Do You Know Your Reputation?

Some people will shrug off their reputation because they either don’t care to know or they think that the public’s perception isn’t accurate, but here are three reasons why you NEED to know what others think of you:

1. Your reputation is all you need for your “branding”.

People try to do all sorts of “flashy”, gimmick events to build their marketing in the community and online, but let’s go deeper than that. Specials and events can help make up a company’s dynamic, but it can’t define them. Those things don’t last a lifetime.

So, what defines a great experience from a business?

It has some to do with the price of course, but real relationships and remarkable service are the keys. That’s what people remember. And those things have to be continuous. Repetition is the only thing worth coming back for. If you keep people guessing on what they’re getting, they’ll eventually lose trust and go somewhere else to get what they need.

People will pay a premium price for a premium product and for great service. Now, apply this concept to whatever you do.

In this case, I’ll apply it to blogging…

Take a few minutes to think about what you are offering your readers. Also, work on getting a better grasp on your personal reputation in the real world and online.

2. You need to know where you stand along the way, instead of at the end when big decisions are made.

Think about those work evaluations and reviews that come along every six months or so. Have you ever gotten to one of those and been blindsided with things they say you need to improve in to grow in the company? That’s probably because there wasn’t enough communication in between. Leadership forgot to coach you in areas in which you could improve in. So, expectations weren’t set. You had goals that you thought you were pursuing each day, but communication was lost and you became a drifter.

Businesses can become this way as a whole, if they aren’t careful. If they don’t know where they really stand along the way with the public, they can look up one day and find that they fell short of greatness. This happens way too many times, but there are ways to prevent it. Paying attention to feedback is huge and even asking for it is ok.

Again, let’s apply this to blogging…

When is the last time that you heard honest feedback about you blog? Find those experienced people in that specific field that will be honest to you and soak it all in. Trust me, none of us know everything there is to know. You will learn something!

3. You need to know what brought your audience to that conclusion.

Don’t forget to investigate the “why” behind it all. Why are you where you are at today? If you don’t find out the “why”, then you can’t expect to know the “how” to fix the problems. But just as important, what are those things that you can keep doing to bring great results again and again? Finding solutions is what your audience wants. They want answers.

Take time to think about where your blog is today. You might don’t like every single part of it, but what are those positive things that you love about it?  Fix the blaring issues and keep building on the positive things of your writing.

How important do you think someone’s reputation is? You can leave a comment below.