sees your brand, the more they will regard you as an important player.

2. Brand Monitoring
Depending on the size of your business, there may be lots of people talking about your brand online, or a very small amount. Irrespective of numbers, it is important that you understand what is being said: You may need to respond to inaccurate stories, deal with an aggrieved customer or simply reply to an unanswered question. Even a small number of ‘mentions’ can have implications – both positive and negative.
Fortunately, there are lots of tools to help you to monitor such conversations.

These include:

·         Google Alerts

·         Socialmention,

·         Technorati and

·         Hootsuite

Your aim should be to monitor ‘brand mentions’ wherever they take place online – forums, social sites, blog posts etc; then you can respond where appropriate. For smaller businesses, take advantage of as many free monitoring tools as possible; for larger businesses, it may be worth considering a paid solution or to outsource this activity.

3. Social Media PR
An important part of BRM is to project a positive business image. Social media provides an excellent platform for this, allowing you to cultivate your desired public personality in a very controlled way. Look to maintain activity on the networks relevant to your business and strive to create a reputation as an authority. This will add credibility to what you say.

For larger businesses, social activity should also extend to the online profiles of your key staff. Linkedin pages (including your company page) must be accurate and up-to-date; whilst ‘personal’ social sites should be identified as such.


4. Reviews & Recommendations
Every business is open to critique and the digital arena provides the perfect soap box to air such views. For most companies this can be a positive thing – an opportunity to showcase glowing endorsements. However, this needs to be carefully managed. This is especially true for lesser known brands, which customers will usually research beforehand.

If your business is fortunate enough to have many excellent reviews, then look to leverage these either on your website and/or via services such as Trustpilot and Bazarrevoice. Although there are costs involved with both of these, they can form a key part of your brand reputation management. By sharing and encouraging reviews, your customers will do the positive talking for you. Customer endorsements have been proven to hold more weight than company recommendations, so investing in this area can help all aspects of your business.

Admittedly, not every business is in the fortunate position of having a catalogue of positive customer feedback. In this case, you need to look at addressing any problems first. However, negative reviews can help to highlight where these improvements need to be made.

5. Customer Service & Culture
Whilst brand reputation management is not a term that all staff will be familiar with, it is crucial that they understand its significance. Every interaction with a customer or supplier is potentially being evaluated, so this needs to be communicated internally. Consider introducing targets for Customer Service staff and actively look to actively champion the importance of your brand reputation internally.

6. Negative PR management
Negative PR can occur in many shapes and forms - from a disgruntled customer posting feedback online to an exposé on unethical business practises. For most businesses, however, negative feedback will be from customers. In this instance, what is important is how this feedback is dealt with. If negative comments are posted online, make sure they are followed up and responded to – in a timely manner. If the complaint is especially strong, it may be worth offering a discount; or if your brand is coveted, a branded giveaway with a sorry note. Crucially, if the same negative feedback keeps occurring then it is time to address this issue, rather than keep apologising.


7. Brand Advocacy
Lastly, who better to endorse your brand than your best customers? Send your most valued customers free items, invite them to a VIP event or ask them to take part in company feedback. The likelihood is that they will quite happily talk about their experiences online, projecting a very favourable viewpoint of your brand.