Too many brands think reputation management starts when something goes wrong.
In reality, a reputation is built long before a crisis ever happens.
Crisis response matters, but it’s only one piece of how customers, media, employees, and industry peers perceive your brand every day. Let’s look at a few ways you can approach reputation management as a foundational marketing strategy, and not just damage control.
Consistency builds credibility
Brands with strong reputation strategies can respond quickly when the public is looking to them for action. But what drives the response should be a consistent brand personality and approach. What does this look like in practice?
It means having a media trained team that’s comfortable on camera and understands the company’s core values. You should also have clear lines of communication between key stakeholders so that when an issue arises, the team understands their responsibilities.
Finally, being nimble and confident requires a keen eye on the media and social landscape. When you can be the first to see what people are saying and get ahead of a potential issue or opportunity—through social listening and media monitoring—you build trust before trust is tested.
In practice:
EPIC’s client STEMCO has an industry-leading brand built on safety, from PR outreach to industry partnerships to social media content. Everything points back to safety on the roadways. We pay close attention to safety conversations in the industry so we can speak as leaders when issues arise.
And sometimes, the most confident thing to do is to not say anything at all. If adding to the conversation doesn’t bring value or positive attention, sometimes the strongest response is restraint.
Reputation is built in everyday moments
A reputation response plan is helpful in moments of stress, but should also encompass your core value system that you use on a daily basis.
When we develop a response plan for our clients, we start with a series of core value statements that are always true. These can help shape responses to an issue, but they’re always important when making any kind of decision.
In practice:
For Milwaukee Irish Fest—one of the largest cultural festivals in the country—our communications plan starts with key messaging for every media engagement. It’s not a script, but it’s a reminder of what we value so that all spokespeople and team members are embodying the brand. It delivers a cohesive message and positions them as organized and confident.
Reputation lives everywhere your audience is
The short-sighted myth of reputation management is that it only relates to traditional media. A brand’s overall presence—online and offline—should factor into a strong reputation management plan.
Thinking beyond traditional media includes:
- Social media: Beyond general on-page community management, social listening tools can help monitor what people are saying about you across social media.
- Influencers: Having meaningful relationships with influencers and brand ambassadors gives you powerful voices of support in your industry when you need to respond to an issue or opportunity.
- Web presence: Your website should have a clear journey for customers and easy ways for them to contact you in the event of an issue. Even better, UX tracking and other data-gathering tools can show you how people are interacting with your site so you can optimize it.
- SEO and AEO: Increasingly, customers aren’t just finding information through Google searches — they’re finding it through AI-generated summaries and recommendation engines. That means reputation management now extends into how your brand is interpreted by algorithms as well as audiences.
Don’t get caught flat-footed
In today’s always-on media environment, companies are seeing the importance of a preparedness plan more than ever. In a 2021 survey by PwC, 95% of business leaders say their crisis management plan needs improvement.
But crisis management is only one piece of the puzzle. To manage your reputation at a deeper level, it involves consistent data and industry analysis, clear communication, and a team that’s willing to collaborate quickly to reinforce what your brand stands for.
Do you need help managing your brand’s reputation? Let’s talk.
