"What people say behind your back is your standing in the community."Edgar Watson Howe

Reputation – what is it?

1. The beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone or something

2. A widespread belief that someone or something has a particular habit or characteristic

What are the characteristics or habits that you or your company are known for?

Reputation – what is it?

• Reputation is the reason why people and organisations do business with you

• It influences your ability to attract and retain employees, investors and strategic partners

• It affects your relationship with regulatory bodies, pressure groups, the media and local community

• Reputation is ultimately a measure of trust

Value of reputation:numbers speak louder than words

RBS had to set aside £310m to repair its reputation after the IT meltdown and two mis-selling scandals of 2012

The Independent, 3 August 2012

65% of chief communications officers see improvement in corporate reputation as their highest priority

PRNewswire, 26 June 2012

Around £700mln was wiped off G4S value after the London 2012 Olympics fiasco

This is Money, 17 July 2012

60% of market value is attributable to a company’s reputation

Weber Shandwick, 18 January 2012

Your reputation depends on your stakeholders

While the reputation of an organisation is influenced by its:

• performance

• policies

• people

it is ultimately stakeholders who decide what the reputation of the organisation actually is.

Stakeholders defined

• A stakeholder is anyone affected by or having an influence over the organisation

• Historically, companies tended to prioritise two groups: customers and shareholders but nowadays the stakeholder landscape is much more complex

Do you know who your key

stakeholders are?

Your reputation

How much do you know about:• What your stakeholders say, what they like and

what they don’t like about you?• How they perceive you?• Their relative importance to your business?

Do you understand your stakeholders’ needs, wants and why they choose your product over your competitor's?

VS

Have you identified the most effective way to communicate with them?

Stakeholder mapping helps you to:• Identify and prioritise key stakeholders• Understand stakeholders’ relative importance and

influence over your business • Understand the beliefs and objectives which motivate

stakeholder views and behaviour • Reveal how your stakeholders currently perceive you • Identify where they source their information and how

they’d like to be communicated with• Tailor your communications depending on the influence

of stakeholders• Create the reputation you desire and deserve

Stakeholder mapping adds value by:

• Uncovering the real attitudes, perceptions and pre-conceptions of your stakeholders

• Reflecting a reality which may be very different to the conventional wisdom (this may be challenging, but it’s always valuable)

• Revealing a strategy to drive your communication forward

Why understanding stakeholders underpins successful communication - video

Stakeholder mapping in practice:

“We appointed Insignia Communications to conduct a stakeholder audit to provide deep insights into stakeholders which would help us build a strong reputation and relationships.

Insignia’s contribution went beyond the information provided by the research: they added insight and analysis to zero in on the key reputation and communication challenges facing the organisation – and recommendations as to how we should address them.”

Diana Thomas, Malaria Consortium

Contact Details

Insignia CommunicationsEmail: info@insigniacomms.comWebsite: www.insigniacomms.com Phone: +44 (0)121 382 5304