How strong reputations are built

Your reputation is your biggest asset 🤩

In this episode Catherine Ball and I delve into how strong reputations are built.

And the thing that people do in trying to protect their rep that actually screws them up

Take our Media Icon Archetype Quiz that shows you the media version of you 🤩

Shows you exactly how your energy lands best in the media and how to use that to your advantage.

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:02

Welcome to Dauntless PR Unfiltered. What we're going to talk about today is how strong reputations are built.

Speaker 0:12

So one of the big things that we always talk about when it comes to PR is visibility, but your reputation is also you're building your reputation, you're managing your reputation, you are like protecting your reputation when you go out and you are talking in the media and you're talking on social media and all those things where you're kind of in visible spaces is a large part of your reputation, which let's be honest, is probably one of your one of your and your business's most valuable assets.

Speaker 1 0:50

Yeah, completely, completely. Something that people get afraid of as they get more visible is that something's going to happen to damage their visibility, uh, to damage their reputation, like they might get accusations or backlash and that kind of thing. And that can cause people to freeze and not to keep getting visible because they're worried about like what could potentially happen. And what to do is to get to take control of that, first of all. Like the the fact is some people are scared of getting visible, but the truth is that it's the visibility that protects them. Like if you're getting ahead and you're building a reputation as somebody knowledgeable, as somebody who delivers, as somebody who does what they say that they're gonna do and walks the walk, that is going to go a long, long way. But if other people are shaping the narrative for you and other people are deciding, that's where it's where it becomes risky.

Speaker 2:02

And the reality is that people, if you are someone who is making an impact, you're getting out there, people are going to talk about you. Sometimes they're gonna talk about you in a really positive way, and that's gonna help your reputation. Sometimes there might be things that come up along the way that are less positive, and it's how you manage that. And one thing that I sometimes see people doing, and I'm like, oh, is they will allow a little bit of negativity to perhaps make them shrink in when actually what silence often does is it makes people think, oh, well, um that there must be some truth in it. If you've not really said anything to counter it, or you know, if you had heard something about a business, a negative thing, and the business suddenly closed, you'd be like, Oh wow, it it was bad, wasn't it? Like that's it, it confirms what's being said. So sometimes it's not about there never being anything said that you don't like, it's about making sure that you are the one in control of the narrative, that you're talking, you're putting your points across, you are making sure that people understand what it is that you're doing, what why it matters, who you are, and that you are controlling that by staying visible and really talking. And we see this a lot with with celebrities. They obviously, if they're famous enough for us to, for it to be in the news when something goes wrong, then they are have already cracked the visibility. But sometimes things come up where they're in the news for things, and people talk, and I we've got in the UK BBC Radio 2 presenter Scott Mills has just been sacked. We don't really know at this point much of what is the story behind it because he hasn't yet told us. So, what tends to happen is that people fill in the gaps themselves and they imagine, they imagine what it might be. And some of the things that they'll be imagining are likely to be far worse than the reality. So sometimes it's about okay, I need to get ahead of this, I need to make sure, even if it does mean it might mean admitting to some tough stuff, it might mean holding yourself accountable for things. You know, and I'll just clarify: I'm not, I don't know what the situation is in the case of Scott Bills, but it's a it's one of those things that it's it's a talking point for people because they don't know, and humans are hugely curious creatures. If we don't know, we will try to find an answer to the question ourselves. We'll go on social media and we'll chat to our friends about it, and we will sometimes make make up an answer. Oh, it's probably this, oh well, it might be this, oh well, I saw this and I thought that looks a bit dodgy. And you know, you see this all the time on social media where stories end up taking on a life of their own because too little is said, so people want to run away with it, yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 5:26

