5 Issues That Can Kill Your Business’ Reputation

As a business owner, you should always be thinking about your business reputation. It’s important that you take steps to ensure that the rep of your company is not damaged. This can occur due to a range of issues, some of which you might not be prepared for. Let’s explore a few of these possibilities and guarantee that you know the right steps to take here.

Scandalous Behavior

You must understand that any scandalous behavior attached to your business can completely obliterate your brand image. This could be related to the actions of your employees. For instance, more than 400 defendants are currently facing federal charges for rioting in the U.S. Capitol. If any of these people are working at your business – and they very well could be – it might send the wrong message. This is also one of the reasons why you need to make sure that you are vetting employees carefully before you hire them. You don’t want something like this in their background, particularly if they are going to be interacting with customers.

Of course, this could also be related to the scandalous behavior of your company. An example would be if it’s revealed that you are underpaying your workers. Customers hate signs like this where it’s clear that businesses are treated unfairly.

Or, your brand could get embroiled in a me-too scandal and this will have disastrous consequences. That’s why you need to make sure that you have a clear plan of action about how to deal with cases like sexual harassment in your business model. Particularly, if it’s coming from people who are high up in your business.

Security Issues

You might also need to think about security issues in your company. Security issues are becoming more common lately and hacks are not a random occurrence anymore. They are to be expected. That’s why you need to make sure that you have the right security in place. You must be able to show employees you are doing everything you can to protect their data.

Bad News Reviews

Bad reviews can be a death sentence for a company. Don’t forget that more than 80% of customers have admitted that they check reviews before they commit to buying a product or service. If you are worried about this, then you should make sure that you are checking the usual haunts where customers leave bad reviews. This is always going to be a balancing act as mixed reviews are better than zero. Zero suggests that no one wants to buy from your company at all. If you do have a few bad reviews it’s important to tackle them head-on and respond directly to the message rather than trying to handle the issue privately. That way you can send a clear message that you do care about concerns.

Glass Door

Next, you should think about the glass door element of businesses. If you haven’t heard of Glass Door as a business owner then you might not be paying enough attention. It is going to be relevant to you. Glass door essentially provides employees with a way to rate and review a business that they work for you. It’s used by people who are thinking about buying from your business as well as those considering working for you. Glass Door can be a powerful tool for a disgruntled employee. That’s why you should make sure that you are taking steps to be the company that employees want to work for.

Don’t forget, just like customers, employees also understand the power of social media and are certainly ready to harness it the right way. They can do this by commenting on your business and drawing attention to your brand.

This is another reason why you should be using social media to search for mentions of your brand and ensure that they are not negative or damaging to your business.

An example would be with the TV show ‘Superman and Lois.’ After a writer was fired, they claimed on social media that they were fired because they had an issue with the lack of black characters and the fact that any POC characters were villains. As well as damaging the company, this arguably also damaged the IP. While the integrity of the writer was called into question by that point the damage had already been done. It was too late.

Failing To Read The Room

Or finally, you could end up having issues with your business rep simply because you failed to read the room. At any given point on social media, there is a range of trending topics. Some are positive and some are negative but a lot of the attention these days is given to issues surrounding social justice.

A key example would be the events that led to the campaign Black Lives Matter. Unlawful killings of black citizens in American caused a national outcry and global outrage. It made headlines across the world and managed to take over the news at a time when the world was being hit by a global health pandemic. Businesses were quick to jump on this and show their support with quick tweets and comments across social media. These might have been comments made in good faith or it could have been an attempt to show they were just ‘one of the good guys.’ It might also have been an eagerness to capitalize on ‘free publicity.’

Regardless, in the wake of events like this customers are demanding more from brands and companies than just a throwaway comment in support. They want to feel as though they have a real ally who is willing to do some good. So before you write a quick comment for a cause, you should instead think about how you can use your brand to help. This is always going to lead to more credibility.

We hope this helps you to understand everything that you need to know about your business reputation and the issues that can significantly damage it.