One of the tricky things about running a business in today’s world is that you aren’t simply a provider of products or services. Business owners must also be Reputation Builders and Social Trust Managers. Excellence with a product or service is only part of the equation for success in an age when all your operations are open to scrutiny. Even in Aiken, Augusta, and the broader CSRA, your public reputation (including your public face in the digital world) really does matter. 

Here’s how one set of researchers put it: 

“Researchers have agreed that a favorable corporate reputation is one of the most important intangible assets driving company performance (Chun 2005; Fisher-Buttinger and Vallaster 2011; Gibson et al. 2006). Not to be confused with brand identity and image, corporate reputation is often defined as consumers’ accumulated opinions, perceptions, and attitudes towards the company (Fombrun et al. 2000; Fombrun and Shanley 1990; Hatch and Schultz 2001; Weigelt and Camerer 1988)…The effect of corporate reputation on corporate performance has been supported in many articles. Earlier studies have reported that a positive reputation has a significant effect on a company’s ability to reduce costs, set higher prices, and increase profits (Rindova et al. 2005; Roberts and Dowling 2002).” 

While this research generally involves large businesses, this principle may be even more relevant to local and regional businesses like yours. 

3 Tips for Managing Reputation and Social Trust

So, then, what are some quick tips for being that Reputation Builder or Social Trust Manager? Remember that we aren’t talking about branding or marketing. That involves messaging. We are talking about actual operations that illustrate you are a trustworthy and reliable partner. 

1. Optimize for Consistency, Not Perfection 

Trust is built by sameness over time, not hero moments. From a reputation standpoint, stakeholders ask: “Do I get the same experience every time I interact with you?” For SMBs, inconsistency is far more damaging than small mistakes: 

  • Emails sometimes fail 
  • Phones occasionally go down or phone calls are missed 
  • Billing errors happen “randomly” 

These don’t feel random to customers. They feel sloppy. Again, your customers can likely deal with occasional (small) mistakes if you have a good relationship, but that becomes a problem when a business becomes consistently inconsistent. 

What to do: 

  • Stabilize the “boring” systems first: email, phones, backups, logins, billing. 
  • Treat recurring annoyances as reputational risks, not technical nuisances. 

Every inconsistency trains your customers to lower expectations, so build your business with effective and replicable processes. 

2. Assume Silence Will Be Interpreted Against You

People fill information gaps with worst-case assumptions. Research on trust and crisis response shows that absence of communication causes more reputational harm than admitting imperfection. 

This fact can’t be emphasized enough.  Social trust in institutions is at an all-time low, and this cultural trend does impact you. Silence simply isn’t an option.  To be clear, we aren’t talking about getting wrapped around the axle over every single tiny thing.  What we are saying is this: when something goes wrong which will impact other people, just be clear about expectations.   

Taking control of the situation implies competence, whereas silence implies incompetence or lack of concern. 

What to do: 

  • Pre-plan how you’ll communicate when simple problems pop up or when whole systems fail. 
  • Even a short “Here’s what we know / Here’s when we’ll update” message preserves credibility. 

3. Treat Trust as a Daily Operational Output

Trust is not a brand asset or marketing messaging. See it as part and parcel of what you do every day. Branding and marketing are sometimes about being loud. But a strong business reputation doesn’t need to be loud. It comes from: 

  • Predictable systems and processes 
  • Clear and helpful communication  
  • Clear ownership when something breaks 

What to do: 

  • Construct and rely on replicable processes (as we repeatedly drive home) 
  • Ask: “If this person quit tomorrow, would our reliability change?” and adjust as necessary 
  • Emphasize to your team the importance of trust and reputation – that your collective success depends on a good reputation. 

Conclusion 

Reputation isn’t built by what you say. It’s built by how reliable, trustworthy, and consistent your business feels to everyone else.