When you run a business, you’re necessarily out in the public domain. You have to be out there and searching for customers, and this means that you have a public profile. This can lead to coverage, reviews, gossip, rumours and many other things. These are all positive things if done correctly and help you build a social profile for yourself, brands s have been effective at making this work for them. But, how important is that kind of external coverage to your business? And what you can you do, if anything, to control or manage it?
No Business Exists in a Bubble
You have to accept that no business is an island. You can’t expect to be free from analysis and harsh criticisms in the world of business. What you should do is learn to take things on the chin and roll with the punches. If you can do this, you can shrug off the things that you don’t see as important. And you can take onboard valid criticisms. Some forms of coverage and feedback do matter. But that doesn’t mean you have to take every snipe on social media seriously because a lot of it is worthless.
Companies that Ignore PR Miss Out
Public relations matter. If your business doesn’t have someone who’s capable of managing the businesses public profile, it will suffer as a result. PR officers do a very tricky job. They speak to people in the media who have a big influence. And having influence over the influencers is very important. Many businesses ignore the importance of this, but it’s a big mistake and one that should be avoided. You can miss out on favorable coverage and be hit hard by negative coverage if you don’t consider PR.
Reviews Sway Opinions
When people write reviews of your products and services, people do take notice. Bad reviews can stop many people from buying from your business. Of course, not everyone does read these reviews. But it would be pretty naive to think that no one listens to them. Otherwise, why would they read them in the first place? And the landscape of reviewing is changing constantly. It’s not just about magazines or newspapers writing reviews and profiles of businesses these days. It’s also about all the online coverage that businesses get, such as online customer reviewing platforms. Using review management techniques to keep things in order can really help your business to know where it stands with regards to reviews.
Media Coverage Can Boost Brand Awareness
It’s not all bad. When a big media outlet or a popular website offers coverage to your business, this has a wider impact. People will read what’s written, and your business can sometimes benefit. For example, when your business sends out press releases, you want people in the media to read them and then write about them. That’s the whole reason for sending them out there. Getting that kind of coverage will help your business to reach more people. But it’s not quite the case that all publicity is good publicity. If a scandal does hit the business and it’s covered in the media, then the process of putting out the fires has to start quickly.
