By far, the most interesting detail about Public Relations and Marketing in the ‘digital’ phase is how the target audience is not just a target anymore. It is the owner and director of your communications campaign. You and I will get the client’s message across only if the message has been approved by the customer and only if she’s had a say in its style and content. As Brand or PR consultants, our jobs now include identifying where and what the customer is saying, rather than just figuring out which newspaper he reads with his breakfast or which TV channel he prefers over the weekend.

The Information Democracy: The most important aspects here are freedom of expression AND the huge, unbiased, malleable, customizable, shareable, and powerful platform for this expression. Then there is the conversation, and the noise. Our expertise will have to include tuning out the noise and listening very carefully to the important conversation, with minimal interference. Going overboard will only result in some more noise, which the customer will choose to ignore. Public Relations will need to listen to and participate in the information democracy, to be accepted and to be effective.

The Community: Focus on more of ‘Nurturing’ than ‘talking’. Customers do not want to listen to a brand message; they want to dictate the terms of loyalty and communication. They are not interested in your Orkut/Facebook group if they will not meet like-minded people or if they will not have a good time. They will not share your viral video with their contacts if it is not funny/shocking/interesting enough. Creation of multi-storied platforms for the community to come together and engage is what that will save the day.

The ‘Negative’ coverage: Opening up to collaboration will involve brickbats. Lots of them. Even if your client is the most respected in the business and spends a huge chuck of his budget on post sales service and CSR, there WILL be brickbats. This is a good thing as it is proof that you are definitely listening in. Second, you will not only know that customers are unhappy, but also know why they are unhappy, in which location they are unhappy, where are they expressing their unhappiness and what they are saying as a result, verbatim, and also who all agree with them. Imagine the kind of value this feedback has. While the sales manager will keep wondering why the flagship product has suddenly slowed down, you will have the specific details. Imagine the impact of Public Relations here when you design and implement a campaign to address the specific issue at hand.

The power of Good Ideas: Ideas make a comeback! Take a look at this simple but extremely powerful Youtube campaign on Diet Coke demonstrating the explosive effect when you mix diet coke with mentos. The video generated millions of hits and several clone videos and contests across. Good ideas stand out and now the canvas has transcended the story board to become the World Wide Web. Collaboration will give you the inspiration and the audience.

The Win-Win situation: Of course, the brand will get the loyalty, the feedback and the mileage. What about the customer? Why should HE collaborate with you? What is in store for him? The digital age will balance this benefit equation. As companies across the world nurture their communities and brands become part of life, customers will seek incentive- A good time, a ‘shout’ platform, complimentary products, recognition, and importance. Collaboration will compel us to come up with relevant and viable combinations that will not only entice customers but also motivate them into collaborating with us.

We have seen that in recent time the spotlight has been put on Corporate America in a way that has not been seen since the Great Depression. Newspaper polls suggest that many investors and members of the general public no longer trust Wall Street and corporate boards for obvious reasons. In order to try to restore the reputation of Corporate America, politicians and law makers are suggesting more stringent reporting and controls. Does it make sense for a company to try to form its reputation in such a way that it helps to gain a competitive advantage relative to its industry rivals?

Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin group of companies in the UK had advised senior managers to build their corporate brands not around products and services, but around their company’s reputation. In order to consider whether to compete on one’s corporate reputation is a sensible strategy, managers need answers to the following questions:

- What are corporate reputations and can they be crafted to provide an advantage over those of other industry rivals?

- How are corporate reputations validated?
- What type of reputation should be fostered?

Let us explore what is corporate reputation and how is it formed? A dictionary defines a reputation as the estimation in which a person or thing is held by other people. A corporate reputation is an overall evaluation that reflects the extent to which people see the firm as substantially “good” or “bad.” Good reputations foster trust and confidence, bad ones do not. Corporate image is a person’s beliefs about an organization, and corporate identity is the attributes used to describe an organization. Thus, corporate image means that we are talking about people’s perceptions of the organization and answers the question “What do people think about you?” Corporate identity refers to the way that the organization presents itself to its stakeholders and answers the question “Who are you?” An organization develops and highlights the parts of its identity that it hopes will foster a better image than its rivals in the minds of key stakeholders. If this occurs, the organization is said to have a good reputation.

For an organization to use its corporate reputation as a competitive weapon it must initiate a set of programmes to shape its identity, namely, its character, ability, products and services, and its behavior so that these will be evaluated favorably by its key stakeholders—relative to that of its industry rivals. Two basic options are either to foster a broad-based “good” reputation that will resonate with all stakeholders or one that is anchored to a specific identity attribute that is highly valued by one or more key stakeholder groups.

In some industries, it is important for competitors to have a broad-based good reputation. Trust and confidence in the organization is a strategic factor in its success. Those organizations that lead their rivals in this endeavor can gain a competitive advantage. In other industries, the establishment of a good corporate reputation is anchored to an attribute of the organization that is of particular importance to target customers and/or a key stakeholder groups. In both cases, corporate reputation can be a strategic asset that provides a source of potential competitive advantage. An organization that seeks to compete on its corporate reputation does so by choosing to promote some of its identity attributes or to publicly trade on its good name. In both cases, the corporate brand name is used to direct attention to the organization as the source of some type of communication, such as advertising, press releases, sponsorships, community activities, and investor relations.

For an organization to be a persuasive source of communication, it must be perceived as either:

- Credible, e.g., expert, objective,
- Attractive, e.g., likable, similar to the stakeholder, or
- Powerful, e.g., authoritative, influential.

The question then arises as to how can an organization present itself as credible and/or attractive and/or powerful? John Rossiter and Larry Percy suggest that because claims made by the organization will be carefully considered, they should be:

- Emotionally authentic (and this needs to be checked as it will vary across stakeholder groups)

- Convincing, that is, pitched to build on, or gently refute, the target stakeholder’s current beliefs.

Maintaining a good reputation requires constant vigilance. The actions of a rogue employee can quickly damage such a reputation. Also, it is easy for a company to pronounce its good intentions but fail to put in place formal procedures to ensure and measure compliance. To make a reasoned judgment, managers need to understand how good reputations are formed and maintained. This understanding suggests that the organization’s behavior is the prime determinant of its reputation. This will be driven by its overall system—such things as its strategy, business process, culture, controls, employees, and governance. Another crucial reputation driver is the value proposition offered to customers Also, the integrity of the top team —the Board, CEO, and executive managers—play a crucial role in personifying and creating trust and confidence in the company. Because different stakeholder groups often hold different reputations of an organization, managers need to address the problem of achieving a balance among the competing interests of their stakeholders.

To sum it up, a corporate reputation reflects the organization’s strategy, culture, and values. A good corporate reputation signifies trust in the company; creates an emotional and intellectual bond with employees, target customers, and other important stakeholders; and acts as the source of authority and credibility for all the organization’s dealings.