The following is an insightful piece from Steve Drury – a renowned consultant from New South Wales, Australia, who possesses broad experience across commercial, civic, and not-for-profit sectors.

In an environment of short attention spans and continual disruption, brand-loyalty can be a tenuous ideal. Fine if you’re selling fast fashion or disposable product experiences – no one expects them to last. And, you’re less likely to care about customer churn. For the rest of us, building a business that values loyalty and puts effort into a quality service offering, there’s more at stake, and more to protect. Among things we’d consider most central to healthy business, Reputation still heads the list.

COVID shook us all and few were immune from its impact; good companies and bad, survived – or didn’t – and businesses, markets, people and relationships were tested. Post-recovery, if we can call it that, heads are back down; ‘get the numbers back up, find good people again’… all important stuff, of course – no question.

But many of us are prone to short memories and we can fall victim to the urgency of ‘what’s on the desk’ at any one moment. Perhaps some level of reflection on the business is timely once again and a Brand Health Check (see later) may be worth considering.

Let’s agree, most of us believe our own PR at some point; it’s as true for B2B as for consumer brands – and we don’t take the opportunity to stop and ask what others see in us, our products or services.

How we conduct business impacts perception, it affects brand value – and reflects on leadership. In more adverse scenarios, we see the headlines, the share-price drops – and the people caught in the fall-out. Companies good and bad, their products, supply chains and people are put through the grinder. In many cases, comprehensively unnecessary and avoidable.

And it can get expensive. Reputations hard-won over many years can be lost overnight: – fiduciary competence and care become top of mind when shareholder value finds itself inextricably linked to regulatory reporting; sponsors, with their own brands to protect are mindful of stakeholder expectations, as sporting codes and the teams who rely on them face public scrutiny; environmental ‘greenwash’ messaging doesn’t cut it when consumer groups and advocates take public action.

And so on.

Relative to the above, there are less expensive, prudent actions to improve and sustain reputational value; these could include:
– obtain a competent, independent review of product and operational standards;
– understand what your competitors are doing, claiming, saying – comparisons can be instructive;
– conduct focus groups to tease out issues of product efficacy, brand personality, relevance and trust.

And consider your ‘social license’ – far from being a vague, woke notion, it asks you to consider your position and claim against customer experience or societal expectations, and (in some scenarios) any relevant regulatory regime.

Importantly, you may find out what you didn’t know. Tick some of those boxes with due care and you may be in healthier territory – perhaps an improvement in operations, or a more robust product offering, a clear point-of-difference or more effective communication options.

In my years with McCann Erickson and Young & Rubicam (agencies) – we’d view Nielsen data for client’s warehouse stock movements (sales), and subscribe to McNair media surveys for audience stats (ratings)… but if we wanted to check the pulse of consumer/stakeholder attitudes and experience, we’d enlist firms like Hugh Mackay’s consultancy or more recently, CIA (Consumer Insight Agency) to ‘lift the lid’ and conduct in-person surveys across a range of topics. The best of these exercises were a discovery and informed actionable product and brand communications.

The Edelman Trust Barometer is also worth noting here. Their long-term work for over 25 years, has studied the influence of trust across society – government, media, business, and NGOs

(see: Edelman.com/trust). Their findings continue to be a primary reference for many institutions and businesses.  It may be instructive to ponder where your company and category might sit in such a survey.

A Brand Health Check is not rocket-science – but it should be a thoughtful process and a revealing one. It is a Business-to-Business brand communications enquiry; an external, independent and non-biased tool to explore ‘point of difference’ and competitive value. Ultimately, it is an exercise designed to help shape your communications. Importantly, it is something your company should not attempt to do for itself!

The findings from Stakeholder Enquiries I’ve led for several clients helped inform their positioning, their view of themselves and their approach to market. In one instance, discovering a ‘value-position’ for their services was a revelation. Previously, they’d seen themselves in a conservative ‘supplier’ relationship; however the enquiry demonstrated their key clients saw them as ‘partners’! It influenced their view of themselves and their perception of their own service-offering. Suddenly – relationship, experience, product quality, service, support and collaboration had a demonstrated value beyond price-point. Reputation built with care over years, actually meant something tangible.

So yes, earned reputation, and trust, still matters.

Find out how a Brand Health Check can benefit your organisation. Enquiries are welcome: SDCOM (Steve Drury Communications) – steve@sdcom.com.au / sdcom.net.au