Corporate Reputation Management for Enterprise Brands [2025 Guide]

Did you know that a recent survey showed that 94% of Americans have avoided certain businesses due to negative online reviews? In a world that thrives on living and working behind a screen, businesses of all sizes need to work on their online reputation. 

Everything your brand does impacts its reputation online in multiple ways. However, many companies do not see their own weaknesses until it is too late. As a result, corporate reputation management is a strategic asset for organizational identity.

Working on your brand’s reputation sooner rather than later is extremely important for controlling how consumers view your company now and in the future—no matter where they come across it.

Keep reading to learn more about everything an enterprise brand needs to know about corporate reputation management. 

What is Corporate Reputation Management?

Corporate reputation management is the process of observing, managing, and elevating your brand’s online presence. A positive reputation can be the biggest asset to any business aiming to grow. But if it’s not regulated correctly, it can be one of the reasons for a downfall.

It is important to note that business reputation management targets all the key stakeholders in your brand’s success, from customers to investors and even your employees.

The logic behind this is simple: A good corporate reputation creates a great following, attracts the best employees, and stands out in a sea of competition.

Why is Corporate Reputation Management Important?

Nowadays, search engines are the primary way that users get information to make purchase decisions. Therefore, it is essential to work on your online reputation in as many digital spaces as possible.

Since our digital landscape makes it so easy for consumers to provide their positive and negative opinions on social media platforms and review websites, corporate reputation management is an investment for every business. 

Here why:

• 90% of consumers will read a review before making a decision, and almost half won’t buy a product if there are no reviews available, according to PowerReviews.
• 68% of consumers are open to paying higher prices for goods and services provided by a brand renowned for its exceptional customer service and credibility, per Hubspot.
• 46% of companies have suffered reputational damage or are worried by negative press. This is up 29% from 2014 and represents the threat just one negative news article can pose to a business, according to the research Reputation Report 2018. 

What are Examples of Reputation Management?

Depending on your needs, there are many different corporate communication and management techniques that will remove bad news and unsightly press from your corporation while enhancing your influence in the online world. 

This can be done via:

• Crisis management.
• Public relations.
• Increasing positive reviews on multiple review sites.
• Creating and optimizing a new and improved website for Google search.
• Developing blogs and thought leadership pieces that showcase your brand’s voice.
• Distributing press releases.
• Social media management of all your social networks, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and more.
• Addressing online feedback promptly to demonstrate a commitment to your clientele’s concerns. 

Why Enterprise Brands Need a Corporate Reputation Management Strategy

As with any other digital marketing strategy, your company will need to put a comprehensive plan behind the corporate reputation management output.

When you have a clear, defined brand management strategy in place, you will be able to appeal to a whole group of stakeholders while creating a competitive advantage. Not many brands have invested in reputation management, and a clear strategy will only work wonders in propelling your business forward.

Some benefits of investing in a reputation management strategy include:

• Increased sales: The bottom line is that when a consumer feels that they can trust the company they are working with, they will convert. Through word of mouth, they also might recommend your company to those in their network, which can lead to more sales. What’s there not to love about that?
• Enhanced customer loyalty: Customers who trust your reputation and have worked with you before will likely return to your services again in the future when needed.
• Attract top talent: Your corporate reputation management strategy’s goal shouldn’t be just to create a strong reputation in the eyes of your consumers. Instead, you need to appeal to different stakeholders of all kinds, including potential employees. After all, your company wouldn’t be anything without them, and they deserve to work at a company with an organizational culture they can be proud of.
• Improve your company’s market value: When you have all of the above, your brand reputation will become an intangible asset for your growth.

With these benefits in mind, why wouldn’t you invest as much time in improving your online corporate reputation as you can?

3 Example Failures of Corporate Reputation Management

In order to succeed at reputation management, you might want to look at examples of other enterprise brands that have had corporate management crises in the past. From bad reviews to negative past actions, take note of these brands’ failures when creating your strategy.

1. United Airlines: Crossing Boundaries with Passengers

United Airlines has been dealing with negative stories about its brand since early 2017. Back then, the news of the company denying two teenage girls from boarding an airplane spread like wildfire over social media.

2) She’s forcing them to change or put dresses on over leggings or they can’t board. Since when does @united police women’s clothing?

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) March 26, 2017

The airline agents reported that they didn’t allow the girls on the plane because their leggings were too sheer and inappropriate. Once consumers heard about this incident, they demanded an apology on behalf of the girls, but this never happened.

Instead, United’s social media team released a series of tweets defending the airline agent’s logic and claiming that this was a normal procedure for passengers.

The passengers this morning were United pass riders who were not in compliance with our dress code policy for company benefit travel.

— United Airlines (@united) March 26, 2017

But things just got worse a few weeks later when a video went viral showing a bloody and bruised United passenger being dragged from a flight. Initially, United explained that this passenger had just gotten into a fight because the flight was overbooked, but it soon came out that his flight was given up to accommodate extra United Airlines employees.

My team and i have arranged new personal flights home outside of using @united tonight. Horrible Company.

— Taylor Caniff (@taylorcaniff) April 10, 2017

The victim of the fight lost his two front teeth, suffered from a broken nose, and required facial reconstruction surgery. As a response, United’s CEO released a statement that again defended the actions of the gate agents. His statement also included a lackluster apology to the passengers who witnessed the fight and needed to be re-accommodated.

United CEO response to United Express Flight 3411. pic.twitter.com/rF5gNIvVd0

— United Airlines (@united) April 10, 2017

The CEO’s statement did little to improve United’s reputation. Within 24 hours of the incident, the United Airlines brand lost about $800 million in total value. Even though this happened almost 10 years ago, experts still say that it could cause irreparable brand damage to United as a whole.

