How reliable is your brand? Here’s how to boost your reputation in the press
News travels fast – particularly quickly if it’s bad news. And in today’s 24/7 news cycle, the reliability of your brand is at a greater risk than ever.
To protect – and grow – your brand, here is how to build a trustworthy reputation in the press, with tips from our latest webinar led by Vuelio’s Insights Content Lead Hollie Parry.
What does it mean to be a ‘reliable’ brand?
Before getting into specifics, what exactly do we mean by ‘reliable’ when it comes to media reporting on your brand? For positive representations and write-ups in the press, we’re focusing on two aspects:
Firstly, that your brand has a trustworthy voice. With this, journalists will want to talk to you and your spokespeople more than your competitors. When trending or controversial topics that run the risk of misinformation arise in the news cycle – like climate change, or crypto – the media will know your voice is one they can rely on.
Secondly, that your communications and company updates are seen as both legitimate and impactful – therefore, more likely to be picked up by the press.
Over the past year, Vuelio has conducted several in-depth research studies on sustainability, finding that brands that are deemed more reliable are more likely to attain coverage in the media, and, ultimately, greater awareness.
Building your brand’s reputation not a priority? According to our research, this creates a higher risk of false claims and future crisis.
Let’s look at which brands are getting it right on reliability…
Case study: who is getting reliable reporting in the press, and how?
We conducted a six-month study into national press coverage of pharmaceutical brands and their sustainability efforts following last November’s COP27 to find out. The eight brands we studied were the most-mentioned throughout the study period: Pflizer, Takeda, Roche, Bayer, Merck Group, GSK, Samsung Biologics, and Astra Zeneca.
The stronger the diversity of sustainability praise throughout the year for the brand – the higher the volume of coverage in the press. Astra Zeneca and GSK had the most write-ups and the most sustainability recognition from the media..
In contrast are Bayer and Pfizer. Despite being ranked as highly sustainable around the time of COP27, other brands fared better due to proactive and regular releases of around their sustainability efforts.
The lesson: investing in trust for your brand throughout the year, even when it doesn’t seem necessary, always pays off in the long-term.
How can brands measure their reliability in the press?
Regular releases of initiatives (with backing by an accreditation, where possible) is an investment that pays off in brand reliability. Now it’s time to prove this success:
Choose a specific topic to track
Gather coverage of a specific topic that would be valuable to have a trusted voice on. If your brand is in tech, you could lead the discussion around artificial intelligence. For an education charity, commentary on new policies are likely to be snapped up by reporters in need of expert comment.
Focus on quality over quantity
Key messages: What messages keep coming up about you versus your competitors, and how does this tie back to your trust as a brand?
Target publications: Is your reputation growing in the right places? Are you being trusted by sources of value to you? It’s no good having high reliability in an outlet unrelated to your audience and brand.
Article features: Where are you being heard and how widely is your reliability demonstrated versus your competitors? For example, do you have a few quotes, where your competitor has extended studies or statements featured?
Accreditation recognition: How often have your efforts been mentioned? Analyse broader coverage about your chosen topic as a whole and exclude articles where the main focus is your effort itself – you’re looking for examples of your reliability being organically boosted within a wider discussion.
Vuelio impact score: For bespoke measurement built to your brand’s objectives, Vuelio’s impact score can serve as a marker of reliability. Create a score based on what you define as your reliability metrics, this could be getting key messages in a set of target publications for specific audiences, for example. You can also apply this to competitors and build a share of impact score.
7 quick tips for boosting your reputation in the media to take away
- Assess and refine which areas of discussion are most important to your brand reliability
- Consider how much you can invest over time
- Choose a consistent set of general and reliability metrics
- Diversify your efforts
- Utilise partnerships
- Consider hiring around areas of struggle
- Research your target audience(s)
Find out more about Vuelio Insights and how to start measuring your own successes in the press here.
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