Reputation is an all important factor in today’s business environment. With it being so easy to set up a business, everyone fancies a punt. But doing a good job is difficult. All it takes is one bad meeting with a client or partner, and things can turn sour.
Your public image can be categorized into two broad areas. One is your internal reputation. This is how your colleagues and business partners feel about you and your business. This largely determines how well your business operates and how motivated your colleagues are.
Then there is your external image. This is what shapes consumer perceptions and influences outsiders to invest in your business. Controlling both of these is the key to bettering your public imagine. But what can you do about public image? Where should you start?
Pick Your Ambassadors
Right now you’ve probably got a CEO, a CFO and even a COO. But why do you have all these separate positions? Well, it’s partly to do with skillsets out of course. But it’s also about creating responsibility and accountability. In short, you need people to blame when things go wrong in any of these specific areas of the company.
But what about when things go wrong for your public image? Who is responsible for that? Right now, probably no one. And that’s a problem. So why not change that today? Designate somebody as your chief PR officer. This person is responsible for training up staff to represent your company well. And they’re also someone who can work on the aspects of your business that aren’t working so well right now.
Freshen Up Your Website
One of the first places your new PR officer could start would be with the site. According to statistics, typical conversion rates are hovering between 1 and 3 percent. The reason why it’s so low is that so few companies know that web design is a technical business. Reputable web designers use advanced methods to improve business’s public image. And these lead to tangible results. For instance, delaying your customers while they’re on your website is a big no-no. A one-second delay on your site can lead to a seven percent fall in conversions.
Gauge Customer And Employee Satisfaction
Of course, having a great image isn’t just about having flashy marketing. It’s about how you’re delivering on the ground. Are your customers and employees happy with what you’re doing? And are they spreading good cheer about your business? Or are they telling everybody it’s a joke and that you’re nowhere close to having a viable business?
Well, the only way to find out is to gauge their reactions. For employees, you can use apps like Glassdoor. These are a great way for colleagues to rate your company anonymously as a place to work. It can also be used by clients to rate the service they received at your hands. There are also CRM software tools that track customer satisfaction. Survey Monkey, Client Heartbeat, and SurveyGizmo all collect customer satisfaction data.
This article was provided by ellie jo