Consumers take to the web to test brand reputation

Brands are being warned to monitor their online reputation closely as consumers increasingly rely on web reviews and ratings to aid their purchase decisions.

As National Consumer Week draws to a close, Graeme Crossley, CEO of brand communications agency Brand Reputation believes that many brands are still failing to realise the emergence of ‘Google Enabled Choices’ or appreciate just how many consumers are now relying on web reviews to aid their purchase decisions, with some opting to have no contact whatsoever with brands offline prior to deciding to buy.

“Brands need to recognise that the online world has much more power than they may realise and can often be the only resource a consumer needs when evaluating which brand to buy. We are seeing more people making purchase decisions on high value items such as cars and electronic equipment based purely on online reviews from other customers and this is a trend which will only get stronger,” says Crossley.

Crossley believes that online reviews are becoming as important as word of mouth recommendations, a view that is mirrored in recent research by Rubicon Consulting that revealed they were the most influential factors in consumer purchasing decisions.

But what was of most concern to Crossley was the results of a survey by Lightspeed Research, which revealed that 71% of all respondents said they would read a review before making a purchase decision about a new camera, MP3 player or mobile phone and 33% of respondents said they would be dissuaded from buying a product after reading just two negative reviews. Over three quarters of respondents also said they would be deterred from buying after reading three bad reviews.

Crossley believes that brands need to become more vocal online, interact directly with consumers in the places where they are most active and tackle the issue of negative comments proactively, rather than ‘burying their heads in the sand and hoping the noise will die down’.

“When you think of the huge budgets that consumer brands spend on campaigns, the fact that the views of just two individuals could undo so much of the brand messaging it shows why brands need to take this seriously.” says Crossley.

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Editors Notes

Brand Reputation is a multi-discipline brand communications agency for consumer brands that specialises in fixing brand pain™. The agency delivers strategies that change consumer attitudes and behaviour to build sales, profit and market share for leading brands.

The agency’s founder Graeme Crossley, spent over 15 years in communication roles of increasing responsibility for companies including The Coca-Cola Company, Amazon.com, Yum! Restaurants Inc, Sainsbury’s Supermarkets and WH Smith. Graeme is a Business Leader of The Marketing Society as well as Non-Executive Chairman of boutique search and selection company Aextis. His first book will be published in 2010

For press enquiries please contact Amy Larman on 01603 283 503 or email amy@mediajems.co.uk.

Complaining Customers – Your Brand’s Best Asset?

Complaining customers have the potential to become a Brand’s greatest advocates and brand owners should be doing more to ensure that their customer service is hitting the mark, according to industry expert Graeme Crossley.

We all know that bad news travels fast and in the current climate where customers are justifying every pound they spend, brands are being reminded of the importance of a good customer complaints resolution strategy in creating a loyal and solid customer base, good referrals and a consistently strong brand reputation.

Recent research has revealed that over 70% of customers would walk out of a store and into a competing store if they experienced poor customer service and with reports suggesting that one dissatisfied customer will tell and average of thirteen people about their poor experience, Graeme Crossley, CEO of brand communications agency Brand Reputation is urging brand owners to recognise the importance of tackling customer complaints effectively as a route to increasing brand reputation.

“We are finding that brand owners fail to understand the link between customers service and reputation. How customer complaints are handled can have a significant impact on brand perception and is an opportunity, if handled correctly, to turn complaining customers into advocates for the Brand,” says Crossley.

One of the biggest reasons to focus on customer complaint resolution is the speed at which complaints can be spread across the web, often in real time, thanks to social media tools like Twitter and online forums. Experience shows that customers who have had their complaints resolved can be more loyal than those who haven’t experienced a problem at all if the complaint is handled in the right way Crossley says that Brands need to realise the value in fully solving customer complaints and using the opportunity to create brand advocates.

“Social media advancements mean that brands need to increase their focus on customer service levels. Given that news can be broadcast immediately by the customers themselves, the danger of brand damage has increased fourfold and brands need to ensure that their customer service levels stand up to customer expectations both in good times and in bad,” says Crossley.

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Editors Notes

Brand Reputation is a multi-discipline brand communications agency for consumer brands that specialises in fixing brand pain™. The agency delivers strategies that change consumer attitudes and behaviour to build sales, profit and market share for leading brands.

The agency’s founder Graeme Crossley, spent over 15 years in communication roles of increasing responsibility for companies including The Coca-Cola Company, Amazon.com, Yum! Restaurants Inc, Sainsbury’s Supermarkets and WH Smith. Graeme is a Business Leader of The Marketing Society as well as Non-Executive Chairman of boutique search and selection company Aextis. His first book will be published in 2010.