And when people are like making accusations and stuff like that, like whether it's true or not, there is that urge to shrink, and it's really important to like come back from that. And if you know, if you have done something wrong, to hold your hands up, you know, everybody makes mistakes, and people respect that. What they don't respect is somebody hiding or minimizing or pretending that there's nothing wrong, or getting defensive, but somebody holding their hands up and saying, Okay, this happened, this is what I've learned from it, this is what's going to change moving forward. People really, really respect that a lot of the time when things go wrong, it's not what happened, it's how it was dealt with afterwards. Like something what something that comes into my mind is Aldi UK. Like, I I just love that brand, okay, because they're absolutely hilarious. But they were sued by Mark Suspense for imitating, like it was a caterpillar cake or something like that. I don't remember the exact full story. It was the caterpillar cake, but they knew their audience so well, and they knew what their audience would respond well to, that instead, like they just they went at it from like making it funny, they took the humorous approach, and their audience were like, yes, like they didn't make it a serious thing because that went against their brand. And that's not, I'm not trying to imply that that's the right thing for everybody to do, by the way. Like, if you turn the wrong thing into something and try and make a joke out of it, that is gonna sink. But in this case, the audience of Alder UK didn't give a shit about like they didn't give a shit about Marx and Spencer's and like they they liked the caterpillar, it didn't matter to them, so then Aldi's leaned into that and made it something that they could actually use to connect more with their audience, and they're still talking about it now, and they're still tagging MS. But of course, if MS was to try like it comes down to really knowing the audience, knowing the story, if it was something really serious that their audience like would have been absolutely outraged by, that would have been the exact wrong approach, of course. So it's really like knowing the story, knowing your audience, taking accountability, you know, where where it's needed, and not getting defensive as well. Like if you're defensive, that comes across as yeah, being a bit and there are times when you know you should try and get ahead of the narrative, but there are also times when there are different approaches to take.

Speaker 8:36

Maybe there are times when a dignified silence is better. Say, for example, it's something that doesn't really matter. If someone's just saying something and it would seem petty for you to come back at, maybe they've said something, it's just their opinion. It's like it's not, it's not a big deal. Maybe you just weren't for them your business, and they've given you a bad review. Responding to everything and make it a huge thing can also, people are sometimes like, oh, you know, let's just agree to disagree. The royal family often will keep a dignified silence because they know that anything they say is going to be absolutely read into. So it's like you say, it's about understanding what are the things that matter. Is this actually just something that's annoyed me or is this something that's going to damage my reputation? That's something to ask because they're not always the same thing. If it's just a difference of opinion, then fine. If it's something that actually do I need to respond to this, will it harm me if I don't? Have people got the wrong end of the stick? Could staying quiet mean that they end up making their own narrative up? And people, like you say, they love someone who holds their hands up and says, Yeah, I got it wrong. I'm sorry. You know, it's that sort of redemption arc, isn't it? People like people who they can relate to flawed human people who sometimes make mistakes.

Speaker 1 10:05

Exactly that. And something that tricks people up sometimes, like especially when they go into the press and stuff, is they'll see negative comments and they'll think, oh, my reputation is in tatters. But here's the actual truth you can have like tons of negative comments, and your reputation can still be intact because it mat what matters is like your ideal clients and what they're saying, like, and that if you're somebody, like if you're an expert and you've got a very specific type of person who you work with, and who you, you know, who is your ideal client, then everybody else is not that person, and so their opinion is irrelevant, and that you know, that comes back to what you were saying about not needing to respond or worry about everything, like sometimes, and and that is a very natural thing, you know. I've experienced it myself where I've had a ton of negative comments, and I've been like, oh, it just makes you feel like like cringe, but then when you zoom out and look at the bigger picture, it doesn't matter because it's your opinion and your ideal clients' opinions that matter, and you you can absolutely have yeah, that's you're not gonna be right for everyone.

Speaker 11:35

I think that's you're not gonna be right for everyone, and you shouldn't try to be. But reputation is more like will this harm me with the people that matter? Except if the answer is yes, that's when you need to act.

Speaker 1 11:48

That is it. Will it harm me with the people that matter? Yeah, and if that's the case, then hold your hands up, acknowledge, let them know how you're gonna fix it. And of course, like you might might not have done something wrong. Just say your story on this, like your what's actually happened from the heart. Like, just just be real about it. Okay, so that's it. We will end there for today. Email, hello@dauntlesspr.com