Ooops! There Goes Your Reputation
“Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.” William Shakespeare, Othello.
If you have ever considered venture capital as a potential growth plan for your business’s future then you’ll want to fight tooth and nail to protect your company’s reputation, because it can be your greatest asset or your worst nightmare depending on how well it’s managed. Put simply, your reputation will have a major impact on whether any investor will ever risk their venture capital on your business.
If you don’t know what people think of your business, it’s staff, products, services and image, then your reputation is being left in the hands of the notoriously fickle mistress called “luck”, and she has no place in business. Do you rely on luck to plan your marketing strategy or your financial goals for the coming year? Do you defer to luck when selecting who to employ or how to pursue an Angel with venture capital to offer? No, of course you don’t, so why do so many companies wander blindly through life, oblivious of their corporate image thus leaving their reputation entirely down to luck?
Remembering that the venture capital your business might rely on in the future teeters in the balance, you should consider these five things to safeguard your reputation:
- Knowledge – The first step towards reputation management is to understand fully what people think about your organisation – so ask them. Send out questionnaires to customers, ask those you speak to on the phone, maybe even instruct an external company to discover what the public think.
- Understanding – This information must then be analysed with an open mind. We often have a vision of our own businesses that is warped by preconceptions and wishful thinking, and this needs to be washed away before you read how others see things.
- Planning – Your research will have identified current and potential future weaknesses that could affect your reputation. These need to be addressed and with this information you can plan against worst case scenarios so you’re never caught unawares.
- Marketing – Every communication you have with your public affects the way they see you. It makes sense to ensure that everything you do, say or convey is polished, professional and consistent. Spend a little extra time making sure that this is the case. The clearer your intentional communications are, the stronger your image will be against potential attacks.
- Management – Things do go wrong sometimes, and when your reputation is attacked you must have a plan to deal with it or you can kiss your chances of winning venture capital goodbye. Do you retaliate, do you explain, do you ignore? You’ll need to choose carefully and quickly as your decision will determine whether damage is minimised or the problem is exasperated.
The internet is a fabulous leveller, allowing small companies to compete with the big boys side-by-side. It has created fame from fun and millionaires from bedroom offices, but it’s also made it very easy for ordinary people with an axe to grind to topple the reputations of even the largest of organisations.
Some companies are so worried about the possibility of an attack on a reputation that they spent vast amounts of money and time ensuring against it. They have image management staff trawling the media looking for negative statements and stories, PR people whose job it is to spin negative views positively, and SEO consultants trained to bury the bad news in a sea of good news.
The internet has a very long memory, so when an investor with venture capital to spend looks into the reputation of your company they will find everything that was ever written about you – scary thought isn’t it?
If you want to protect your reputation for the future prosperity of your business or for the venture capital you’re hoping one day to attract, you’ll need to make sure that you run your company with your eyes wide open. Research, monitor, convey and manage your corporate image and the venture capital will come to you.
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