Bulldog Reporter's Daily Dog: True North: Cision VP, Delahaye Index Point to Best Reputation Management Practices

Original story found at: http://www.bulldogreporter.com/dailydog/issues/1_1/dailydog_pr_spotlight/index.html#7245

This week's spotlight, K.C. Brown, Vice President of Client Development, Cision U.S.

"Reputations are tied to expectations—that's what it's all about," says K.C. Brown, vice president of client development at Cision U.S., the umbrella media research, distribution and evaluation services organization that recently folded in the Delahaye and Bacon's brands, among others. "If you don't expect something and get something, you're delighted. But if you get one degree less than you expect, you're disappointed."

"This applies to PR because corporate reputation is all about living up to your brand promise to the public and meeting their expectations," continues Brown, who previously served as SVP in the company's evaluation and research-based consulting arm, where he founded the Delahaye Index, a quarterly assessment of how news coverage helps shape the corporate reputation of the 100 largest U.S. companies. "PR people need to see themselves as managers protecting that reputation—not just as communicators."

But to do that, "They need to understand what the company's 'true north' is," says Brown. "By that, I mean the one core value the company can't compromise. Then you must be aggressive in preaching and protecting it. For example, if your company is considering actions that could hurt that, then you need to stand up and say, 'We can't do that. We should not sacrifice misalignment on what is core to our company.'"

That kind of assertive advocacy not only helps shape "aligned" corporate behaviors—it also helps drive media coverage consistent with one's brand promise. Companies with the strongest corporate reputations do precisely that—they ensure their actions and messages align with their brand promise and bedrock principles, according to Brown.

Cision's latest reputation index, released on Monday, illustrates the point—with companies topping the list consistently delivering on and communicating brand promises to the public, and those at the bottom frequently failing to do so. Microsoft tops the current list, followed by Cisco Systems (buoyed by negotiations with Apple over the iPhone name and news of acquisitions resulting in expansion beyond networking hardware), General Motors (elevated by news of strong earnings and honors won at the 2007 North American International Auto Show), Verizon and Intel. Notably, General Motors enjoyed a complete turnaround from a year ago when the automaker ranked last overall. Conversely, AT&T fell from seventh to tenth, while Wal-Mart dropped from second to eighth place, due in part to reported lackluster holiday sales and a settlement of $33 million in an overtime case, among other negative developments and coverage, according to the index.

Read on for Brown's further analysis of the best and worst in corporate reputations—ranging from JetBlue to Arthur Anderson—as well as his take on the increasing influence social media has on reputation management:

Can you think of a company that illustrated best practices in reputation management these past few months—what did they do right?

One company I really liked watching these last two months ago was JetBlue. Their reputation's built upon "returning humanity to air travel." It's grounded in the premise that you'd have a good experience—from the snacks to comfort to wireless access and on down the list. Then they had their Valentine weekend disaster. This company lives by its reputation of treating people well—and then people get stranded for hours. This went straight to their "true north."

Their CEO, David Neeleman, recognized that. In an interview a couple of days later, he came out with a "Passenger Bill of Rights." This is something that had been talked about in congress and travel groups—but in a few days, he did it. Then came the telltale question in an interview: He was asked something like, "That's well and good—but what about all those people from last week?" His response was they were making it retroactive. People were getting their money back. The journalist said, "Wow. How much will that cost?" Neeleman replied that he didn't know and it didn't matter—those people were what they were built upon as a company.

I guess the takeaway is he put the customer experience first with the "Passenger Bill of Rights"—that relationship with the passenger was what their reputation was built on. Nothing else mattered. In times of crisis or when your reputation is taking a hit, that's what you have to go back to—the bedrock expectation you've committed to meeting

So how does that translate to a tip or suggestion for our readers?

I think it goes back to understanding what the fundamental expectation of the public is for your company. Know exactly what your reputation is built upon and then tie everything back to that core. For most companies it's one or two elements. Once you understand exactly what that differentiator is—then make sure it's not undermined. That is your reputation in a nutshell.

Is that really something PR can control—that the brand promise or reputation is upheld across the company?

Well, PR people must at least be advocates of it. Everyone knows a big part of PR is to disseminate information. But the part we most often forget—and are not respected for by other disciplines or departments—is understanding our publics and representing them to our company. That should drive company behavior. That's listening. It goes beyond just being a messenger. We aren't one-way messengers—we must be two-way communicators if we're to build, maintain and relay reputation. We must be the voice of the public internally. We can't really do that if we don't understand what the fundamental underpinning of our company's reputation is. If you don't know at least that, then you're not worth your salt.

