Why investing in reputation management is priceless
When it comes to reputation management, people often think about what the first results page of Google includes, which, of course, is important – but reputation management is ultimately thinking about all your corporate assets and the information published about your company, where any threats could come from or where any vulnerabilities might lie, and what can be done to mitigate those risks to prevent future attacks.
This is, however, a highly technical and complex area, and given the value of your company’s reputation, it pays to have the right support behind you from the outset. Businesses can face a plethora of attacks from every possible angle – be it a business rival, media scrutiny, a social activism campaign or a disgruntled employee.
Vardags have, on many occasions, successfully secured for our clients the withdrawal or amendment of articles both pre- and post-publication, often securing emergency injunctions in Court when needed. They also have extensive experience handling fast moving online media issues, including website “take-down” notices and “right to be forgotten” applications, using current and ever-changing defamation and data protection law.
But reputations can also be damaged as a result of inaccurate data, cyber-attacks, breaches, and any subsequent investigations. At Vardags, we collaborate seamlessly with the client’s existing legal and PR teams, but also have contacts and partner with a number of industry-leading communications, intelligence, cyber-security, and content removal experts, who enable us to formulate highly resilient strategies for our clients.
What does reputation management involve?
First off: there is a difference between risk and crisis management. It is important for a business to implement strategies for both. On the one hand, risk management is about being proactive about your reputation, and taking measures to mitigate against risks before they occur. This can involve steps like online audits, media analysis and bespoke social media monitoring, so that companies can track and resolve complaints or issues before they crystallise into something more. It also involves looking at a company’s infrastructure for handling and storing all of its data and making sure your systems are as secure as possible from cyber-attack. This is an absolute priority in today’s climate, where customers and consumers are ever more concerned about the use of their personal data. Data breaches, in this respect, have the potential to tarnish even the most solid of reputations, and can take years to rebuild.
