How to improve your brand’s reputation
You might think the only reason your customer buys from your business is because they want the products or services you offer. In fact, the way you deliver those products and services is often just as important. With this in mind, here are some of the ways you can improve and protect your brand’s reputation.
Look after your team
When it comes to your reputation, your employees are often the ones who have the biggest responsibility to uphold it. The employees lower down the corporate structure see and interact with many more customers every day than those higher up in management. That’s why it’s so important that managers make sure their employees are working happily as a team while they’re at work. Any upset or negative behaviour may impact how they deal with customers or this negative energy could even manifest itself in a public disagreement between employees that a customer may witness.
One of the best ways to improve the working experience for your employees is to ask the employees themselves. The only problem is that if you ask employees individually about their experiences, they may be unlikely to speak out in case they’re seen as being troublemakers or being disruptive to the business. The best way to give your employees the confidence to speak out about any issues is to invest in technology that allows them to answer questions anonymously. Workplace culture survey programmes, like those created by inpulse.com, offer you the chance to consult all of your employees quickly and at the same time, so no employees feel singled out compared to others. Once the workers complete these surveys, the software instantly highlights any problems within the workforce so you can identify then and work on rectifying them immediately.
Solve problems before they go public
Another common way that brands see their reputations damaged is via social media. A few years back, if a customer complained about a product or service, only the customer and the customer service member they notified would know. These days, if somebody posts a complaint about your brand on social media, it can be seen by every single person who follows them on that platform. If this is a very popular person or even a celebrity, this means the negative experience with your brand could be seen by millions of people. To avoid such a public shaming, make sure you regularly check social media accounts for these types of complaints and work to rectify them as quickly as possible.
Be responsible
Another thing to be careful about when it comes to running your business is making sure you think about the consequences of any decision you make. This doesn’t just mean thinking about any consequences your actions will have on the business, but also any consequences it may have on the environment, your employees or even the people you buy your raw materials from.
Issues like being environmentally friendly and paying staff a fair wage are becoming increasingly important with customers, and many even refuse to buy your products if they deem your business isn’t being responsible enough.