For press enquiries please contact Amy Larman on 01603 283 503 or email amy@mediajems.co.uk.

Brands Urged to Keep it Simple

Brands are being urged by a London brand management agency to keep their messages simple if they want to truly engage consumers with their new eco-friendly campaigns.

Brand Reputation believes that many brands are using over-complicated terminology and jargon in their campaigns in an effort to impress consumers with their new green initiatives, but as a result are failing to engage with consumers and could actually be damaging their brand reputation as a result.

“With consumers becoming more environmentally conscious, brands are under increasing scrutiny to show that they are taking steps to become more environmentally friendly, with many simply jumping on the ‘green-bandwagon’ because their competitors are doing so and they need to keep up. Suddenly, everyone seems to be using the same terminology in their campaigns and the crazy thing is that most consumers don’t really understand any of it, so the only benefit to brands comes from the ‘me too’ message,” reveals Crossley.

Crossley is advising brand owners to pay close attention to the The Marketing Society May Day Alliance, which held its inaugural meeting earlier this month. The Alliance is creating an advertising code of practice with the aim of demystifying environmental issues for consumers.

“One of the most important outcomes from the May Day Alliance is the concerted effort to reduce greenwashing by brands. At the agency we find that the most damaging activity that a brand can embark on is going ‘green is for the sake of green’ and without implementing CSR strategies which permeate the entire business, any activity will be seen as greenwash and disregarded by consumers and key influencers, rendering the activity useless,” says Crossley.

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Editors Notes

Brand Reputation is a reputation management and communications agency based in London. The agency works with consumer brands in multiple sectors including retail, FMCG, travel & leisure and financial services to strengthen their brand and improve consumer perception.

For more information visit www.brandrep.co.uk

For press enquiries please contact Amy Larman on 01603 283 503 or email amy@mediajems.co.uk.

Brands Slacking in Push for Fairtrade

Many Fairtrade brands are failing to maximise potential sales by assuming that consumers won’t buy Fairtrade during the recession, according to brand management agency Brand Reputation.

Fairtrade sales have taken a noticeable hit since the recession began, but Graeme Crossley, MD of Brand Reputation is urging Fairtrade brands not to admit defeat and believes that people are still prepared to pay when they see a value in the purchase.

‘Brand owners are becoming too influenced by the media saying that people are not buying Fairtrade and this is affecting how they conduct their marketing activity going forward, but the truth is that they need to be even more aggressive with their marketing tactics than they have been in the past if they want to regain and build on market share. People will pay a premium in the current climate if they see a value in doing so and brands need to work harder at getting consumers to believe in that value and act on it,” says Crossley.reputation building business reputation Green Marketing ethical behaviour brand auditing reputation consulting word of mouth marketing consumer perception brand communications corporate reputation brand expertise marketing communications sustainability Sustainability communications brand repositioning Graeme Crossley brand advocacy CSR advice brand strategy brand communicat

Crossley’s comments mirror the results of recent research from Nielson which revealed that consumers were less inclined to pay for Fairtrade goods now than last year. But Crossley is of the opinion that it is not simply market conditions that have resulted in declining sales but a shift in mindset from brand owners, along with the fact that many Fairtrade brands simply don’t have a strong enough brand reputation yet to sustain sales in a downturn.

“Fairtrade is still a relatively new concept which is why it is proving harder to maintain sales when times get tough. Many brands are shying away from shouting about their products through fear of being told they are too expensive for shoppers in the current climate, but the fact is that people are still paying a premium for food that matters to them. People still buy free range eggs, they still buy locally sourced produce and they will continue to buy Fairtrade if they can see just what impact it is having on the communities it supports,” says Crossley.

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Editors Notes

Brand Reputation is a reputation management and communications agency based in London.  The agency works with consumer brands in multiple sectors including retail, FMCG, travel & leisure and financial services to strengthen their brand and improve consumer perception.

For more information visit www.brandrep.co.uk

For press enquiries please contact Amy Larman on 01603 283 503 or email amy@mediajems.co.uk.

Staff Literacy Cut Short in Race for Greenest Brand

Brands are failing to keep up their corporate responsibilities to internal staff by spending too much time focusing on green initiatives, according to leading brand management agency Brand Reputation.

Following a recent market review, Brand Reputation has exclusively revealed that at least one major retailer is suffering from high levels of illiteracy but has no schemes in place to improve it, spurring Brand Reputation’s MD Graeme Crossley to call for more accountability from brands when it comes to staff skills and development.

