Introduction
We live in a world of increasing transparency and high velocity communications. Information not only travels faster, it travels farther and is available everywhere. The rapid convergence of cloud, social, and mobile technologies has created a new generation of empowered and information hungry customers.
In today’s interconnected consumer economy, the notion that a company’s reputation can be “managed” as a simple commodity or one-dimensional artifact is dangerously outdated. Every morsel of information—no matter how trivial or seemingly innocuous—has the potential to go viral in a heartbeat. Reputations that took decades to build can be destroyed in mere moments.
Brand Does Not Equal Reputation
Great companies discern the critical difference between brand and reputation. Let’s take a moment to examine this difference, because it is vitally important. As customers, our impression of a brand is usually formed by our direct experiences with a company’s products or services.
A company’s reputation, however, is formed by a collective belief system about quality or character. These beliefs are typically formed from hearing or reading the opinions of other people—friends, experts, and even total strangers—which today are relayed across an ever-widening array of media platforms and channels.
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