That's got to be the exception, right—the PR person who doesn't get what drives their company reputation?

The reality is that all too often—and not just in PR—people with functional responsibilities tend to focus on their function, rather than on the business they're actually in. So easy to look at a business and get it at only a cursory level. For example, Arthur Anderson's a public accounting company. But what's it built upon? Well, it was built upon trust that they're going to do the right thing, be compliant and above reproach. If that's undermined, then it all collapses.

So the initial point here is to see beyond your function and to understand what people expect from the business as a whole. Ask yourself and your CEO what things the company will never, ever compromise on. Ask questions so communications and the CEO have a perfect understanding of what's not negotiable—your core value. If you don't have that conversation, you're setting yourself up for failure and conflict in objectives and misalignment during crises.

The second point is that you should look externally to determine these things. Survey the public and customers. Know their expectations—that's within your PR role to investigate and discover. Another place to turn is the media. We advocate surveying journalists regularly to understand how they perceive the company and to discover what their expectations about it are. JetBlue is just the most recent example of someone who gets what matters most to their company, the public and their reputation. Everything flows from that.

What's the biggest mistake PR makes in reputation management?

First is trying to be all things to all people. You can't try to have the perfect reputation of being stellar at all attributes. That's a recipe for disaster. Again, focus on finding the company's "true north"—and then be disciplined in fostering and communicating only that. The second mistake, which we already talked about, is not having a clear understanding of what that core is beyond our functional responsibilities. And three is not having a constant read on your messaging tied to reputation. If you're not measuring what's being said and discussed about you—then you have no idea if you're wavering or putting attention on the correct reputation attributes. Basically, if you don't have metrics to go by, then you don't know if you're aligned with those attributes from an external perspective.

How do blogs and new media impact reputation?

They can surely damage a reputation. An important point to make here is that you can't try to tell different audiences different stories any longer. Your mission and message has to be the same across all mediums now because you will be cross referenced through online social media. Misalignment is easier to pinpoint these days than ever before. So you can't tell the investor community one thing, employees another and customers on one coast another. Everything must be consistent in the world of new media. You can't contradict your brand promise and expect to get away with it—that's the power of social media: mass cross referencing. They will keep you true to your reputation. If you have a twisted tongue, they will catch it.

What tips can you share with CEOs and executives facing the press—how can they ensure what they say enhances the brand's reputation?

I go all the way back to a lesson I learned as a kid for this: If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember everything you said. If you're telling the truth and believe your story, you don't have to memorize message points and bridging. The best CEOs and communicators are not the ones who have been media trained for an interview. They're the ones who live the topic. They believe the subject matter and it naturally flows from them. You should never have to pound on the CEO or whoever about your core value. It should be absolutely engrained in them. Sure, you have to be deliberate in discussing it so people are clear. But from that point on, it's not a matter of spin or turning around questions. It's what's you believe. It's what you practice. It's what you do every day. It's not just words. It's behind every decision you make. It's all tied toward your central, fundamental core.

What drives you personally and professionally?

As corny as it sounds, I remember talking to my father promising that I wouldn't go into PR when I was considering communications classes at school. That conversation was based on his assumption that this was a non-essential business function. But as I studied it and began to practice it, I realized what a powerful tool it could be to drive a business and to serve as a talisman against bad times for a business. In other words, it became clear to me that PR was key to mitigating risk and ensuring growth in businesses.

So I guess what drives me is demonstrating that. The primary method and tool I've used in my career to do that is measurement—using the language of business to communicate the results of who we're reaching and influencing to show ROI.

That sounds like what drives you professionally—what about personally?

The purposes of business are impersonal. But the principles by which you practice it can't be. Let me clarify: The purpose of a business is to generate wealth for its owners. That's the only reason for a business to exist. But the only way to be successful on a meaningful level is to practice it following some fundamental, core values. In that way, every decision we make is personal.

Serving customers is a good example. If you work for a well-run organization, the interests you ultimately serve are those of the owner. But the only way to do that is to serve your customer in a very personal way. If you don't do that, then you fail yourself, the customers and the owner.

So for me, that "true north" is being valuable and showing that value. Taking that a step further, I love business—much more than I love just the discipline of "communications." My father was an entrepreneur. I'm a business person, and I love it.

Brian Pittman; bpittman@bulldogreporter.com