Don has helped numerous direct selling companies improve their online branding efforts. He is an associate with Strategic Choice Partners.

Don Sorensen
Why Reputation Management Must Be in Your 2020 Budget

Direct selling companies by their very nature are all about marketing. Beyond the internal marketing department there are thousands of associates each trying to market the business in their own unique way. And each one of these efforts builds “the reputation” of the business. But there are a number of factors that can easily erode a company’s good reputation. Here are issues to watch out for this year and what you should be doing to insure your company retains its good name.

FTC Investigations

The recent FTC investigations into direct selling companies are a great reason to closely manage your company’s reputation. Not only are formal compensation plans being looked at, but even simple social media posts are reviewed for accuracy and compliance. Too much internal compensation talk on a forum or even within Facebook comments can easily cause a problem.

If your business deals with health and wellness you may see changes in the Google results due to changes in their algorithm. Google’s John Mueller recently said that the new algorithms are trained to find health-related sites that lack authority. He went on to say, “Perhaps over the last ten years or so, you had a really good run, so that’s another area where I’d say maybe from an algorithmic point of view, you might see bigger changes.”

Social Media Mobs

According to Statista, in 2019 global web users spent 2 hours and 23 minutes on social media per day. That can be great time for people to learn about your brand, but also poses some risk. If your communications team makes a misstep, watch out for the social media mob. Sad to say there’s an audience just waiting for inaccurate news, executive gaffes, product recalls or anything else to complain about. And worse, information that is untrue spreads much faster than true information.

Now that you know what to worry about, here’s what you can be doing to bolster a positive online reputation.

Proactively monitor both social media and the web. You can use a readily available tool like Google Alerts, which is a free platform for monitoring the web. But the only issue with Google Alerts is that it only monitors mentions on the web, overlooking social media, where most of the talk is happening. There are plenty of other tools that help you both monitor social media and even can help gain sales prospects. Here are some you should check out:

• Social Mention is a Google Alerts substitute. This is a free service which, unlike Google Alerts, tracks social media.
• Awario gathers mentions of your brand, industry, and can even bring you new influencers and sales prospects.
• Social Sprout can see the performance of your topic in terms of engagement, impressions, and sentiment and check out the demographics for your keywords.
• Agorapulse is actually two platforms — one that does social listening and the other for social media scheduling.
• Brandwatch is a service with 3 separate products: Analytics for online conversations analysis, Vizia for data visualization, and Audiences for better understanding your audience.

Embrace External Publicity

Sometimes it feels like the direct selling industry is its own echo chamber. There’s a lot of internal press about who’s working where, who’s expanding to what country, and who’s launching new products, but not very much external public relations happening, even with the larger public companies. There’s a much larger audience to speak to, especially with so much interest in supplementing a families income in simple ways. Why not create a series of human-interest pieces? Tell the world how your company is helping families pay off debt, or pay for a child’s education. There are lots of stories to share.

And the great thing about stories that get picked up in publications is that you’ve just created another story that can help with your Google results — and it’s a third-party endorsement which is generally a much better reference of your company.

Get Organized

Reputation management requires organization. You’ll need to evaluate each area of your business to determine what else can be done to improve your brand. Here are a few ideas to get you moving in the right direction:

• Google your company and product names on a regular basis.
• If there are negative sites in the Google results work with a professional to clean them up.
• Look for publicity opportunities to attract a larger audience for your brand.
• Develop a simple crisis management plan.
• At each conference gather testimonials on video.
• Develop an active social media plan.
• Create an online reputation management session for your company conferences.

When you develop your reputation management strategy, define what you want the outcome to be and set goals to reach it. Then stick to your plan. Remember what the Cheshire Cat said to Alice: If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there. With so much at stake, make this the year you create an effective reputation management strategy.

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Note: Don Sorensen is giving a free webinar about improving a company’s online branding and reputation. You can register here for this webinar that will take place on February 5, 2020 at 12:00 noon MST.

