PR & Communications News South Africa

PR needs to be aligned to reputation management strategy

Businesses should stop throwing exorbitant amounts of money at public relations companies or 'social media agencies' for communication efforts that are not well planned or strategically sound. A press release is not a silver bullet that is going to solve your sales problems nor is a beautiful Facebook page.
Regine le Roux
Regine le Roux

“When it comes to your organisation’s reputation, every aspect of the business contributes to how it is being perceived. Perceptions may not necessarily be correct, however, they are somebody’s reality and do need to be managed,” says Regine le Roux, MD of Reputation Matters.

“Only once you understand exactly what these perceptions are, and which areas of the business is important to which stakeholder groups can you effectively put a reputation management strategy and communication plan in place,” explains le Roux.

“Too often business owners think that a clever press release or quirky marketing campaign is going to increase their sales. You can spend a ton of money on a fancy communication campaign, but if your internal business building blocks are not in place, you may actually do a lot more harm than good. These building blocks include having the right processes, people and pricing principles in place; all of which needs to be glued together by a strategic internal and external communication plan.”

Reputation management master class

Le Roux will be presenting a reputation management master class at the upcoming International Association of Business Communication (IABC) conference, taking place at the Vineyard in Cape Town on 2 November 2016.

She will be facilitating an interactive workshop on what it takes to enhance and improve your reputation and will guide delegates on how to develop their own reputation strategies and plans.

“After the session, the delegates will have a very comprehensive idea of what they need to do to take their company’s reputation to the next level,” adds le Roux.

“Collaboration and agility is the new communication frontier in business,” says Carol Allers, IABC chairperson. “At the conference we’ll be bringing together thought leaders from across the communication spectrum to engage, collaborate, network and most importantly to share their knowledge of business communication.”

For more information, click here.

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