(Akiit.com) If a person is only as good as their word, a business is only as good as their image. It does more than “look good.” It communicates the brand, the objectives and aims of the team, as well as the reputation they have managed to build. It’s time to look into how you preserve, reinforce, and repair that image.
Clean up your act
Every time a member of your team communicates with someone from the outside world, they are representing your brand. If they’re not doing it right, that person’s image of that brand can suffer. If 
that happens enough, it becomes an unprofessional image. Beyond setting standards of communication, ensure you’re using tools like https://www.templafy.com/ to keep those communications in fitting with the imagery and formatting of the brand. Inconsistency is one of the worst traits a brand can have. Making all your emails and customer correspondence maintain a little professional creates the image of a reliable business.
Share the wins
When you win, make sure you win big by capitalizing on it. Your business should already have contacts that it can use to get the PR engines started when you have good news to share. Every appearance you manage to snag in the local press, online news sites, and blogs help spread the good news a little further, giving your business a new level of prestige.
Admit the losses
When you fail your customers, trying to sweep it under the rug is rarely the best way to deal with it. Wronged customers will often take the opportunity to pull said rug up. If some message, customer relationship, or business move has become controversial, the best thing you can do is apologize and look like you are taking steps to correct it. Plenty of companies have made case studies out of past failures and how they corrected them. This improvement actually earns them more goodwill than what they lost in the initial mistake.
Clear the air
Not everything affecting your image is strictly true, of course. People will report on out of date information or publish pure falsehoods. Services like https://www.reputationx.com/ can help you balance the good publicity to the bad, as well as finding false or misleading information that can do real damage if it’s not removed.
Innovate, don’t compete
One of the biggest conundrums facing business owners is that they have trouble getting their image to match their competitors. Rather than trying to compete, however, you should aim to become a thought leader. Share insightful content and pertinent news before your competitors, whether through your blog, an email newsletter, or other means.
Your image is the only you have to convince new customers to join the fold and if you fail to protect it, you will have a much harder time doing exactly that. It only takes a little effort to help your brand live up to your services.
Staff Writer; George Brown