| You can have an outstanding business plan. You can | | | | about your business. |
| have a superb product. You can even have the best | | | | You can see how important it is to get this right. And |
| workers in the business all working for you. But if you | | | | since nearly a quarter of those Fortune 100 companies |
| do not have a good corporate reputation management | | | | had some kind of bad press somewhere in the first |
| plan in place, it could all be for nothing. | | | | page of results, it is reasonable to assume that has a |
| One of the most important parts of any business is its | | | | direct impact on them. If they worked on their |
| brand image. How do other people view it – | | | | reputation by seeking more control over it within those |
| positively or negatively? More than this, if you have a | | | | all important listings, their business would benefit as a |
| business yourself, you need to question how much | | | | result. |
| control you actually have over it. That might sound | | | | All of this might sound devastating and even frightening |
| like a strange statement, but it is vital to realize that | | | | – particularly if you happen to own an online |
| external forces can have just as much effect on your | | | | business yourself. What are people saying that could |
| business as you can. | | | | harm your business? |
| A recent survey showed that just 9% of businesses in | | | | But the good news is that you can take control over |
| the Fortune 100 list had real control over their | | | | this issue and manage your own positive publicity more |
| branding. This was discovered by working out how | | | | effectively. You just need to take the right steps to |
| many of the ten listings shown on the first page of | | | | do so, or take on a professional management |
| Google were owned by that company. So for | | | | company to do it for you. |
| example, let us suppose nine out of the first ten listings | | | | As more and more businesses discover the services |
| on Google were other websites where the owners | | | | offered by corporate reputation management |
| commented on the business in question. This would | | | | companies, we can expect to see more control |
| mean the company itself had just 10% of control on | | | | exerted over the positive side of things. This will be |
| that first page – the 10% perhaps coming from its | | | | good news for any company that has had trouble |
| own website. | | | | re-asserting itself in the marketplace after a bout of |
| Now it makes sense that in order to maintain a tight | | | | negative publicity in the past. You no longer need to |
| control over your own business, you need to control | | | | struggle on your own, wondering how to get back to |
| as many of those top ten spots as you can on the | | | | where you were. You can now hire a corporate |
| first page of results. This would be good corporate | | | | reputation management team to help you seek the |
| reputation management, since anyone performing that | | | | good headlines that win accounts, customers and |
| search would find good news and positive information | | | | fresh business. |