“With consumers becoming more environmentally conscious brands are under increasing scrutiny to show that they are behaving ethically and as a result are taking steps to become more environmentally friendly. But what has happened is there is now far too much focus on going green as a way of being socially responsible when in reality, it covers much more than this. It spans across processes and people as well as the environment and it’s the combination of a variety of activities that results in a ‘good’ and ‘ethical’ brand,” explains Crossley.

Crossley believes that many brands are wasting thousands on green brand building initiatives that simply aren’t mirrored in other aspects of the business. He claims that a failure to ensure that the brand values permeate throughout the entire business will mean that many are opening themselves up to a turbulent time ahead, which could see consumers turning away from them when they are exposed for being unethical in other areas.

“How can a brand expect its staff to behave ethically and responsibly if they are not being treated properly themselves? Many brands think that social responsibility starts with the environment and Third World countries, when it really needs to start from inside the organisation first for it to have any sustainable effect. Green is good, but its only part of the story, and without a consistent CR strategy that embraces internal staff needs, any activity will simply been seen as a shallow attempt at greenwash,” says Crossley.

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Editors Notes

Brand Reputation is a reputation management and communications agency based in London.  The agency works with consumer brands in multiple sectors including retail, FMCG, travel & leisure and financial services to strengthen their brand and improve consumer perception.

For more information visit www.brandrep.co.uk

For press enquiries please contact Amy Larman on 01603 283 503 or email amy@mediajems.co.uk.

Social Networking Frolics Put SME Brand Reputation At Risk

Brand reputation is rapidly becoming the ultimate decision maker, but many small businesses are putting their earning capacity at peril by treating social networks as just ‘places to hang out with friends’, according to reputation specialist Judith Germain.

In an internet-led world where consistency is essential and everything that is recorded there is of a permanent nature, Germain claims that many business owners are simply forgetting that social networking sites are places where reputation and credibility is established, maintained and developed, and are not just a place to ‘hang out with friends’.

“Many business owners take a relaxed and whimsical approach to how they network on places like Facebook, which can be quite detrimental to them. Others join business networks and then remain ‘invisible’ to the membership, ignoring the opportunity to enhance their reputation and find advocates for their service,” says Germain, MD of Dynamic Transitions and Vice President of the BlackStar Life Members Community on Ecademy.

In her recent article ‘How to have the right reputation for your business’, which is currently the most liked article on Ecademy, (and originally published in Better Business), Germain reveals that brand perception and delivery is becoming all important for the survival of the business. Although small business owners often have a habit of believing that this isn’t an issue for them, not realising that it can determine whether their business stands out from the crowd and whether they will secure business from the competition. She explains that when businesses have chosen to pursue a pull marketing strategy (especially on a social network) they need to ‘pass through’ a number of stages to ensure that they are building the right reputation to gain advocacy.

“People increasingly buy from those that they know, like and trust, especially where the purchase is service rather than product related. Being credible and having a good reputational (personal) brand is essential, enabling the buyer’s decision-making process to choose you over another business each and every time. Your business strategy needs to incorporate your personal brand, and how you intend to leverage it. Remembering that with pull marketing, people will buy from those that they trust, it is therefore important to create a brand that is trustworthy, and consistent no matter where it is encountered,” says Germain.

Whilst the current economic climate shows no signs of improving in the short term, Germain believes that the increased competition for reduced customer spend has meant that establishing and promoting your competitive advantage has never been so crucial.

“A good, strong and credible reputation is the one thing which can provide you with the superior and sustainable leverage you need to survive the credit crunch, whilst others around you fall by the wayside, and it will not cost you a penny,” says Germain.

Judith Germain is managing director and principal mentor of Dynamic Transitions.; a leadership company specialising in working with Troublesome Talent ® and improving business performance within organisations. You can download their free article ‘How to have the right reputation for your business’ at www.developing-leadership.com/whitepapers.html For more information visit www.developing-leadership.com or email jude@dynamic-transitions.co.uk

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For press enquiries please contact Rebecca King on 01603 283506 or Rebecca@mediajems.co.uk.

New Report Reveals Brands Ignorance to Negative Chatter on Social Networks

Up to half of all brand chatter on social networks is negative, goes unnoticed by brand managers and is putting brand reputation at risk, according to a new Whitepaper by leading reputation management agency Brand Reputation.

In their recently released Whitepaper ‘Ten Important Questions’, brand specialists at the London-based agency suggest that most brand managers continue to remain oblivious to what their customers are saying about the brand online and fail to analyse customer perceptions displayed publicly on social media sites.

