Reputation, and the good name that follows is, are the brick-and-mortar foundations on which a company is built. The American teen apparel company Abercrombie & Fitch would be able to tell you all about this, after it scored lower than any retailer had ever scored on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), earning it the title of Most Hated Brand in America in 2016. So where did it all go so wrong for one of the USA’s biggest retailers?
Much of this poor reputation was due to former CEO Mike Jeffries making some unkind remarks about employing only ‘good-looking people,’ and being ‘exclusory.’ The fallout was nearly immediate: protests, boycotts of the company’s products, lawsuits and a staggering 77% drop in sales. Nearly ten years later, the company is still struggling recovering from this experience, showing why it is so important for companies to realise how valuable reputation is. Like the old saying goes: ‘It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.
Manage your own narrative, or it shall be managed for you
When companies fail to monitor and manage their media presence proactively, they essentially hand over control of their narrative to external voices and often those not kindly predisposed to the company.
In this way a customer complaint regarding poor service going unanswered on social media could snowball, with more dissatisfied customers joining in the conversation, leading ultimately to immediate revenue loss, a decreased customer acquisition as potential customers choose competitors, a reduced brand value and market position, higher marketing costs to counter negative publicity and lower employee morale and increased turnover.
A proactive media monitoring and management strategy should focus on averting disaster before it strikes. This is not a doom-and-gloom strategy, but an organisational tool with a number of advantages to the company, such as acting as an early warning system, addressing customer concerns before they become public grievances, identifying emerging trends in customer sentiment, tracking competitor activities and industry developments and monitoring brand mentions across all media channels.
The reputational prize of managing media correctly
The investment in proactive media management is worth its weight in gold and companies that implement comprehensive media monitoring and management strategies often see a reduction in crisis management costs, better customer retention rates, brand reputation and value that is enhanced and an increase in customer loyalty and trust.
Khathutshelo Rammela is Senior Analyst, at Novus Group, a media monitoring company.