Building your organisation’s brand can be a long and difficult journey, and you should expect that the road to success will be paved with setbacks and challenges that need to be overcome. If you want your brand to be valued at the true worth it deserves the most vital thing, more important than recognition, is that customers trust it. There are probably many brands you can think of right now off the top of your head whose names and slogans you know, but who you also know you do not trust or would not do business with. Here are our five things to avoid so that you brand, however new or established, is one that customers associate with trust.
A history of failing to deliver on plans and promises :
It is important, when starting an organisation up, to make sure that you stand out from the crowd, and this can sometimes include making big promises. Be careful not to make promises you cannot deliver on. Over time, whether your history is of matching the targets you set or of consistently stretching yourself and falling short of over-ambitious schemes will determine whether or not people trust you. It can be worth a quiet or slow period to make sure that you plan and set goals which, while as ambitious as they can be, do not carry a significant chance of falling through.
Unhappy staff :
It is now easier than ever for organisations and companies to be rated by every conceivable metric. One which is essential and which many people will consider, if not the average interested person, then certainly large donors and serous organisations, is your organisation’s rating by staff on publicly visible websites. Treat your interns and apprentices well, as a trend towards negative reviews on websites such as ratemyplacement.co.uk will result in lower interest from the kind of young people you want to attract to intern at your company.
Lack of evidence of status as a non-profit or governmental organisation :
With so many good causes and such a crowded field of organisations calling for public attention and money, it is important to have every possible sign visible that your organisation is legitimate. While every field has its own certificates and hierarchies and systems to work within, one thing common across non-profit and governmental organisations is that they are eligible to use 0300 landline numbers. 0300 numbers can be acquired online and are an effective and cost-saving way of showing your credentials to those in the know.
Opaque financial process :
Whatever the outcomes of your organisation’s work, and however it is funded, a reputation for financial shenanigans can be deadly and kill public trust dead in the water. Make sure that the basic facts of your finances, money in and money out are clear to everyone relevant. Most especially make sure that they are clear to you.
Unclear results :
While the effects of any initiatives can be hard to measure, try to make sure you collect evidence of your work to show when you have clear results. It is hard to rank the best charity to donate to, but try to make sure that you do have clear evidence of the effectiveness of your work collected.
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