Managing reputations through integrated communications

A company’s reputation is inextricably linked to its success.

Effective reputation management strategies give businesses a major edge in increasingly competitive markets, enabling them to differentiate themselves globally, nationally or locally in their specific field or specialism.

When done right, protecting and promoting a company’s reputation generates an increase in revenue and elevates brand equity. Put simply, the more favourable the perception of a company, the greater its influence amongst stakeholders will be. The greater the influence; the more commercial success it can hope to achieve.

Building trust to strengthen relationships should be the key driver when it comes to reputation management. Trust is built through consistently delivering on your brand promise and being authentic, so that perception is aligned with reality.

So, how can reputations be managed through integrated communications?

The PESO framework is a brilliant planning tool and can be used to explain the concept of integration and the relationships within public relations and marketing.

The acronym stands for: Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned (PESO), and in order to build trust one should look to maximise on each of these touchpoints.

1. Tell your story across earned media

The masterful craftsmanship of stories which transcend borders and captivate hearts are those which appeal to the trichotomy of ethos, pathos and logos.

Storytelling as an art, science and strategy – is sector agnostic and can be used across the board as an effective communications tactic to weave creativity into your brand narrative. Telling your story should be number one on your priority list and well-told stories are the lifeblood of the world’s most iconic (and successful) businesses and brands.

One way we can effectively communicate stories is through the media.

The media, according to the PESO framework is an “earned” channel. It provides a superb way to differentiate, position and create a compelling narrative. These stories (or press releases/ features) are pitched to a targeted journalist and may be picked up by the editorial agenda if they are seen as a credible or news-worthy. Earned media is rated as the highest on the trust-scale of the PESO model as you cannot pay for it (unlike “paid” media – i.e. advertising)

2. Tell your story across shared media

Cultivating credibility and building trust with key internal and external stakeholders can also be done across “shared” platforms, these are the platforms on which the content is curated by your own company.

Social media is perhaps the most powerful way to maximise visibility and authority.

A company’s online narrative should capture it’s vision, values, culture and direction. All well-crafted shared media strategies will deliver authentic, engaging and inspiring content for the purpose of persuading, informing or delighting a specific audience.

Telling your story on these shared platforms (Twitter/ Facebook/ LinkedIn/ Instagram/ YouTube/ Pinterest) is a marvellous way to nurture a solid reputation and the beauty of these platforms is that they can be accessed globally. Brands should be cautious so as not to over-promote (as shared media ranks relatively low on the trust scale) and in the age of the intelligently curious, this can be perceived as brash.

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Curzon PR is a London-based PR firm working with clients globally. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Business Development Team [email protected]