The Whitepaper reveals how one national retailer identified 82 groups on one social networking site alone, of which more than 50 of these groups were highly negative about the brand. Within this set of negative groups, there were a large number of previous and current employees who were making extremely inaccurate comments about the company, something of particular concern to the team at Brand Reputation.

“The rapid rise in social media has led to substantial increase in consumer generated content and any consumer, or former employee, is now an opinion former. Unfortunately for brand owners, a large amount of this content contains misleading information which damages the perception of the brand held by others. Worse still, technology enables this misleading information to spread quickly and once in the public domain and it is a considerable challenge for brand owners to change these perceptions or to successfully communicate accurate information to balance the viewpoint,” explains Graeme Crossley, managing director of Brand Reputation.

The Whitepaper goes on to reveal more examples of the huge sums of money being lost due to poor brand perception analysis, including a company who spent over £2 million promoting the wrong message about its brand and a company that was religiously spending 20% of its media budget on a channel that failed to bring in any new customers.

It also delivers a stark reminder for agencies to educate marketing directors and chief executives as to the importance of this aspect of marketing and the potential return on investment that it can generate and/or the profit that it can protect.

“In the current economic climate consumers are increasingly aware of the value of their cash and are taking greater care than ever in considering where and how to spend their money. The reputation of the brands they are considering is more of an influencing factor for brand selection than ever before and I strongly believe that brands who fail to manage their reputation are at best competitively disadvantaged and at worst at risk of long term failure,” adds Crossley.

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Editors Notes

Brand Reputation is a reputation management and communications agency based in London. The agency works with consumer brands in multiple sectors including retail, FMCG, travel & leisure and financial services to strengthen their brand and improve consumer perception.
Brand Reputation is not a traditional marketing agency as traditional marketing is no longer enough for consumer brands. The team are specialists in strengthening what consumers think and say about brands.

The agency’s founder Graeme Crossley, spent over 15 years in communication roles of increasing responsibility for companies including The Coca-Cola Company, Amazon.com, Yum! Restaurants Inc, Sainsbury’s Supermarkets and WH Smith and is a Business Leader of The Marketing Society as well as Non-Executive Chairman of boutique search and selection company Aextis.

For more information visit www.brandrep.co.uk

For press enquiries please contact Amy Larman on 01603 283 503 or email amy@mediajems.co.uk.

Hoteliers caught up in CSR greenwash fail to reap rewards

Many hoteliers are still failing to look beyond the greenwash and realise the potential CSR has to save them money, increase staff retention and boost brand strength, according to the MD of reputation management agency Brand Reputation.

Graeme Crossley, claims that too many hoteliers turn away from CSR through fear of it being yet another cost centre, and in doing so are missing out on valuable strategies which could save the business hundreds of thousands of pounds.

“We all know that spend is down across the hospitality sector as people inevitably cut down on travelling, but let’s be under no illusion here, there is still an awful lot of business still out there and profits to be made providing you can be smart with your marketing strategy. CSR in the hospitality sector is not just about energy reduction and the creation of new ‘eco-hotels’ but about the way existing businesses are managed, how the staff are treated and how they contribute to wider society and the economy as well as the planet,” says Crossley.

“If you want to survive the recession, you need to find ways to stand out from the crowd and differentiate yourself in the marketplace and capture the business which is still very much there for the taking.  Building a reputation as a responsible business can set you apart from the competition as more and more customers look to do business with more ‘ethical’ companies. A good reputation also makes it easier to recruit employees and actually can encourage them to stay longer, be more productive and stay motivated.

“I’ve heard many stories from within the hospitality sector of businesses struggling to continue with eco-initiatives or sustainability programmes as their ‘focus must now be on the immediate needs of the business’ and it is then that I realise how poorly the potential of CSR is really understood in this sector. It’s very worrying and many could see themselves in serious financial difficulty this year which could have easily been prevented,” says Crossley. 

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Editors Notes

Brand Reputation is a reputation management and communications agency based in London.  The agency works with consumer brands in multiple sectors including retail, FMCG, travel & leisure and financial services to strengthen their brand and improve consumer perception.

Brand Reputation is not a traditional marketing agency as, traditional marketing is no longer enough for consumer brands.  The team are specialists in strengthening what consumers think and say about brands.

The agency’s founder Graeme Crossley, spent over 15 years in communication roles of increasing responsibility for companies including The Coca-Cola Company, Amazon.com, Yum! Restaurants Inc, Sainsbury’s Supermarkets and WH Smith and is a Business Leader of The Marketing Society as well as Non-Executive Chairman of boutique search and selection company Aextis.

