Management of corporate reputation in the age of instant information dissemination, lack of trust and indifference of the audience, is becoming one of the top tasks of the business that plans to develop.
Natalia Dmytrenko, the CMO of Arricano Real Estate Plc, as a member of the jury of the National Quality Rating of Corporate Reputation Management “Reputation ACTIVists” in the “Retail-fashion-2018” sector told in the author’s column for “Power Matters” about industry trends, tools for PR activities and about the most important in reputation management.
The consumer becomes more selective, the struggle of retail operators and shopping malls for their purchasers starts long before they enter the physical store. The speed of the purchase, assistance in choosing a product is the number one trend, which determines the communication techniques and tools of the retailer. Hence — the operators’ enhanced work with digital communication channels, native content and targeted offer.
Conscious consumption and social responsibility! The purchasers increasingly pay attention to these attributes. And this is no longer just a trend, these are the factors that strengthen the brand image in the mind of the consumer and increase purchaser’s loyalty. From the Ukrainian realities’ experience, we see that mainly strong players, network operators, who form the long-term brand positioning strategy, are working with this trend.
Respect for the consumer. The eternal trend, working with which is a continuous process of the retailer’s team. Here is a huge area of responsibility for PR specialists and agencies. Timely informing, quick response to conflicts and non-standard situations, situational communication are complex and important tasks. In most cases, they form the image of the brand and block or promote the dissemination of negative information about the brand, about the company.
All techniques in PR activities have been invented long ago. All ideas are available and have already been implemented somewhere. The packaging of any idea, its format and scale, communication tactics and sequence are important. At the same time, communication is the basis of all external manifestations of the brand. That is why companies operating in the retail and development sectors strengthen their communication techniques and use tools from other areas. As a result, when we talk about any company, about any brand, we perceive them associatively — for example, with opinion leaders or celebrities, or with events like marathons, charity events. This is one side of the PR effect. However, we also recall facts and stories that have hooked us on the Internet. And this is a higher level of work with the target audience. How is it possible to penetrate the consumer’s consciousness, so that he becomes a client? Create a sustainable brand image, use different tools, speak with the consumer in the same language. All strong operators are interested in effective PR and act like this. As a result, we see such companies in the ranking.
System operators are the number one candidates for a high appreciation of their reputation capital. Many experienced and strong retailers have long understood — you can sell more if you increase the impact on the consumer by flexible communication and innovative PR tools. I am very impressed with the communication policy of the Intertop network — positioning in the fashion segment is supported by activities with the main fashion event in the country — the UWF, plus work with designers and bloggers. Online and offline sales systems are built in high quality, and the work of these two systems is also accompanied by constant communication and support with the target audience.
Sports brands that have shown high results in this ranking have tremendous opportunities for working with the client. Huge ones in terms of communication opportunities work with fashionable images, and health care. It is great that strong operators pick up and even lead such trends. After all, HLS has penetrated into all spheres of life and even tried to press the concept of “fashion” in the consumer’s mind. Now, if we are talking about shoes, these are the sneakers.
The most important thing is to clearly define the goals of the business; describe the image that the company intends to form and maintain for its client; identify tools that are objectively available to companies due to ethics, budgets and other factors; finally, to form a team capable of working professionally and efficiently with these goals and objectives.