This time last year my daughter was looking to apply for her very first legal position after passing the bar and she was concerned about what her future employers may find when they Googled her name. Of course there is nothing horrific on there but some Spring Break pictures for example may not quite fit in with the reputation of a lawyer. And so we began reading some reputation management consultant reviews to see who was the best service to use, and we found RMC. The guys did a great job and my daughter got the position that she wanted. I was curious about what kind of people would use such a service, besides that of my daughter, and so I spoke to the guys to see what kind of clients they have.
Businesses
The most common type of customer which these services have is that of businesses who are looking to improve, repair and maintain their online reputations. As you well know a company can live and die by its reputation online and if it isn’t well managed or if it is particularly poor then it is vital that they fix it as soon as they possibly can. Most businesses get in touch with a reputation management company after a crisis, perhaps an insensitive Tweet which goes viral. These businesses depend greatly on a reputation management company and the work which they can do to ensure that a company’s online reputation is positive and so that business will run smoothly and professionally.
Politicians
I had never really thought about it but it makes sense that a politician would use a reputation management company to make sure that public opinion remains positive. Of course successful politicians will have their own PR team but at the lower end of the spectrum there are many men and women who rely on reputation management services in order to make sure that there any negativity can be addressed, and that their reputation remains positive, which of course is how they can advance through their career.
CEOs/VIPs
CEOs and VIPs will also use these services in order to clean up or promote their reputation. The guys from RMC told me about a CEO who had a namesake somewhere in the UK who had committed crimes. Naturally when you Googled this person’s name, most of the search results would be in relation to this criminal, rather than the CEO. To avoid this type of confusion when searching for his name, the CEO contacted a reputation management company who were able to help him to clean his name and ensure that there was no relationship at all between him and his namesake. These important people will also contact a rep management service if they have had an incorrect accusation leveled at them, so that people don’t get confused about who they are.
The internet can often be a free-for-all which is why people like to use these services in order to maintain a positive reputation.