Reputation Is Critical To Business Success

  3. Investors Reputation is keenly watched by current and prospective investors. They will be more willing to invest in a company that has their confidence, and this is invariably because of a strong reputation in several areas, including popularity among customers and clients, vision, stability, appropriate attitude to risk, integrity and sound leadership. 4. Opinion leaders In the words of the legendary investor Warren Buffett, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” This is never truer than in the case of opinion formers and influencers. Given their powerful position to influence others, it is essential that an organization maintains a good reputation with them. The Media Age Let’s face it: we live in the age of new media, where public conversations bring together people from all over the globe. Thanks to the Internet, anyone anywhere can create a buzz that ushers in new heroes or ruins an organization’s reputation in a matter of moments. Governments, corporations and individuals can be exposed in online chats by more than 1 billion Internet users. That’s downright impressive. It is one of the most powerful shapers of public perception. Crowd-sourcing or open sourcing, social networking and Web 2.0 prove that information can become more valuable as more people use it. It is a force to be reckoned with; it is a force that all business strategies need to engage with. These five tips can help you navigate your online reputation:

• Embrace the online and social channels to build reputations and brand.
• Appoint full-time professionals to think about, monitor and act on digital activities, in real time.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate to proactively manage reputation.
• Advocate, support, observe and engage in multiple streams to deliver strategy.
• Stay ahead of online trends and conversations by incorporating this medium at the core level.

“Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit,” said James Russell Lowell. The Value of Relationships As we have seen, reputation, and in particular, brands, are the result of everything that happens both internally and externally. They connect with the outside world and need to be managed carefully, constantly and assiduously. The same is true of the next R—elationships, which is the focus for the next article. Related articles:  A Shifting World and New Rules Advantages The business world is shifting and it’s wise to understand and take advantage of the new rules What is Your Company’s Reason? Be sure your company has a good reason and it is communicated to stakeholders What Is A Rouser? The Ultimate Business Leader Leadership- how rousing leaders inspire employees to innovate.