A Road Map for Managing Reputation 101314 PRSA presentation

A Road Map for Managing Reputation

Presented at the Public Relations Society of America International Conference in Washington, DC, October 14, 2014

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What is reputation?

Why does it matter?

What drives reputation?

How do you measure reputation?

What does reputation research deliver?

Discussion

Today’s workshop

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About you

What kinds of organizations do you represent?

What questions do you have—what do you want to learn today?

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What do we mean by reputation?

Reputation:

What the company is known for;

reasons for positive regard and

esteem (or for negative feelings)

Brand:

What a company stands for;

top-of-mind ideas and associations

Positioning:

How the company differs from

others; what sets it apart

“Reputation is an idle and most false imposition,

oft got without merit and lost without deserving.”

– William Shakespeare

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Reputation is about the fundamental character of the organization

How much do you

know about the

company?

Do you respect and

admire the company?

How likely are you to seek

opportunities to engage with

the company, interact with it?

Do you trust the company to do the

right thing (even when not in its

financial self-interest)?

Trust

Engagement

Respect

Familiarity

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“If I take care of my character, my

reputation will take care of itself.”

– Dwight L. Moody

All stakeholders influence reputation

Government/

Regulators

REPUTATION

Workforce

Wall Street

Media

Customers

or Members

General

Public/

Opinion

Leaders

Suppliers/

Partners

Neighbors

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Complicating trends

Anti-business and anti-CEO feelings

Sociopolitical issues affect businesses

Chaos in public square never-ending

Scorecard society

Managing reputation across cultures

Insta-rep and Digital Snipers: viral as

new normal

Information overload grows

Industries impacted by behavior of one

company: collateral damage

Source: Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross, Chief Reputation

Strategist, Weber Shandwick, reputationXchange.com

Industry, corporate, and brand reputation are interdependent

Industry or association

Company or Corporation

Brand Brand

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People make choices to support, buy, or donate based on an

organization’s values

Source: KRC Research and

Weber Shandwick, 2012

1 Corporate brand is as important

as the product brand(s)

2 Corporate reputation provides

product quality assurance

3 Any disconnect between corporate

and product reputation triggers

sharp consumer reaction

4 Products drive discussion,

with reputation close behind

5 Consumers shape

reputation instantly

6 Corporate reputation contributes

to company market value

Good reputation PAYS, poor reputation COSTS

– Hay Group 2012

Total Shareholder Returns

World’s Most

Admired

Companies

S & P 500

One Year 22.6% 15.1%

Three Years 4.3% (2.8)%

Five Years 8.3% 2.3%

Ten Years 7.8% 1.4%

60 Of market value is attributed to company reputation

%

Source: KRC Research and Weber Shandwick, The Company

Behind the Brand: In Reputation We Trust, 2012

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The benefits of a good reputation are many Doing well by doing good: profit AND purpose

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Better relationships: Wall Street,

elected officials, policymakers,

regulators, the media, partners,

suppliers, creditors

Loyal workforce: employee

ambassadors, champions, and

activists; prospective employees

Consumer loyalty, trust,

engagement, and advocacy

Higher stock prices, market

opportunity, and premium pricing

Crisis resilience

License to

operate

Competitive

advantage

=

“If you get a reputation as an early riser, you can sleep till noon.” –Irish Proverb

Reputation Threats

Financial irregularity

Manufacturing mishap, product contamination, or product recall

Unethical behavior, even by association

Being in a stigmatized industry

Being in a struggling or failing industry

Troubling environmental or health and safety footprint

An accident or crisis

Poor risk management or response to a crisis

Reputation can be fragile

“Glass, china, and reputation are easily cracked, and never well mended.”

– Benjamin Franklin

What drives reputation?

What does

the organization

OFFER?

What are

the organization’s

VALUES?

What is

the organization’s

FUTURE?

What value does

it provide?

How does it treat people?

What are its motivations?

What is its impact?

How is it doing now?

