Though it may have risen from some horrible business dealings, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) did create transparency regulations that have become part of the corporate culture.
As a result, business transparency has taken root, spreading its canopy to cover more than just financial reporting. Its newest seed, brand transparency, is linked to revenue, loyalty and company longevity.
Sustainability and Transparency
Business sustainability means that the company protects its three P’s: profit, people and planet. A sustainable company has an eye on the important things that keep a company going for the long haul. There is an empirical link between transparency and sustainability.
Researchers used questionnaires at Incheon International Airport. This hub is the largest in South Korea, hosting terminals for most of the major airlines, including American, British Airway and Lufthansa. The surveys showed that an increase in brand transparency was directly correlated to the company’s long-term sustainability within its market share. Keep your company open to keep it around for a long time.
Transparency as a Social Medium
In our digital age, brand transparency is indistinguishable from social honesty. Because of platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube, brands have opportunities that never existed before, allowing consumers to metaphorically look behind the curtain. Social media is so prevalent that a brand’s absence may be perceived as dishonest or that it is hiding something important.
To maintain a positive brand image, smart companies often create an informational video, such as what Ketel One did. Its sharp, behind-the-scenes video posted on YouTube places it into a transparent and honest category that will drive future business.
Transparency as a Marketing Approach
No component of marketing should be stand-alone. A marketing message needs to be integrated and synergetic across all channels. Since brand transparency is central in social media marketing, it flows by extension that it must be part of all your marketing.
This is how the Nothing Else food label thinks. Researchers looking at the New Zealand-based company found that “natural ingredients” and “healthy” were the two main reasons for the purchase of the products with “taste” being the third. This holistic food company has taken its commitment to brand transparency and turned it into its marketing platform, creating a demand in the food industry for clear, direct nutritional labeling.
Customer Care in a Transparent Company
Expanding the umbrella further, marketing is just one part of the total customer experience. In this social media driven world, brand transparency is a talking point for word-of-mouth customer care. Customer service has evolved over the last decade, becoming interactive, omni-channeled and 24/7. It is no longer problem focused.
Now we use company social responsibility, brand transparency and loyalty-based dialogue to create word-of-mouth conversations that proactivity ameliorate the customer’s company experience and reduce problem-focused conversation.
Transparency for Reputation Repair
Transparency after SOX has roots in some pretty nasty business, and transparency today is most often being used to repair broken company reputations and renew trust in the business or industry. In 2015, Volkswagen was caught in an emissions scandal that has the potential to severely damage its reputation. The company has since admitted fault and is using extreme transparency to win back its customers’ trust.