The new rules of brand reputation

For years, marketers and communications professionals have been taught to control the brand narrative. Define the message. Build the campaign. Push it out. Measure the response. But that model no longer reflects how reputation is built or trust is earned. Today, a brand’s reputation is shaped by employees, customers, creators, and online communities and forums like LinkedIn and Reddit. The conversations happening within these channels directly shape what people think about your brand, and feed people the information AI tools tell them about it. The challenge is that trust and reputation are increasingly built by people and in places you don’t control. My recommendation is simple: Convene and guide, don’t control. Show up where people are already talking, make the conversation more useful, equip the voices shaping it with credible information, and make your own story clear enough to travel. If your brand is a party, you make the guest list. You also send the invitations and create a menu, and then set the table. But you don’t script the dinner conversation. 3 THINGS CONVENING REQUIRES Over the past 25 years, I’ve led advertising agencies, communications firms, and now marketing at …