Act To Earn Reputation 2021
Earlier this year we published significant new research designed to help businesses make choices about how they build reputation.
What does ‘reputation’ mean? For us, it means your audiences believe your story and value it: Your regulators believe you are an important partner with the permission to help shape public policy; Your investors believe you are creating value and able to meet growing ESG requirements.
There’s plenty of research showing how much trust there is in business today. Our goal has been to create a simple model, backed by evidence, to help clients focus on the stories that connect their commercial goals with their audiences’ expectations – to build trust tomorrow.
Our first wave of research showed that, contrary to what we are often told, the British public share a core set of values. And the public agree on the core values all businesses should share too: Reliability, Fairness, Equality, Respect and Hard Work.
Then we showed that for every sector and every business, there are a small number of specific ideas which, if put at the heart of your story, are most likely to drive your reputation.
Now we are publishing a second wave of research and data-modelling which reinforces these findings and our approach. The core values we uncovered at the start of the year remain constant. And they remain consistent regardless of age, location, voting intention or socio-demographic group. And, we have identified the drivers of reputation for new sectors and industries.
Taken together, we believe this research shows:
Businesses don’t need to play into political divides. The public share the same core values, and expect to see businesses reflect them.
Reliability matters. If your audiences don’t believe you deliver the products or services you promise –you will struggle to win recognition for your broader contribution.
Data-modelling will uncover the most powerful ideas around which you can build reputation. But these ideas must be tested against your commercial goals, strategy and wider external context.
You must act to earn reputation. Having the right story on its own is not enough -your actions will dictate whether your audiences believe it is true.
A simple model to act to earn reputation
All underpinned by reliability. If your audiences don’t believe you are delivering the products or services you promise, it will be harder to win recognition for your broader contribution.
Trust in business is stable
Thinking about what you know and what you have experienced of businesses in the UK today on the whole, how trustworthy would you say they are?
N= 3,200
As ever, some sectors and businesses are more trusted than others
‘Good’ sectors rank above the average score and ‘Poor’ under the average. The average score in this research was 6.30.
Thinking about what you know and what you have experienced of businesses in the UK today on the whole, how trustworthy would you say they are?
N= 3,200
To earn reputation, companies must first reflect the values the public expect businesses to share
These values consistently rank as the top five most important, however the public are segmented.
‘Reliability’ is always #1.
Companies who want to act to earn reputation must reflect these values in the way they communicate and behave.
How important are the following values in business to you?
N= 3,200
Then data-modelling helps reveal the ideas most likely to connect your company’s contribution with your audiences' expectations
Of all the attributes that people were asked about, only ten of twenty were identified as statistically significant in driving trust in business:
Companies should focus on the driver of trust which best connects their commercial goals with the wider external context. Darker shading indicates a more powerful driver of trust. But only statistically important attributes are shown. All statements begin “Businesses in Britain…”
Thinking about what you know and what you have experienced of businesses in the UK today on the whole, how trustworthy would you say they are?
How important are the following values in business to you?
N= 3,200