Maintaining Positive Relationships with Stakeholders

Public relations has a lot to do with engaging people, creating publicity and maintaining relationships. Having a positive relationship with stakeholders contributes to the success of the organization as it can influence trust and the way a brand is perceived. It becomes important to state who a stakeholder is. The Economic Times defines a stakeholder as seen below.

A stakeholder is not an individual, person or a specific group. It consists of a variety of members, like investors, customers, employees, communities, suppliers, trade associations, and even the government. Stakeholders are a part of everything a company does, by either affecting its decision-making or being affected by it. They celebrate their achievements and bear their failures altogether.

Stakeholders can be customers or clients who make use of a brand’s product and service, employees, suppliers, investors, the media, a host community, the government, the general public, etc. The nature of the relationship brands build with their stakeholders will not only have an impact on the brand’s reputation but can ultimately affect the brand’s growth and lifespan.

Building a positive relationship with stakeholders and top-of-the-mind presence becomes of utmost importance in the operations of an organization especially as stakeholders expand beyond just employees and customers to investors who are keen on knowing what the word is on the street around a brand before investing. High-profile investors and even customers with the capacity to improve the organization’s financial bottom line are usually more interested in seeing what others are saying about the brand than what the brand is saying of itself. Therefore, the value a marketplace places on a brand is very important and should be preserved.

One importance of having positive relationships with stakeholders is that they are more likely to become the storytellers of the brand when they trust in its commitment to deliver. This will increase the rate of loyal customers/stakeholders and enhance the public’s view of the organization. Results like this often lead to increase in sales, high profits and a strong market position. Whereas, neglecting relationships with stakeholders can result in a damaged reputation from aggrieved stakeholders and even financial losses.

• A first-step is to identify who the relevant stakeholders of your organization are and prioritize them based on their power/influence and interest. This will sustain efforts on the stakeholders that matter most, not neglecting low-interest stakeholders.
• Think long-term: Building a positive relationship with stakeholders requires having a legacy in mind. What do you want the company to be known for, what contributions do you want to give, what is your performance, how do you want your employees to speak of the company, do you live out the reputation in the organization’s daily operations? It is important that if business leaders seek to maintain a positive relationship with stakeholders, they should provide answers to these questions while understanding the needs and expectations of each stakeholder group for an appropriate and satisfactory response.

• Be timely and honest in communication: The stories you tell of your organization must speak of facts that the organization can deliver on and not wishes. Communication is a very useful weapon in sharing the brand’s mission, vision and roadmap with the public. When a brand is known for its transparency in its storytelling through various digital media channels and traditional media, it can easily win the hearts of stakeholders. At the same time, delayed communication many times is the reason why issues that could have been easily resolved become crisis that require more to de-escalate. We answered your questions on the difference between issues management and crisis management here.
• Deliberately build relationships: To have a positive relationship starts with having an actual relationship with all relevant stakeholder group. The general public and host communities have become groups that require more attention than usual because of the increase in social media engagements. It is now easier to receive customer feedback on a product or service on social media. Also, paying keen attention to employee concerns can improve your relationship with them, considering that they are internal stakeholders and have more stories to tell about your organization. Is it possible to over-communicate? This video answers the question.
• Prioritize feedback in monitoring and evaluation: As earlier stated, the feedback mechanism is useful to understand how users of a brand’s product and service feel about it. So, not paying attention to honest and constructive feedback/criticism reveals that a brand is not interested in the people it serves. Sola Abulu speaks on the seven key elements of understanding brand strategy.
• Be valuable: What stands a brand out from many others is the value it offers. Evidence that a brand thinks long-term will be visible in how it seeks to satisfy its stakeholders. This further creates mutual benefits between the organization and the people it seeks to serve.

To conclude, maintaining a positive relationship with stakeholders is an underrated proactive step to avoid crises and build trust with stakeholders. With the speed at which information travels in today’s corporate world, brand communicators must take strategic steps to build a positive relationship that is mutually beneficial with their stakeholders.