What
do they really think?
Sophisticated tools
hone reputation
analysis, branding
campaigns
BtoB
Online, April 02,
2007 By Christopher
Hosford The
belief persists
that reputation—a
first cousin
of brand power
and
a kindly uncle
of customer preference—is
ephemeral, something
that creates
little more than
good
will. But many
say reputation
can indeed impact
financial performance
and be measured
effectively,
provided objectives,
target
markets and messages
are aligned.
"We
absolutely believe
in reputation measurement,
whether it's the
impact on revenue
or stock performance," said James Gregory, CEO of CoreBrand. "If it can't be measured, I really question whether it's valuable."
Different
companies can have
vastly different
goals in striving
for a "good" reputation, and it typically concerns target markets. Public companies may be
focused on the
investment community,
government regulators
or the sales chain,
for example. Smaller
companies may aim
for powerful good
will in their community.
All wish for a
strong reputation
among buyers and
employees.
"And
for sales, it can
roll up into customers'
willingness to
buy more from you,
pay a little more
compared with your
competitors or
give you 'permission'
to enter new product
or service categories," said Pat LaPointe, managing partner at MarketingNPV, which focuses on determining
the financial return
from marketing
investments. "And while company reputation has lots of ways of creating value, most of them
find their way
into shareholder
value."
While
central measurement
tools include
reputation indexes
driven
by complex surveys,
such as those
offered by CoreBrand
and
Harris Interactive,
many companies
focus on media
content analysis,
as provided by
such companies
as Cymfony and
Biz360.
VeriSign,
for example,
uses Cymfony to
track
how its main
messages are being
conveyed
in the media,
its prominence
in any
story and its
exposure to targeted
audiences.
"We
track our messaging
around a lexicon
that is three or
four pages long
to see how it's
gaining and whether
we're getting the
point across," said Joel Andren, global research manager at VeriSign. The Internet payment-security
provider uses online
dashboards that
track 20 different
messages against
the progress of
60 competitors.
"We
then can adjust
our activity based
on where we want
to be," Andren said. If a particular message isn't getting across via PR, the company
will quickly switch
its emphasis to
webcasts, online
advertising, a
media alert or
special events.
"We
also can see how
one division might
be performing better
in online media
while the competitors
may be having more
success in print," he said, adding, "we can prioritize our resources and shift emphasis to a particular message in
a particular medium
as needed."
Don't be obsessive
It's
not necessary
always to use sophisticated
(and expensive)
measuring tools
to determine
reputation.
"You
can ask people
who already went
through the buying
cycle, perhaps
with follow-up
phone calls or
e-mail surveys," said Jim Lenskold, president of marketing consultancy Lenskold Group. "Of course, it's a little more difficult gauging those who didn't buy, even from
your sales team
who might think
they lost out on
price or features.
Here, you have
to go back to the
potential buyer."
While
public opinion
surveys and media
analysis have
been traditional
tools
for measuring
reputation, monitoring
and
analyzing online
blogs and forums
increasingly
is important.
"If
you just look at
the mainstream
media for company
awareness and reputation,
it gives you a
different picture
than the social
media," said Tony Priore, chief marketing officer and head of product development at
Biz360. He said
bloggers and their
readers tend to
be slightly younger,
although in certain
industries, such
as technology and
politics, blogs
are virtually mainstream.
Other viewpoints
Blogosphere
sentiment also
can constitute
leading-edge
intelligence, since
bloggers
tend to pick
up industry trends
almost immediately
and, unlike mainstream
media, flog them
heavily.
The
experience of Transamerica
Insurance & Investment Group, whose insurance and annuities products are distributed through
a b-to-b chain
of reselling agents
and brokers, illustrates
the differing impact
of reputation on
particular subgroups.
"Recently,
we tested a number
of attributes of
the brand—like
innovation, trust
and financial strength—and
whether they matter," said Bill Tate, senior VP-CMO at Transamerica, who used CoreBrand analysis. "We had good scores, but while these weren't so relevant to consumers, they were
extremely attractive
to our b-to-b distributors.
You have to recognize
what each audience
is really valuing."
In
coming up with
reputation-enhancing
messages, companies
should be goal-specific,
LaPointe said.
This might entail,
for example,
increasing the
number of high-volume
resellers, or
improving
employee retention
from 70% to 85%
or getting a
ballot initiative
on the
legislative calendar
that would allow
greater flexibility
in introducing
a new product.
In these cases,
concrete financial
benefits could
be specific incremental
sales increases,
lower recruitment
and training
costs, and enhanced
new-product
sales.
"It's
saying, `If I do
this, what dimensions
of my business
do I expect to
change, and what
is the expected
magnitude and value
of that change,' " he said. "Then it becomes easy to guess at an expected return."
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