For more information visit www.brandrep.co.uk

For press enquiries please contact Amy Larman on 01603 283 503 or email amy@mediajems.co.uk.

Brand reputation at risk as marketers fail to make the grade

Marketing managers are struggling to adequately answer 9 out the 10 key questions relating to the monitoring and evaluation of brand reputation, according to a leading reputation management agency.

Speaking at a recent seminar on brand management, communications expert and MD of Brand Reputation Graeme Crossley claimed that most marketing managers do not understand the fundamental aspects that contribute to a ‘valuable’ brand and ‘could be making entirely the wrong choices based on flawed information about how the brand is perceived by customers and stakeholders.’

‘The first thing marketing managers need to remember is the brand value has nothing to do with how big the company is or the share value. To really understand where the brand is and where it is going to go in the future, you need to be able to answer a number of fundamental questions with regards to how the brand is viewed in the wider world. Reputation management has never been more critical to business intelligence, particularly the negative comments, as this shows you the brand at its worst,’ says Crossley.

“A lot of my work is focused on helping marketers to strengthen the reputation of their brand and I often challenge them by asking them to answer the following ten questions:

• Do you know what your competitors reputations are? How does your brand compare?
• Are you losing more customers than you are gaining?
• Have you calculated the value of sales you have lost due to your reputation?
• How are you monitoring consumer generated media?
• What is the worst rumour about your brand?
• Do consumers believe what you say about your brand?
• How do you plan to change or improve consumer perception of your brand?
• What percentage of sentiment towards your brand is positive versus negative?
• Is your brand as transparent, ethical & responsible as it could be?
• Do you know how best to improve what consumers say about your brand?

“I find that most know how their brand reputation compares to their competitors, but struggle to answer the other questions and at that point it becomes clear that they lack the knowledge and/ or resources required to strengthen the reputation of their brand,” says Crossley.

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Editors Notes

Brand Reputation is a reputation management and communications agency based in London. The agency works with consumer brands in multiple sectors including retail, FMCG, travel & leisure and financial services to strengthen their brand and improve consumer perception.
Brand Reputation is not a traditional marketing agency as, traditional marketing is no longer enough for consumer brands. The team are specialists in strengthening what consumers think and say about brands.

The agency’s founder Graeme Crossley, spent over 15 years in communication roles of increasing responsibility for companies including The Coca-Cola Company, Amazon.com, Yum! Restaurants Inc, Sainsbury’s Supermarkets and WH Smith and is a Business Leader of The Marketing Society as well as Non-Executive Chairman of boutique search and selection company Aextis.

For more information visit www.brandrep.co.uk

For press enquiries please contact Amy Larman on 01603 283 503 or email amy@mediajems.co.uk.

Big brands take the rap for failing to support small businesses

Big brands may be shouting about their initiatives for carbon reduction or charitable programmes but are failing to treat their smaller suppliers ethically by consciously delaying invoice payments, according to CSR expert Graeme Crossley.

Graeme Crossley, MD of CSR and sustainability consultancy Brand Reputation, claims that many brands are spending too much time focusing on current media hot topics such as carbon reduction or boasting about the amount that they can still pump into their charitable activities despite the recession, when they could be achieving an additional impact by treating their small business suppliers more ethically.

Crossley says:

“There has been much criticism aimed at the banks and their failure to support small businesses, but many large organisations fail to realise that they could make a major difference through the way that they deal with the small businesses – which could be instrumental in supporting their survival.”

“Cash flow is the biggest issue for small businesses in the current climate and large organisations can certainly afford to pay these suppliers on time, or even better upfront. It is a question of ethics when a large organisation purposely defers invoice payments to a smaller supplier who relies on their prompt payments to survive the recession without a valid reason to do so.”

Crossley also believes that small businesses are still discriminated against in many tendering processes and is calling for more organisations to review their tendering criteria to ensure that smaller businesses and self employed people are eligible to tender alongside large organisations.

Crossley adds:

“How often do large organisations honestly consider start up or early life businesses when putting together tender requirements? It is all very well agreeing that small businesses are going to help pull the UK out of recession but for that to happen, larger businesses need to wake up and realise that they can help and they can make a difference.”

“Brands that reach out an olive branch to small businesses by paying them promptly and enabling them to tender for contracts will demonstrate that their ethics and values permeate the entire business from the way they treat their suppliers through to the wider community and their brand reputation will improve as a result. It will be interesting to see which brands will put their money where their mouth is and rise to the challenge.”

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