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The following is an excerpt from a paper entitled “Reputation Management, Measurement and Monitoring.” It was written as part of the PR program at Ryerson University. If you would like to read the rest of it, you can find it here. Please feel free to comment and discuss below.  

Reputation vs. Brand

Reputation and brand are two terms that have been debated over and compared when attempting to consider stakeholder opinions. The difference between the two is similar to the fundamental difference between public relations and marketing.

A brand, as a concept, shares a number of elements with reputation. Elements like trust, quality, and consumer confidence are often parts of both good brands and good reputations. The difference between the two lies in the core of each concept. The essence of a brand is a name that influences buyers (Kapferer, 2004). Brands are based on transactions. They are a creation of consumer preference from interactions between a company and its customers. Marketing itself is based on the same principles. It is fundamentally concerned with transactions, sales and revenue.

Transactions are just one type of conversation that will help create a reputation. Reputations encompass transactions as well as interactions that do not involve money changing hands. For this reason, reputation is chiefly the concern of the public relations practitioner rather than the marketer.

The Canadian Public Relations Society defines public relations as the management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an organization or individual with the public interest, and plans and executes a program of action to earn public understanding, acceptance and support. From this definition, it is apparent that the interaction between stakeholders and an organization is the primary interest of the PR practitioner. These interactions are the only source of influence an organization will have on its reputation. Interactions are far more diverse than merely transactions, and each interaction will have an impact on reputation. By managing interactions and understanding the interactions around them, PR practitioners can add immense value to an organization’s reputation. The following sections will demonstrate the different ways a PR practitioner and its organization should treat these interactions to benefit the organization’s reputation.

Public attitudes

The first component mentioned in the CPRS definition of public relations is evaluation of public attitudes. Companies and organizations do not exist in a vacuum, and they cannot simply execute their plans without consideration to the environment around them. Each organization is situated in a mire of public opinions and interests. The surrounding public can impede, allow or aid the organization in meeting its goals, depending on the stakeholders’ attitudes towards the organization.  For the PR practitioner, evaluating public attitudes means understanding stakeholder expectations. The stakeholders of an organization expect a certain type of behaviour and intention from each organization. Understanding and adhering to these expectations is essential for an organization’s survival.

What stakeholders expect is essentially ethical, responsible behaviour. Many companies lately have been trying to enhance their connection with stakeholder expectations through corporate social responsibility. CSR mostly equates to initiatives from companies to attempt to become more ethical and more responsible in their actions. In reality, CSR is often a reaction to stakeholder attitudes that differ from current corporate behaviour. Whether reactive or proactive, it is a method of risk management, a “manifestation of corporations under fire.” (Griffin, 2008, p. 137) This type of response that so often characterizes CSR is not an effective way for practitioners to react to public attitudes. Instead, PR practitioners and their organizations need to uphold a standard of corporate citizenship. Practitioners must understand what stakeholders expect of them, and how they expect a good citizen or neighbour would behave. The organization should be helpful, respectful and think about society’s wider needs as well as their own. (Griffin, 2008, p. 154) CSR initiatives can be counter-productive; positive behaviour is not meant to be a business initiative or patch that a company can throw on to make up for irresponsible actions. Corporate citizenship is an attitude that permeates the organization, and should be reflected in all interactions that organization has with its stakeholders. In order to be a good corporate citizen, the PR practitioner must understand stakeholder expectations and public attitudes, and influence the organization’s interactions to adhere. Through this behaviour, a foundation for a strong reputation can begin.

Policies & procedures

The next component of the definition of public relations is the identification of the policies and procedures of an organization. Evaluating public attitudes and understanding stakeholder expectations would not be very useful unless the practitioner can identify the policies of the organization. The practitioner can then work to align the two, creating a strong reputation and mutually beneficial relationships.

The most important aspects of an organization’s policies and procedures are its core values and leadership. The core values of an organization help define that organization, give it direction and set a standard for how its behaviour should be conducted. Effective leadership should do the same. A strong leader will also give direction to an organization, while setting an example of the core values the organization is meant to embody. Both core values and leadership have an immense impact on reputation, internally and externally. Internally, core values guide the actions and interactions of employees and set a precedent for behaviour, while strong leadership keeps employees engaged. Externally, both core values and leadership reflect the ideals that the organization upholds and the direction the organization is headed. If the actions correspond to the values, these policies and procedures will have a positive influence on reputation.

The importance of core values and effective leadership underscores the necessity of public relations as a management function, rather than merely a support function. The values of an organization must correspond with public attitudes and expectations. The interactions of that organization with its stakeholders must correspond with those values, and the leadership should promote and exemplify them. The only way a PR practitioner can influence values and leadership in an effective manner is to have a management or leadership role within the organization. The practitioner can best guide the organization in a way that will enhance and grow the organization’s reputation. Otherwise, the policies and procedures may not match public attitudes, causing harm to reputation and operational goals alike.