Business Insight

Reputation is a Strategy Issue, Not a PR Issue

Too many companies still treat reputation as something Communications manages after the business strategy has already been decided.

Not the best approach considering the wreckage reputation mismanagement leaves behind.

The problem is a stubborn prioritisation of growth, customer acquisition, or profit at almost any cost, and makes the warning signs of impending reputational damage easy to rationalise. Safety concerns, customer complaints, employee unease or regulatory attention get weighed against the numbers and pushed aside.

Reputation should never sit downstream from strategy. By the time it shows up in the share price, revenue or customer churn, the warning signs have usually been there for some time.

Instead, reputation needs to sit inside business strategy from the start, alongside revenue, risk and shareholder return. A few practical ways to do that:

Reputation and profit shouldn’t compete. They should be given equal weight and consideration when setting your business strategy. This is the win-win formula.

Communication That Earns Influence

When Reputation Enters the Sales Conversation

When reputation is dented, buyers will read what you say more closely, looking for signals that confirm whether you can or can’t be trusted.

That means sales and marketing can’t simply ignore reputational and trust issues, and keep selling as usual.

If there’s a genuine crisis, sales need to work closely with Corporate Communications, Legal and the crisis team to shape the language. Not by using legalese or weasel words, but by getting the facts straight, and using plain English that acknowledges what happened, explains what’s being done about it, and avoids claims the business can’t substantiate.

The point is to not over-explain on one hand or offer vague platitudes on the other.

It’s also important to note that the market narrative often doesn’t reflect the full picture; counter it with specifics re customer outcomes, safety improvements, independent validation, product changes, or concrete actions already underway.

Trust is strengthened, or reputation is recovered during a sales engagement when the following happens:

B2B tech tends to lean into abstract language and often complicated verbiage, but when your reputation is suspect or under fire, this can look like camouflage for unethical or callous behaviour; thus, wordiness is even more distrusted.

The best sales language is plain speaking, unvarnished. The best technical information clearly lays out how complex solutions simplify business operations or improve business performance.

Finally, remove fluffy, trust-diminishing statements like ‘speed to value’, ‘seamless transformation’, and ‘future-ready’, or empty phrases like “we’re a partner you can trust”, or “you’re trusted partner.”

Meta Payout: A Way to Reduce Reputational Damage

The biggest story this week is that Meta has agreed to pay up to $16.7 billion to settle a major US case alleging it failed to protect young users on Facebook and Instagram. The case went beyond harmful outcomes: it also examined whether Meta’s internal drive for engagement repeatedly outweighed safety concerns. Meta denied the allegations, but the settlement includes major product changes for teens, stronger parental controls and independent oversight.

My POV: Meta Attempts Some Reputational Jujitsu
You might expect agreeing to pay up to $16.7 billion over allegations that Facebook and Instagram were designed to addict children would hurt Meta’s share price. It didn’t. Its shares rose after the announcement as investors welcomed reduced legal uncertainty. That’s because a prolonged court battle examining what executives knew about child safety and how those concerns were weighed against engagement and growth risked creating even more reputational damage.

But Meta has gone further. Business Insider describes its next move as “reputational jujitsu.” Meta is now calling on TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar teen-safety measures, repositioning itself from defendant to industry standard-setter. Clever communications? Yes. Enough to restore trust? Probably not. Meta has faced years of controversy over privacy, safety, and how its platforms operate. A settlement can reduce legal uncertainty. It doesn’t erase reputational debt. The Jujitsu will only work if words match the actions Meta aims to take.

Phrase of the Week

Reputation Premium: The extra commercial value a company gains because people trust it. It can show up in stronger customer loyalty, investor confidence, talent attraction, resilience during a crisis and higher company valuation.

Prompts to Test Your Reputation & Trust Barometer

Use AI as a quick reputation stress-test: Trust Gap Finder to check how your messaging lands, Counter-Narrative Builder when you need to respond to a damaging perception, and Strategy Reputation Check before a major decision creates a problem you’ll later have to explain.

Trust Gap Finder

PROMPT:
Review the messaging below and identify where it could feel exaggerated, evasive, defensive or difficult to trust. Rewrite the weakest sections in plain English.
Current messaging:
[Paste content here]

Counter-Narrative Builder

PROMPT:
Here is the negative perception of our company, along with the evidence we have that challenges it or provides context. Using plain English, build a clear, credible response using only these facts, without sounding defensive or overstating the case.
Negative perception:
[Paste here]
Evidence:
[Paste here]

Strategy Reputation Check

PROMPT:
Review the strategy below through a reputation lens. Identify the biggest risks to trust, the warning signals we should monitor, and any changes we should make before those risks lead to reputational damage.
Current strategy:
[Paste content here]

If this helped you think differently about communication, forward this newsletter to someone who leads, sells or explains complex ideas in tech.