Even while economic conditions for businesses and industries across the nation struggle in the wake of COVID-19, there has been an uptick in business for firms providing reputation management services. From cruise-lines to major retail stores, businesses that have been most adversely affected by the Coronavirus and the ensuing economic damage it has wrought, have been seeking our reputation management specialists to help them mitigate the damage.
This development is hardly surprising for us at Dignified Online. We are fond of saying that the most cost effective way of building a business is public relations. But there’s no doubt that the most cost-effective and responsible way of preserving it , is by employing strategic reputation management campaigns. In the wake of the COVID-19 disastrous conditions for many industries, many businesses have fundamentally failed their employees and their consumers from a communications standpoint.
They’ve done little in the way of preparing in a pre-emptive fashion for a crisis of this scope and magnitude; and the consequences of that failure speaks for itself. Every business – no matter its size, needs to have a thorough and well-developed communications program in place in the event a crisis emerges. That program needs to be carefully crafted and cultivated so as to appeal to its two major constituencies. Those are comprised of its consumer base; and also its own staff.
With such a communications program in place, those businesses that took such precautions and acted responsibly, have seen the way such a program has effectively mitigated much of the damage that would have otherwise been caused. But we are no longer in a pre-emptive phase of this crisis; and businesses are keenly aware of the sort of devastating economic impact this crisis has had on their businesses. Naturally, many of them have turned to reputation management specialists for help in rehabilitating their image in the aftermath of this disaster.
At Dignified Online, we have been engaged by several major corporations in the wake of this pandemic, seeking to digitally rehabilitate their online images. Although due to confidentiality concerns we are not at liberty to disclose the identity of these companies, suffice it to say that they all operate in the industries that have been hit the hardest by this pandemic.
The in-house marketing and communications teams at these corporations who have retained us, have a comprehensive understanding of the value of a company having a sterling and bespoke online image. Surely, prospective clients and customers turn to Google when they want to find out about a business before making a purchase – whether that be for goods or for services.
Ultimately, those companies that have made the strategic decision to employ resources into rehabilitating their online images in the wake of this crisis, will be rewarded in a way that is immeasurable. And those that haven’t, will continue suffering the consequences of the neglect and quasi-malpractice they have exhibited toward their shareholders, staffs and clients.
In any event, one thing is for certain. The digital reputation management industry will continue being a force to reckon with in the months and years to come. Smart companies and individuals understand the value of having a bespoke online image filled with positive content that features most prominently when they are searched for. We don’t see that changing anytime soon.
