Comments on: Think Reputation, Instead of Brand

By: What is business reputation

What is business reputation — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 23:01:25 +0000

[...] the issue: – AllAboutBranding.com : Brand vs. Reputation: Same or Different? – comparing the two – Think Reputation, Instead of Brand | MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog – this one sways more to the reputation side of it, but is a good visual article about it – [...]

By: Paul Williams

Paul Williams — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:16:32 +0000

Mark – best of luck to you… let me know if there is anything I can help with!
Robert – I find Zappos’ strategy interesting. There’s a lot of buzz about it.
Robert… Regarding your company… If I were you, to enhance your company/brand I wouldn’t consider yourself in the ‘hosting’ business… Rather, break down what you do into chunks… initial contact/first impression, service, product, employee training, experience, etc… Next, find those companies who are regarded as the best of the best for each of those chunks. It doesn’t matter *what* industry they’re in… See how you can adopt those methods at YOUR brand. (I know it’s called benchmarking, but I’m not a fan of jargon).

By: Robert Sauchyn

Robert Sauchyn — Fri, 23 May 2008 23:26:11 +0000

Great post! Couldn’t agree more.
It’s cliché but accurate to say that any good service-based company consists almost entirely of the people that make it up. But, to take that one step further, I would say that any service company’s brand can’t be much better than its worst customer-facing employee. One “bad seed” in a customer-facing position can result in a handful, or more over a long period of time, of bad customer experiences. As we all know, bad news travels 10 times faster, especially on the web; therefore, if you assume that “brand” = “reputation” today, a few bad customer experiences on an ongoing basis can largely negate all of the hard work put into organizing a company around providing good customer service and branding itself well.
Zappos takes an interesting approach aimed at improving customer service by aggressively incenting new employees, after having gone through an extensive paid orientation, to quit. One of our staff members recently wrote about her buzzworthy first-hand experience with Zappos’ service-focused strategies at an outlet store in Vegas:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=6151154587&topic=4546
I can see Zappos’ strategy of paying new employees $1000 to quit following orientation being an effective and innovative way to weed out the “bad seeds” before they interact with customers or, worse yet, become engrained in the organization. While our company prides itself on being an extremely service-oriented hosting provider, there is always a lot to learn from other innovative companies, particularly those in other, non-competitive industries like Zappos.

By: Marc Okicich

Marc Okicich — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:39:23 +0000

Paul,
To second the other comments-great post. I’ve recently been put in charge of one of the great American brands that has, in my opinion, sullied it’s reputation by trying to be everything to everybody. I hope to right the ship utilizing some of your guiding principles.
Thanks.

By: Paul (from Idea Sandbox)

Paul (from Idea Sandbox) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 20:46:23 +0000

Thanks for the comments and discussion… I’m not a fan of jargon or buzz words…
They get in the way of genuine communication… (I don’t mind jargon here and there between two marketers, as shortcuts in language during a conversation)…
But most jargon seems to be invented to make a professional sound highfalutin.
Keep the comments coming!

By: Michael Lombardi

Michael Lombardi — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:54:51 +0000

Paul, thanks for the article. It inspired me to write my own post on reputation (a truncated version of yours at best): http://marketersynergy.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/forgotten-reputation/

By: Chris Davis

Chris Davis — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:14:19 +0000

My apologies for the multiple post…My internet froze mid-click.

By: Chris Davis

Chris Davis — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:12:25 +0000

I couldn’t agree more with your thoughts on a brand being more of a reputation than anything. A reputation is something that everyone can understand.
I tend to put a lot of emphasis on having a vision and making it public. Not only to organizational staff, but to the consumers, letting them know that we have thought this through, we know where we are going and we want our consumers to come along for the ride.
Great post.

By: Chris Davis

Chris Davis — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:11:13 +0000

By: Chris Davis

Chris Davis — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 04:10:00 +0000

By: Christelle

Christelle — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 16:35:55 +0000

I realy believe in ‘affinity arketing’ – The trust rank is going to be much more important than the google rank in the next years …

By: Krishna Mony

Krishna Mony — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 07:35:57 +0000

Your point#4 Empathy (Loyalty beyond reason) – is beautifully captured by Kevin Roberts, CEO Saatchi & Saatchi in his “Lovemarks” concept.
(Think Apple fans!)

By: MrAchievement.com (Stanley Bronstein)

MrAchievement.com (Stanley Bronstein) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 23:24:17 +0000

The best brands are the one that have a person behind them.
For example, I just signed up with a service company that is fairly large. Immediately after signing up, I received a call from the president of the company inviting me in and thanking me for signing up. He then asked if I had any questions or if there was anything I could do.
THAT is what is behind good branding.
MrAchievement
Stanley F. Bronstein
Attorney, CPA, Author & Motivational Speaker

By: Elaine Fogel

Elaine Fogel — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:22:01 +0000

Hi, Paul. When I speak and train to non-marketers, I like to refer to branding as a promise waiting to be fulfilled – something that is represented by every touchpoint in an organization. That covers reputation, too.
Great book list. One I would add to this list is Lead With Your Heart from our own MP blogger and branding maven, Lewis Green. Here’s the ISBN: 978-1-59996-120-0. (Blog comments don’t allow for links.)

By: Levon

Levon — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:44:52 +0000

I think the b-word gets way too much praise in this day and age. The term is just a buzz word to so many. I think reputation is a better model.

By: Paul (from Idea Sandbox)

Paul (from Idea Sandbox) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:13:26 +0000

@Paul… I hope I’m not being redundant, repeating myself, saying the same things over and over…
There *is* a chance that I’ve spoken about this before… But never revealed these six characteristics!
Thanks for your comment, Paul!

By: Paul (from Idea Sandbox)

Paul (from Idea Sandbox) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:12:42 +0000

@Brick… Thanks for the comment… Glad to hear the provided list is potentially collectively exhaustive and mutually exclusive!
Thanks for commenting!

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:49:22 +0000

Paul, I might have read the same concept before from you or another article on the DailyFix or MP’s.
The concept was, don’t talk to your senior execs about “brand” because they will roll their eyes. Talk to them about “reputation” and then by extension “brand” because reputation is a concept everyone understands.

By: Brick Marketing

Brick Marketing — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:15:23 +0000

We were trying to conjure up some other ideas when it came to brand and reputation and what you should add to the list but everything we thought of coincided with what you had already written – your article is great! Love the book suggestions as well!