Brand images are the be-all and end-all for businesses, particularly if you’re an emerging brand. Your public image needs to be positive, or else nobody will want to go near your company. You’re probably well aware of this – and you work hard crafting a marketing strategy and a brand story that reflects the image you want to present to the world.
Think of this as your way of controlling the obvious areas of your business that people look at or engage with. Your social media accounts, your customer service team, etc. But where a lot of businesses fail is in their negligence of the hidden areas that end up damaging their image the most. These are the aspects of your business that aren’t so obvious, yet carry a huge impact on branding.
What are some of the worst examples of this? We’ve outlined all of the main hidden areas of your business that can damage your image the most if you neglect them:
Cleanliness & Waste Management
How clean is your business? You might think this doesn’t matter, but it can be a back-breaker for your branding team – especially if you operate in certain industries. If you have anything to do with food or hospitality, then cleanliness should be an obvious area to focus on, as it will turn away customers and harm your brand.
However, you need to think about this even if you run a typical office-based business.
Waste management and cleanliness matter as they represent your brand. If you’re terrible at getting rid of waste and your bins are piled up with rubbish, then this makes your company look awful. People will walk past your office and see the big bins overflowing with stuff outside, and they immediately think you’re an unprofessional outfit. It’s far worse if this starts inside and you’ve got paper everywhere, food containers littering desks, etc.
So, get it into your head that both of these things are crucial for your overall image and start taking them seriously. Implement a recycling program in the office that encourages you to reduce waste – this can become a core branding point for your business and boost your image. Use the CurbWaste industry network to find waste management companies in your area and schedule regular collections so you never end up with piles of junk everywhere.
It all boils down to one simple thing: consumers have a negative view of messy and unclean businesses that don’t recycle and have poor waste management. It’s that straightforward, so make the right changes today.
Supplier Relationships
How well do you know your suppliers? They’re the definition of a “hidden” area of your business, as most customers and people won’t ever know them. That being said, you can bet that everything will soon come to light if your suppliers are embroiled in some sort of controversy. It won’t take long for the public to identify every business that works with a manufacturing supplier who gets nailed for human rights violations.
Even if you didn’t know the supplier was guilty of doing something bad, you will still receive negative attention by association. Consumers expect you to carry out due diligence when choosing suppliers – so take that to heart and be thorough during the vetting process.
You don’t want an entirely different company to create negative vibes around your brand image. Avoid the trap of signing contracts with the cheapest or most convenient suppliers available; carry out background checks and ensure that each supplier aligns with your company’s image to mitigate the chances of them bringing you down.
Employee Satisfaction
Business owners can be so caught up in the customer side of their companies that they forget about the people who matter just as much: employees. You could have a remarkable customer satisfaction rate that blows everyone else out of the water, but your employees are unhappy.
This causes problems for your brand, particularly when employees air their grievances online to the wider world.
You may see current employees leave anonymous reviews for your company on sites like Indeed or Glassdoor, slating it for being a horrible place to work. Ex-employees may take to social media, talking about their bad experiences with your company – and this all creates negative attention. People begin to distrust your brand or avoid it because of the way you treat your employees. It’s not something you can afford to forget about, so work on improving employee satisfaction as well as focusing on your customers.
Response To Negative Feedback
Negative feedback won’t automatically cause damage to your brand. It’s how you respond to this feedback that makes all the difference. No matter how well you treat your customers/clients, there will always be someone who has a slightly below-par experience. Maybe they caught you on the wrong day – or perhaps they’re one of “those” people who negatively review every experience ever.
If you find negative feedback and then escalate the situation by arguing with the person or insulting them, then this does immense brand damage. The same is true if you ignore the feedback or act like you’ve done nothing wrong. It makes your brand look distrustful, so the negative feedback ends up being twice as deadly.
On the contrary, if you respond by de-escalating the situation, presenting facts, and actually listening to what the customer says, then a bad review could end up being positive. People will like how you’ve handled the situation – and sometimes a dignified response can clear things up and paint the true picture of what happened. It’s the best way to ensure unwarranted negative reviews don’t hurt your business – and that you mitigate any damage a warranted negative review does.
Looking back over this post, it’s clear that your brand can be harmed by things that seem invisible or innocuous. You should absolutely continue with your branding strategy and work on promoting your image through marketing channels. However, don’t lose sight of the hidden areas of your business that can damage your image the most.
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