Countries and organizations spend a lot of money and effort to improve their mental image and enhance their identity to influence public opinion with their message and role, through the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional understanding of the audience they aim to persuade. Reputation is a measure of success; Nicolas Georges, the executive partner at the Reputation Institute, says, "Reputation is the most important measure of success for companies, cities, and countries. According to statistics conducted in 2011, about 70 percent of a country's reputation depends on both the government and the people at the same time."
Although the concept of reputation is intangible, research indicates its importance in increasing the value of the institution and creating competitive advantage. According to the Global Reputation Institute, reputation enhances a company's value. Quarterly and annual profits are one way to evaluate a company, but when it comes to overall market value, intangible assets like reputation become more important, as intangible value accounts for about 81 percent of market value. Reputation also mitigates the risks companies face during crises; hence, 63 percent of the public gives importance to companies with excellent reputations during crises.
There are five factors that affect the reputation of government and commercial sectors, including the quality of services and products provided by these institutions. The leadership and management of the sectors, along with their vision and mission, also impact reputation. A piece of advice for those managers in government entities working to improve reputation and address administrative shortcomings through dull media releases: communication is not a magic remedy for management problems and errors. Unfortunately, some officials believe that media presence is fundamental to an institution's success and reputation improvement, which is a misconception. Continuous exposure to the media can harm the institution's reputation, especially if the product, service, or content is weak. Performance and success of the institution are factors that influence reputation; numbers and profitability are indicators of reputation success. A motivating work environment, capable of making employees happy, respecting them, and providing them with resources contributes to the reputation of institutions, making them exemplary in caring for employees. Enhancing principles of transparency and integrity affects a company's reputation, as does the extent of its service to the community and the provision of corporate social responsibility programs in appreciation of the community.
Institutions pay attention to reputation management by developing their identity, maintaining it, aligning their message, values, and visual identity, and caring for their digital reputation to understand what information appears about the institution or brand and customer service. Improving appearance in search engines is also vital, as reputation exists everywhere on the internet, blogs, websites, social media, and online customer conversations.
Building reputation is a diligent effort that takes various actions to influence public opinion over the long term. It is essential to consider that organized communication efforts alone are not enough; rather, there are more critical issues associated with leadership vision and mission, the quality of products and services, and enhancing principles of transparency and integrity that directly contribute to the institution's reputation.
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