Reputation Management in 2008

I was reading the NYSE third annual CEO research report, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, and found some conflicts in the results.

The first theme that emerged was that "there is renewed vigor around the customer." However, another theme was reputation management. Most [81%] CEOs think they take enough action to "protect" their reputations. The report goes on to state, "The most commonly-used ways to monitor company reputation include informal discussions, analysis of media coverage and employee surveys or discussions."

Does anyone see "customer" included in reputation management? If CEOs are focused on growing their companies and they think the best way to do that is to finally focus on the customer, doesn't it follow that what the customer thinks of them is of critical importance?

Perhaps they should consider that how the customer perceives them plays a large part in whether or not they choose to do business with them. Reputation has a high influence on whether or not the customer thinks the company can deliver on promises, which will determine how they gauge the potential for success (or failure) of a business initiative.

If you back it up even farther, how potential buyers respond to your marketing communications has a lot to do with your company's reputation - don't you think?

Then again, only 37% of CEOs think Advertising/Marketing is having more impact on revenue growth [down from 39% in 2006]. Although strength of brand came in #3 at 61% - which makes me want to ask them how they think that happened? [#1 was management team and #2 was technology, in case you're wondering]

That CEOs hold marketing in such low esteem is indicative that marketing needs to get serious about analyzing their initiatives and generating quantitative results that can be tied to downstream revenues. It's been said for a long time that marketing needs to get rid of the "fluff" reputation and create a reason for inclusion at the executive table. If marketing is going to be recognized for driving customer acquisition and retention efforts, then we need to step up and produce documented results.

The upside is that most CEOs think their survival is dependent upon sustainable growth - which is a primary marketing focus. We need to start showing them that we can deliver impact against business objectives.

There's never been a better time for metrics that matter.

You can get the report and some other insights from Frank Capek's post at Customer Innovations. There's also an interesting post about all the false starts The Year of the Customer has had over on Ron Shevlin's Marketing Whims.

Comments

[Christian Smagg]

Managing online reputation is fast becoming a growing problem for businesses. With the rise of social media and user-generated content, the Internet has quickly become a complex ecosystem where public opinion can be created and disseminated within seconds. Keeping your eyes and ears on the world of consumer generated media can be a daunting task for any company.

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http://www.saastream.com/my_weblog/2008/01/new-years-top-r.html
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