Stop being taken for a ride by your public relations (PR) company or ‘social media agency’ and stop throwing exorbitant amounts of money at communication efforts that are not well planned or strategically sound. A press release is not a silver bullet that is going to magically solve your sales problems, nor is a beautiful Facebook page.
“When it comes to your organisation’s reputation, every aspect of the business contributes to how it is being perceived. Perceptions may not necessarily be correct, however they are somebody’s reality and do need to be managed,” says Regine le Roux, Managing Director of Reputation Matters.
“Only once you understand exactly what these perceptions are, and which areas of the business is important to which stakeholder groups can you effectively put a reputation management strategy and communication plan in place,” explains le Roux.
“Too often business owners think that a clever press release or quirky marketing campaign is going to increase their sales. You can spend a ton of money on a fancy communication campaign but if your internal business building blocks are not in place, you may actually do a lot more harm than good,” adds le Roux. These building blocks, explains le Roux, include having the right processes, people and pricing principles in place; all of which needs to be glued together by a strategic internal and external communication plan.
Le Roux will be presenting a reputation management master class at the upcoming International Association of Business Communication (IABC) conference taking place at the Vineyard in Cape Town on 02 November 2016. She will be facilitating an interactive workshop on what it takes to enhance and improve your reputation, and will guide delegates on how to develop their own reputation strategies and plans. “After the session the delegates will have a very comprehensive idea of what they need to do to take their company’s reputation to the next level,” adds le Roux.
“Collaboration and agility is the new communication frontier in business,” says Carol Allers, IABC Chairperson. “At the conference we’ll be bringing together thought leaders from across the communication spectrum to engage, collaborate, network and most importantly to share their knowledge of business communication,” concludes Allers.
The IABC Conference will be taking place from 02 to 04 November 2016 at the Vineyard Hotel and Spa in Cape Town. For more information about the Conference visit: http://www.iabc.co.za/2016/02/17/iabc-africa-23rd-annual-conference-2016-registrations-are-now-open/
For more about managing your reputation visit www.reputationmatters.co.za Join the reputation conversation on Twitter @ReputationIsKey and Facebook www.facebook.com/yourreputationmatters.
