Reputation's Effect on Growth

When relationships are critical to your business, your reputation is probably one of the most important assets you manage. 

Unfortunately, many companies don't think about their reputation management until they're in crisis mode. At that point, it could seriously affect your growth. 

This is why thinking about reputation management and growth is vital.

Bill Coletti, Founder and CEO of Kith, is a reputation management, crisis communications and professional development expert, keynote speaker, Wall Street Journal Risk & Compliance panelist, and best-selling author of Critical Moments: The New Mindset of Reputation Management.

Bill has more than 25 years of global experience managing high-stakes crises, issues management, and media relations challenges for both Fortune 500 companies and winning global political campaigns.

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Crisis Communication

Bill got his start in reputation management and crisis communication in politics. He learned that a lot of messaging in politics is really all about managing crisis communications.

"In politics it's one of two things. Either you're trying to create a crisis for your opponent, or you're dealing with a crisis your opponent created for you." - Bill Coletti on politics and reputation management

Don't Wait Until a Crisis

If you're managing your brand and your reputation, you may feel like they're the same. Bill positions the two as related but different. 

A business can lay out a plan for its brand and can "control" that message. That then feeds the public's opinion of that business, along with their personal experience. That's the business's reputation.

"A company owns its brand. But it's the public that owns its reputation." - Bill Coletti on reputation vs. brand

The beauty of reputation management, especially in relation to your growth journey, is that if you're working on it all along—and not just in a crisis when the ship hits the fan. When you're proactive and build trust, you have "mistake equity." 

When something goes wrong, and you've managed your reputation well, you'll have believers in your brand come to your defense. 

In a crisis, you get the benefit of the doubt or a reservoir of goodwill. Your supporters will say something like, "Well, that's not the company I know."

Managing your reputation proactively helps you build brand affinity and a solid reputation. 

Get to Know Bill

• Bill's Website
• Kith
• Bill on LinkedIn
• Kith on Twitter

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