How will it do

tomorrow?

For example:

High quality products

and/or services?

Innovative products

and/or services?

Fair prices?

Speaks for an industry

or profession with one

voice?

Protects consumers?

For example:

Honest and ethical?

Cares about people?

Cares about safety?

Environmentally

responsible?

Good neighbor?

Supports good causes?

Cares about its

employees?

For example:

Competent and

well-managed?

Financially strong?

A leader in its field?

A promising future?

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The Reputation Roadmap

1 AUDIT

2 EXPLORE

3 MEASURE

4 STRATEGIZE

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Establish goals and

surface hypotheses Create a reputation

framework and

customize our

measurement tool

Collect, tabulate and

model data

Determine what the

data tell us and help

translate into

a set of priorities

To measure and track reputation is to measure and track many dimensions

of an organization’s values, priorities, and behaviors.


AUDIT

Questions:

Where do we start? What do we need to know?

What we do:

Core team interviews

Research review

Kick-off workshop

MEASURE

Questions:

What is our reputation? What drives it?

What we do:

Reputation research

Gap analysis

Driver analysis

TEST

MESSAGES &

MATERIALS

What we deliver:

Reputation Framework:

Situation analysis

Audience map & markets

Competitive landscape

TRACK TO MEASURE IMPACT

2 EXPLORE

Questions:

Are we missing anything?

What we do:

Depth interviews with key informants

Competitive media audit

Evaluation metrics

Reputation drivers

Measurement options

1 STRATEGIZE

Questions:

What does that mean for communications priorities?

What we do:

Strategic workshop

4 3

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What we deliver:

Reputation Roadmap:

Benchmarks

Insights

Recommendations

Strategic direction


4

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2 1 AUDIT

Questions:


What we do:


Research review

Kick-off workshop

What we deliver:


Situation analysis



EXPLORE

Questions:


What we do:



Evaluation metrics

Reputation drivers

Measurement options

MEASURE

Questions:


What we do:

Reputation research

Gap analysis

Driver analysis

TEST

MESSAGES &

MATERIALS


STRATEGIZE

Questions:


What we do:

Strategic workshop

What we deliver:

Reputation Roadmap:

Benchmarks

Insights

Recommendations

Recommendations

Strategic direction

3

AUDIT

Questions:


What we do:


Research review

Kick-off workshop

What we deliver:


Situation analysis



EXPLORE

Questions:


What we do:



Evaluation metrics

Reputation drivers

Measurement options

1 2

Audit & explore: Create a reputation framework

Prioritized stakeholder map by

market

Evaluation metrics (outcomes

sought) by stakeholder

Reputation drivers (drivers likely

to influence evaluation metrics)

Competitive landscape (who you

want to be compared against)

Measurement options (scenarios

for measurement and reporting)

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Internal

stakeholders,

employees

Customers or

Members

Stakeholders &

Influencers

Public (General,

Informed, engaged)

Audit & explore: Agree on what you want to measure

Identifying the right drivers requires being clear about the desired outcomes

by audience.

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REPUTATION

DRIVERS

DESIRED OUTCOMES

(EVALUATION METRICS)

Familiarity

Respect

Engagement

Trust

Favorability, acceptance,

confidence

Willingness to consider,

recommend, give, invest

Supportive policies

(or absence of negative ones)

Enthusiasm about employment


2 1

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4 3 MEASURE

Questions:


What we do:

Reputation research

Gap analysis

Driver analysis

STRATEGIZE

Questions:


What we do:

Strategic workshop

What we deliver:

Reputation Roadmap:

Benchmarks

Insights

Recommendations

Strategic direction

AUDIT

Questions:


What we do:


Research review

Kick-off workshop

What we deliver:


Situation analysis



EXPLORE

Questions:


What we do:



Evaluation metrics

Reputation drivers

Measurement options

TEST

MESSAGES &

MATERIALS


MEASURE

Questions:


What we do:

