The world of business has changed dramatically over the past few decades. How the public receives news has changed as well. So, how do these two things relate to each other? Reputational damage has become more and more common throughout the years. In fact, one of the biggest issues in business today is protecting a company's good name. Let's take a look at some of the most common landmines to avoid if you wish to keep the reputation of your business unblemished.
Let's face it, customers are not always right, but they should be heard. Therefore, customer satisfaction is both the key component to a successful business and a potential landmine that can bring your business down. A serious enough negative review from a customer can result in a boycott of your business or even a full-fledged investigation by authorities. In these instances, communication and physical proof such as a signed document can really be what saves your reputation from being destroyed.
Have you ever walked into a business and noticed how happy or unhappy the employees were? The treatment of employees allows the public to learn a lot about your business practices. In fact, it is those same employees who may pose the most danger to your company's reputation. Nowadays, old tweets are a reason to fire someone since they can rapidly become an issue if the public finds out that the employer was aware of them. Understandably, many businesses around the world are afraid of such exposure. Amazon found itself in a very similar situation when labor activists demanded better working conditions and employees pointed to such issues as their reasons for leaving. Instead of addressing these problems, Amazon did the worst possible thing. They allowed bots to post positive reviews of the company. These were clearly artificially generated messages, and the reputation of Amazon with the public plummeted.
Gone are the days when criminals would walk into a store at gunpoint to demand money. Instead, many of these criminals are now opting for stealing and ransoming data rather than committing physical theft. Not only does it afford them less scrutiny, but they can potentially leave with millions of dollars' worth of information. Large companies such as Target or Amazon have bounced back from these events, but smaller companies do not fare so well. Data breaches are a huge headache for your customers. They won't hesitate to stop doing business with you, and they'll make sure everyone knows why.
The world of business has changed, and as a business owner, you need to understand the new risks that are involved in operating a company. Consider the the topics mentioned above, adhere to strict security protocols and begin to add layers of protection to your preventive measures. Simply being proactive can go a long way toward maintaining your reputation.
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