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Crayton Webb
5 Keys to Communications Confidence in 2020

The prospect of contemplating a new year is a time to reflect but also to plan. The election year ahead in 2020 will, no doubt, be one of the most fascinating in our country’s history to watch and participate in. It will also create challenges as we navigate requests for support from various candidates (many, if not most of whom, will have long memories win or lose); and anticipate a dynamic and fluid regulatory environment. The fact is, in times like these, especially election season, you never know when your brand will come under scrutiny or criticism. And you must be prepared.

What are the essential communication and networking tenets we need to adhere to that will help us survive and thrive throughout next year and beyond? You must have a robust and consistent message. Clearly communicating who you are, what you stand for and what value your enterprise brings, to begin with, can help get you through challenging circumstances.

So to put it in clear terms – how many federal lawmakers in the U.S. will be elected or re-elected in 2020?: 435 representatives, 34 senators, 11 governors and a president. The seats of power and people who hold those positions may (or may not) change, but your message and clarity on who your audience is cannot. This is the advice we’re giving our clients as the year comes to a close whether their operations are in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world:

1. Try to be clear, concise, and consistent.

Spend some time now to review your high level internal and external value statements, key messages, or what you use to define who you are as an organization. Make sure it’s clear and straightforward. The last thing you want is for your message to get lost in the noise. And, most importantly, do a quick audit of what your team is saying and where. You want to be sure everyone is on the same page and using the same language to describe your organization. It might be helpful to designate someone on your communications team as the “quality control” to ensure the message remains consistent as much as possible.

2. Understand the communications you can control. Let the rest go.

For almost everyone, this can be the hardest thing to manage. Control is an interesting concept when it comes to communications because it involves people (who have free will). Add in thousands of direct sellers and controlling communications can become even more challenging. Mary Kay Ash once said, essentially, her greatest asset was also her greatest challenge — there was only one of her and tens of thousands spokespeople in the field. Communications control can exist when you have active training. Of course, you will always have extraneous messages that will get you off track – but try to take time throughout the year to evaluate and ensure you are on track with the communications goals you set for 2020. You might find some messages that are of value and should be explored, and you’ll find some messaging that doesn’t fit.

3. Who is your messenger? What is their voice?

As we enter the 2020 election year, it’s a good idea to review your list of spokespeople – internal and external brand champions – and make sure they are still a good fit for your organization and your audiences. The most effective spokesperson for your organization in an election year is someone who can encourage, motivate, and bestow confidence in your external and internal audiences. A spokesperson does not typically need to be involved in the organization on a day-to-day basis; however, during an election year, an involved spokesperson can portray authenticity, knowledge and hope that everything is moving in the right direction. Voice, in this instance, refers to what they are saying and the intonation it takes. Your spokesperson’s voice (and tone) should reflect the organization’s message, values, and plan for the future.

4. Personalize your message.

Keep your friends close but aim to make new ones. An election year can be a volatile time, and your stable core network may need some reassurance your organization is the right fit for them. It’s a good thing direct selling is already focused on person-to-person selling and the importance of relationships. Personalization on this level will be highly relevant in a year that feels rife with conflict, choosing sides and disconnection. You have an excellent opportunity to seize on this personalization and strengthen your network with clear, concise, and consistent messaging. Encourage your teams to focus on personalizing their relationships. Streamlined education and training can help them get refreshed on how to do this in a way that is thoughtful and authentic. More than ever, people need genuine connections, and personalizing your message can be a first step in the right direction.

5. Continue to deposit goodwill in the bank of public trust.

It’s never the wrong time to do the right thing. It helps even more to be authentic and to do it for the right reasons. An election year can be a stressful time, so that’s when the philanthropic causes your organization supports, or communications about acts of kindness and goodwill cannot be left behind. Staying the course with and investing further in your Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) plan will not only help protect and build your brand’s reputation but also keep your internal culture and morale intact.

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