Reputation research

Gap analysis

Driver analysis

STRATEGIZE

Questions:


What we do:

Strategic workshop

3 4

What we deliver:

Reputation Roadmap:

Benchmarks

Insights

Recommendations

Strategic direction

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Measure: Typical questionnaire structure

REPUTATION FOOTPRINT

Measures of awareness,

familiarity, respect,

engagement and trust for our

client compared to key

competitors

CORPORATE BRAND

SNAPSHOT

Top-of-mind

impressions for

our client and key

competitors

DRIVERS ANALYSIS

Identification of the specific beliefs

and perceptions that most drive

respect, engagement, and trust

KNOWLEDGE ASSESSMENT

Measures of what stakeholders

actually know about our client, to

further understand what

knowledge matters to reputation

SEGMENTATION

Questions that allow

us to compare different

types of stakeholders

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Measure: Analytic techniques to identify drivers and gaps

Competitive Roadmap: This chart shows drivers most important to strengthen

in a competitive context. It incorporates three dimensions: Which drivers best

predict key business outcomes; on which drivers our client is strongest and

weakest; and how our client’s performance compares to competitors.


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4 2 1 AUDIT

Questions:


What we do:


Research review

Kick-off workshop

What we deliver:


Situation analysis



EXPLORE

Questions:


What we do:



Evaluation metrics

Reputation drivers

Measurement options

MEASURE

Questions:


What we do:

Reputation research

Gap analysis

Driver analysis

TEST

MESSAGES &

MATERIALS


STRATEGIZE

Questions:


What we do:

Strategic workshop

What we deliver:

Reputation Roadmap:

Benchmarks

Insights

Recommendations

Recommendations

Strategic direction

3 ASSESS / TEST MESSAGES & MATERIALS

Questions:

Are communications focused,

consistent, and clear?

Are messages and materials

hitting the mark?

What we do:

Message and materials

testing

What we deliver:

Validated messages


Questions:

Are we drawing attention to

the things we want people

to know?

Have we made a difference?

What we do:

Tracking research

What we deliver:

Measurement of changes

and impact over time

Test and track: Monitor, evaluate, and tweak

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Message audit

Media tracking, web analytics,

social media metrics

Perception tracking

Short-term

WHAT’S

COMMUNICATED

Are the messages and

information we want to

communicate more

visible and aligned in

our own materials?

WHAT’S VISIBLE IN THE

MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS

Are the messages we want to

communicate more evident in

press, social media, other forms

of feedback and achievements?

WHAT’S HEARD

Are key stakeholders

more aware of your

brand and the

messages and

information you want

to communicate?

WHAT’S FELT

AND BELIEVED

Is your content making a

difference? Are we getting

better ratings on the attributes

we want to move? Is our

overall reputation improving?

Long-term

Perception tracking

It takes a lot to move reputation. It requires focus and repetition.

Identify 2-3 key drivers for each

key audience.

Continually reinforce messages.

Deliver messages through experiences

and storytelling.

Look for gradual change, with significant

improvements over 3-5 years.

“Repetition makes reputation and reputation

makes customers.”

– Elizabeth Arden

What reputation research can deliver

Diagnostics. What do stakeholders know

and perceive? How does this vary by

segment and geography?

Competitive comparisons. How does

your reputation compare to others in the

space? Where do you excel? Where do

you trail?

Strategic direction. What aspects of your

reputation can and should be

strengthened? Why?

Reliable measures. The ability to track

change over time.

A tool for engagement. Information that

can be used in outreach and relationship-

building, internally and externally.

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You can be the ripest, juiciest peach

in the world, and there’s still going to

be somebody who hates peaches.

– Dita Von Teese

“ ”

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Discussion

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Mark David Richards Senior Vice President,

Managing Supervisor

KRC Research

+1 202 230-8767

[email protected]

www.krcresearch.com

@krcresearch | #krcfindings

Our insight. Your breakthrough.

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A Road Map for Managing Reputation 101314 PRSA presentation