THE REPUTATION COUNCIL

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6. GETTING THE BALANCE RIGHT:
PROACTIVE VS. REACTIVE COMMUNICATION
KEY POINTS
Though it is often a balancing act,
Reputation Council members find
themselves striving to spend their
time on proactive, rather than
reactive, reputation building
Council members currently spend
the majority of their time (65% on
average) on proactive reputation
building; however, there is a
desire to increase this further
Creating the space for proactive
reputation management is
achieved in a number of ways
including, strategic planning,
division of labour among the
communications team and
long-term investment
the organisation
As one council member eloquently observes, “communications is hard”.
At a time when there is an increasing push to create narratives and tell
stories, the available space for doing so is being squeezed. Creating an
authentic voice for a brand takes time, but attention spans are declining.
Moreover, the accelerating pace of discourse and information sharing
means that the space in which these stories are being told is in a state of
constant flux. Well-worn tropes begin to sound trite, convincing claims can
start to ring hollow, and new innovations may leave yesterday’s market
leader struggling to match the pace.
So how do you position a business so that it can take advantage of the
opportunities and avoid the pitfalls? How do you strike the balance
between maintaining a consistent message and responding to the vagaries
of a volatile business climate? That is exactly what we approached council
members to find out.
One of the first things that leaps out when we speak to council members
about how they balance the proactive and reactive elements of reputation
management is the sheer variety of responses. Some describe their role
as entirely proactive and say that 100% of the work they undertake is
pre-emptive; concerned with positioning their brand in the marketplace,
engaging with stakeholders and articulating brand values. Others put the
figure as low as 10%, explaining that the majority of their work focuses on
responding and reacting to events and capitalising on opportunities as
they occur.
In many ways, the range of responses speaks of the diversity of activities
that constitute ‘reputation management’ in today’s business environment.
No doubt they also reflect the breadth of expertise and experience
represented in the Reputation Council. Some emphasise the need to
react to events and contribute to the media conversation as events
unfold. Others see more value in working to shape the parameters of
the conversation itself, setting its tone and managing the expectations
of key players.