5 essential insights to build a strong corporate reputation

In the last days I have had the opportunity to talk to some colleagues about the importance of corporate communications and the best way to build a strong reputation among our main stakeholders. I would say that there is not a unique recipe to do it; there are many factors that we have to take account when we face a communications project dealing with corporate reputation.

Since every company is a different world and has its own triggers, they have to create their own way that lead them to a good reputation strategy, nevertheless, there are some standard keys that can be applied to almost every company.

1. - An organization depends on other organizations to survive. Personally, I believe that managers have to understand that they are not alone as a company sailing in a quiet blue sea. It is indispensable to develop a good and strong relationship between them, looking after them and identifying the key players for the business.

2. - It is also important to generate corporate coherence. Maybe it is the hardest thing to get because not always our messages are related to our corporate behaviour. The lack of coherence generates lack of credibility and respect among our audiences.

3. - Internal Communications are essential. To create a powerful reputation it is necessary to begin with a good internal communications program. This program has to generate communications skills among managers, supervisors and workers. A good internal communications program has to create a sense of belonging among people so that they can tell the story as well.

4. - PR as an important part of our communications plan. Public Relations has the responsibility to support the management board in order to identify the main external audiences, choose the correct media, and publish the best messages to tell the story of the company. PR is more important than ever because of the Social Media growing, and this means that there are new challenges to deal with.

5. - Planification is the keyword of the reputation building. Every single step in communications must be previously planned, this means investigation and research, setting communications goals and implementations from the basis of the company to the top. Without planification we cannot create a solid and powerful corporate identity and reputation.

Finally, reputation is a matter of decision, a management decision in which the communications strategy is a indispensable key of success.