As the world gets more and more online, the importance of building and maintaining your brand reputation grows. Hugues Joublin explains that an increasingly digital world provides customers and stakeholders with way more information than they would have had access to in the past, and thus opens brands and businesses up for intense public scrutiny.
But why is brand reputation so important?
Hugues Joublin Explains The Importance of Brand Reputation
Brand reputation impacts every single aspect of your business, and can even be the key factor that determines whether you will succeed or fail.
Trust & Credibility
Hugues Joublin explains that brand reputation is what guarantees your brand’s trustworthiness and credibility in the eyes of a customer. That is, if you were to mess up and make a mistake, your audience is far more likely to overlook it and forgive you if your reputation was already positive than if it were not so great.
In fact, trust – and therefore, reputation – is also what is most likely to keep you standing in case of a crisis situation.
Loyalty
Loyalty is necessary because it influences your customer retention. According to Hugues Joublin, when your business has a good reputation, your customers are more likely to be loyal. This is necessary because retaining a customer costs a lot less than acquiring a new one, and a large chunk of your revenue comes from loyal customers.
Brand Advocacy
Customers will only advocate for a brand if they know that the brand isn’t associated with negativity. After all, consumption habits are now associated with their own identity – if your brand has a bad reputation, this could seep down to your customer base, and affect how they feel they are perceived. Hugues Joublin says that to really make your customers feel safe advocating for your brand and recommending it to others, you need to have a solid reputation.
Revenue
And of course, with all of the above, you can be sure that your brand will continue generating more revenue. Another benefit is that with greater loyalty and trust, you can also get away with charging a premium price for your products since your customers are likely to stick around since they consider your brand to be valuable.
Hugues Joublin’s Tips on Building A Good Brand Reputation
Building your reputation isn’t particularly hard, though it does take a long time.
For one thing, you have to monitor sentiments and be proactive in dealing with the problems that customers express their grievances on. You should also be authentic and consistent with your products and services, and keep your customers from feeling like they are being cheated.
You should also make promises that you know you can keep. Not following through with promises and falling short of expectations is the easiest way to make customers lose trust in your brand.
Beyond just your business, you should also make sure to incorporate social welfare and responsibility in your brand activities, so customers can feel that you are making an effort to provide to the community, and thus come to trust you more.