2. Uber: A Temperamental CEO + Political Affiliations

Uber went from being one of the most celebrated brands in the world to one of the least in a matter of months. Starting in 2017, they experienced a whole host of reputation-damaging events, such as:

• Uber CEO Travis Kalanick served on an advisory council to then-President Donald Trump. Uber customers believed that CEOs should not publicly disclose their political affiliations.
• Uber continued to serve JFK Airport in New York City during a taxi strike against Donald Trump’s immigration policies. This caused an internal crisis with their employers, who did not agree with this. Also, with customers, Uber surged prices as they were the only ride-share opportunity available.
• Ex-employees report massive, widespread sexual harassment and HR misconduct throughout the company.
• CEO Kalanick was captured on video arguing with an Uber driver over the sudden decrease in pay the company provided.

How did Uber respond to these incidents? Not very well, in the eyes of both their investors and the public opinion.

In which the Uber CEO argues with an Uber employee about Uber prices while on a ride. https://t.co/ETJXGdVLZT pic.twitter.com/kUC2x7wdhF

— Taniel (@Taniel) February 28, 2017

The CEO has consistently made public apologies and written letters to his employees and customers, but not many people were pacified. The consensus is that when a senior executive like himself makes all these public statements without much change, it is hard to believe the apologies. 

3. Chipotle: Underplaying Health & Safety

In 2015, burrito giant Chipotle experienced a wave of E-Coli outbreaks nationwide. As a result, the company registered an 82% decrease in profit over a year and a 15% dip in its stock value.

In the middle of the E-Coli outbreak, instead of mentioning how safe their food is to consume, a company leader made a public statement that denounced the Centers for Disease Control. The spokesperson also implied that whenever someone sneezes, they now will believe Chipotle is the reason for their sickness.

This attempt at a joke was futile. It just went on to convince consumers further that Chipotle was not taking their health and safety concerns seriously. Even though the company leader stepped down a year later, many consumers believe their response to the bacteria outbreak was not authentic and did little to quell health fears.

Best Practices of Corporate Online Reputation Management

Managing your brand’s image online isn’t always a simple thing. Depending on your needs, there are a lot of different techniques you can use to boost your corporate reputation. Here are some best practices of online corporate reputation management to add to your strategy.

Listen, Listen, Listen

Above anything else, you need to listen to the stakeholders in your business. This means your consumers, both returning and prospective clients, your investors, and your employees.

Every person that touches your company in any way needs to be heard. Make it a habit to listen to them as often as possible through social media analytics.

Host employee engagement forums where employees can openly speak to senior management. Offer a feedback option on your website for customers to submit anonymously. Then, take what you hear from your consumers and build your strategy based on that.

Invest in SEO

Building an online presence takes time, and enterprise SEO can bring your corporate reputation to the next level.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a digital marketing technique that aims to improve your brand’s visibility in major search engines like Google. Ultimately, SEO works so your website appears on the first page of Google for any search result. 

Focusing on SEO increases the chances that consumers find your website over your competitor’s and helps to improve brand awareness and authority. In short, consumers trust Google and tend to value the website that showed up in the first search results.

Because SEO relies so heavily on search engine algorithms, you may not see updates to your crisis management SEO strategy right away. That is fine, do not worry! At the bare minimum, give your website and search engine optimization efforts about three months before they gain traction. 

After that, you will start seeing regular, consistent results. Being patient is worth it, trust us!

Review Your Reviews

As we showed you, more than 90% of people say that online reviews impact their buying decisions. This is the exact reason why checking your reviews is so important!

A single one-star review has the potential to upend your entire business. It will dramatically decrease your average star rating. 

Most consumers only look at your overall rating rather than each specific review, so you’ll need to do everything in your power to keep those ratings as high as possible. Unfortunately, online bots do exist with the sole purpose of creating fake reviews for businesses. 

So, to mitigate any potential fake negative feedback, audit your online reviews on a weekly basis. Not only that, but you’ll want to respond to each and every review on the internet.

This shows your customers that you are a face behind a screen, willing to fix their problems. Prospective clients will also notice that you are active in your customer experience journey.

Build Brand Identity

Above all else, you need to know who you are and what your brand stands for! Developing a unique brand voice and corporate identity will only help establish your reputation management strategy as you become more active on the Internet.

Because almost all brands are reachable on social media and within search engines, you’ll need to stand out among the crowd. A unique voice can do that for you and set you apart while making yourself approachable online.

When brainstorming ideas for your brand identity, ask yourself the following questions:

• How would I like my brand to be portrayed to a new consumer?
• How can I let a returning consumer know I value loyalty?
• What are some words and phrases I can use to really make my brand’s personality shine?
• What type of content is my target audience most likely to consume? 
• How can I create this content and promote it in a way that will make my customers care?
• If I were a new customer, what kind of impression would my brand give off?

The answers to these questions will guide your strategy and give you the answers you’re looking for. Remember, your identity is yours and yours alone, so feel free to get creative and let your personality show.

Final Thoughts on Corporate Reputation Management

If you’ve learned anything from this post, it’s that corporate reputation management matters. Without a positive online reputation, your brand is not living up to its full potential. You may even be pushing away prospective clients.

To avoid this, implement the above strategic management tactics so your organization is in the right place to grow and succeed online.

Showcasing your brand’s strengths will ensure that it is promoted online in the best way possible. Our team at LinkGraph can help with crisis management and corporate reputation management. We’ll paint your brand in a positive light and let it shine online.