Reputation is a key asset for any organization, especially in times of crisis. It can influence how stakeholders perceive and react to your actions, messages, and values. But how can you measure reputation in corporate communications during a crisis? Here are some best practices and tools to help you assess and improve your reputation management.
Before you can measure your reputation, you need to define what you want to achieve with your corporate communications. What are the key messages, values, and attributes that you want to convey to your audiences? How do you want them to feel and think about your organization? What are the potential risks and opportunities for your reputation in the crisis context? By setting clear and realistic reputation goals, you can align your communication strategy and tactics with your desired outcomes.
Reputation goals must be set up at the highest level of the company. As branding is part of private equity value and corporate strategy, establishing SMART targets with regards to segment and shareholder expectations are key.
Measure corporate reputation during a crisis through media and social media monitoring, stakeholder surveys, brand perception research, competitor analysis, crisis impact evaluation, and expert opinion assessment.
First things first, you want to identify whether it is a crisis or an issue. From there, you want to understand the impact of the crisis/issue on your brand. And then, you can identify your goals for this specific crisis/issue communication. Dissecting this and taking it down on the smallest scale will help you identify clearly your goals and objectives.
Reputation is a complex and multidimensional concept that can be measured in different ways. Depending on your reputation goals, you may want to focus on different indicators, such as awareness, trust, satisfaction, loyalty, advocacy, or influence. You may also want to consider how your reputation varies across different stakeholder groups, such as customers, employees, investors, media, regulators, or competitors. You can use various sources of data, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, social media analytics, media coverage analysis, or online reviews, to capture different aspects of your reputation.
During any crisis, or in the immediate wake of one, I believe it’s essential to monitor two things: what stakeholders are saying and how stakeholders are behaving. These two outcomes should be measured against a pre-determined crisis severity gauge, that forms part of a robust crisis communications plan (that is stress tested regularly) to help steer through choppy reputational waters. As ever with anything issues or crisis related, being fully prepared is absolutely vital to ensure that any crisis, no matter its level of severity and impact, does not become a drama. Corporate communications teams would do well to invest in employing expertise to explore, map and strategise every aspect of a potential crisis, including measurement.
To simplify a "complex and multidimensional concept", think of the three foundations of reputation - (1) economic performance, (2) social responsiveness and (3) the organisation's ability to deliver valuable outcomes to stakeholders. Be careful not to confuse "corporate image" with reputation - you can build corporate image with slogans and packaging but the publics own your reputation.
To make sense of your reputation data, you need a framework that can help you organize, analyze, and interpret it. A reputation measurement framework can help you identify the strengths and weaknesses of your reputation, the gaps and opportunities for improvement, and the impact and effectiveness of your communication actions. There are different models and tools that you can use, such as the RepTrak system, the Reputation Quotient, or the Corporate Character Scale. These frameworks can provide you with a comprehensive and standardized way to measure your reputation across different dimensions and stakeholder groups.
To evaluate your reputation performance, you need to compare it with some reference points. You can benchmark your reputation against your own historical data, your reputation goals, your competitors, or your industry standards. Benchmarking can help you understand how your reputation changes over time, how it differs from your expectations, how it stacks up against your peers, and how it relates to your market position. You can use tools such as the Reputation Institute, the Edelman Trust Barometer, or the Fortune Most Admired Companies to access benchmarking data and insights.
Once you have measured your reputation, you need to communicate your results to your internal and external stakeholders. You can use different formats and channels, such as reports, dashboards, presentations, newsletters, or blogs, to share your reputation insights and achievements. Communicating your reputation results can help you build trust and credibility, showcase your value and impact, celebrate your successes and learn from your failures, and engage and motivate your audiences. You can also use your reputation results to inform and adjust your communication strategy and tactics.
Reputation measurement is not a one-time activity, but an ongoing process. You need to monitor and improve your reputation continuously, especially in times of crisis. You need to track and respond to the changing expectations, perceptions, and sentiments of your stakeholders. You need to adapt and innovate your communication actions and messages. You need to learn and apply the best practices and lessons from your own and others' experiences. By doing so, you can enhance and protect your reputation in corporate communications during a crisis.