How does a successful company get credit for being a winner, build a high corporate equity? It takes a long-term building of relationships with a wide variety of audiences from customers to competitors, shareholders to Senators. Some audiences have a particularly strong influence on others. Employees make that all-important first impression on customers. Because they do not have a stake in the company, the media, stock analysts and other third parties have strong credibility. And since they have access to and acceptance by many other audiences, gaining their support is both efficient and effective.
Convincing skeptical third parties is the primary - and toughest - job of public relations, particularly when things are not going well. A strong reputation is like an insurance policy, money in the bank for a rainy day. It probably won't help a company avoid a nasty story in the newspaper, but it may keep it to a one-day story rather than the continued hemorrhaging in the media that can take a toll on a company's sales, stock price and strategy.
Building the relationships that preserve company reputations in good times and bad requires proactive communications. There is a direct correlation between high levels of corporate equity and the frequency that a company's publics hear about it.
Source: Fortune/Yankelovich Partners Inc., 1998
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While a company benefits by telling its story proactively, success in communicating depends on more than volume and frequency of messages. The public is saturated with a mind-numbing information overload and a clutter of advertising. Today strategically targeted communications and strong and lasting relationships with each of a company's audiences must build reputations.
Communications and relationships have taken on a new and increasing importance as intangible assets represent more and more of companies' total worth. Not just reputation, but intellectual capital, employee commitment, public trust, and corporate brands are corporate assets that must be developed and preserved for business success.
Recognizing the strategic role of public relations in managing those critical business assets, a group of public relations firms has created a new standard for its industry. Members of the Council of Public Relations Firms are tested against the most demanding criteria of service quality, financial accountability and ethical practice. Just as they are dedicated to helping companies build and maintain their reputations, Council members are investing in the reputation of their businesses and their profession.
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