Technology Brand Reputations are Declining – why and what can you do about it?
Too often, leaders consider reputation an unmeasurable result that depends only in part on what you do, and far more on the uncontrollable mindset of audiences and vagaries of what Google chooses to show through. But that's just not true.
Not only can it be measured, but you can plan activities to promote it, and to protect it - and you should be doing all three.
Technology has enjoyed something of a golden era in reputation terms - with a track record of solving problems, improving efficiencies, enabling consumers to do almost anything they wish, bringing big company capabilities within small companies' grasp, unlocking the age of mobility and freedom and remote working, and so on.
The end of an era in technology brand reputation complacency?
That era may be ending. The latest research has measured changing technology brand reputation across the sector. The 2022 Tech Reputation Report suggests that the reputation scores of tech hardware, software and services are all on the wane.
Post pandemic optimism is fading - tech was a liberator during lockdown, less so now, as many of the remote technologies adopted become normalised
Economic woes are increasing for business and retail consumers. Tech is increasingly seen as one of the 'rich' sectors (like energy and pharma!) where end customer pricing can easily be perceived as unfair.
Tech businesses need to have an eye to all the drivers of technology brand reputation
There are many factors that need to be considered by tech businesses:
Workplace factors - retaining the valuable staff on whom your service or customers depend
Citizenship factors - people want to buy from those who stand for real values, and act on them
Ethical factors - measured by your Environmental, Social and Governance approach - do you have a plan?
Media factors - how you show up, stand up, and are seen in the world impacts reputation hugely
Brand factors - how you fulfil on your brand promises (no, nothing to do with your logo or image)
Business outcomes - willingness of people to buy from you, work for you, invest in you, recommend you
Questions that you need to ask yourself as a tech business leader
Are you taking the best care of your people?
Are you standing behind the values you espouse?
Are you running a fair business - and do you have an ESG plan?
Are you leading your own media and online visibility or letting it happen to you?
Are you managing your brand and ensuring it is experienced consistently?
Have you developed a clear brand identity?
Are you evaluating and measuring your business outcomes with reputation in mind?
The report authors and reputation intelligence experts, RepTrak, summed up the challenge beautifully in their last line:
"It’s never 'Game Over.' Reputation is an ongoing commitment."
I couldn't have put it better myself.
You can download a handy one page review of their report on their website at https://www.reptrak.com/blog/2022-tech-report-one-pager/.
Photo by Ussama Azam on Unsplash