By Andrew Bernstein
In the last few years, the importance of building and maintaining brands and corporate reputation has only grown as a priority for organizations. This has been both an
evolution as well as a revolution.
At least five significant factors have caused confusion and mistrust by the consumer: (1) media bombardment from all types of new and old sources, (2) greater access to
information both on- and off-line, (3) a lack of trust in executives and corporations caused by corporations cutting pensions and healthcare, (4) the abrupt pulling of well-
established products off the market from trusted companies due to health and safety concerns, and (5) corporations discovered committing financial malfeasance.
Government and industry watchdogs have tried to legislate and regulate good behavior, but that certainly has not created a newfound trust. In fact, this has forced the consumer
to become even more wary.
What is a consumer or businessperson to do without reliable sources and lack of trust in the existing information sources? Both are increasingly turning to unpaid and
unfiltered word-of-mouth journalism perpetuated through the Internet, which has provided an easy and fast source for information and opinions on corporations, products, offerings,
product claims, sales, promotions and corporate ethics.
The last six months have seen focus on consumer-generated media and word of mouth marketing explode with a multitude of incidents where the consumer voice has helped bring to
light and quickly disseminate issues from design flaws, unfair consumer service policies and corporate greed. What makes the consumer-generated media revolution different and
further demonstrates its staying power is that consumers greatly enjoy exploring and sharing information in this new media. In fact, the empowerment is almost intoxicating as it
gives almost anyone the opportunity to be heard. It is high speed Internet access, shared Web communities and easy Web publishing tools that makes anyone's thoughts quickly
available and widely shared.
This leaves corporations with a large burden. They must now keep track of their reputations as fast as consumers - and, increasingly, blogging employees - share their opinions
online.
Corporate reputation has become a multi-faceted task. Initially the idea for corporations was to convey a comprehensive and positive reputation not only in economic terms, but
also in social and environmental issues. PR managers need to track the efficacy of corporate goals and provide barometers and early warning when consumers and others decide to
air negative thoughts, whether grounded in fact or not.
To get a holistic assessment, practitioners constantly need to compare and contrast their corporatiosn against benchmarks by evaluating reputation within eight key
categories:
- Brand strength
- Corporate image
- Competitive issues
- Good citizenship, including environmental, social and health issues
- Corporate strategy and practices
- Corporate structure and operations, often picked up in comments by current and former employees
- Financial issues; look for shareholder as well as consumer comments
With over 20 million blogs and counting, and tens of thousands of message boards, these new media are popular and representative of a wide group of consumers and business
users.
The danger of turning a blind eye to citizen journalism is too great to ignore, as FedEx learned when it decided to sue Jose Avila, who made furniture out of used FedEx
boxes and proudly posted his resulting work to his Web site. Within two months, the cease and desist order sent by FedEx helped make Avila a national star on "Good Morning
America," CNN, NBC and many other mainstream media outlets. Meanwhile, FedEx received comments such as "Let's all tell FedEx we are FedUp by boycotting them." More
than a few detractors also posted online suggestions for UPS to one-up FedEx.
With corporations spending significant sums on their reputation and branding, it is imperative for PR execs to maintain the brand and avoid trouble. With proper planning and
execution, many of these potential problems can be discovered before it is too late. Clearly, there is an advantage to those companies with the foresight to beat their competitors
in acknowledging consumer-generated media and make this analysis an important part of their marketing processes.
Contact: Andrew Bernstein is CEO of Cymfony, an automated media measurement, market research and business intelligence company based in Watertown, MA. He can be reached at
617.673.6000.