Most leaders can describe their organisation’s services, operations and growth plans. Far fewer can clearly and accurately articulate what their organisation is truly known for in the community — and whether that reputation supports or undermines future strategy.
Reputation shapes positioning.
It influences trust, referrals, partnerships, recruitment, advocacy and growth. In healthcare and aged care especially, people are placing their wellbeing, and often their lives, in your hands. Trust is everything.
The challenge is that reputation is not formed by branding alone. It is built through every touchpoint:
- the experience customers have with your staff
- the quality of your buildings and environment
- your digital presence
- stakeholder relationships
- community perceptions
- media coverage
- online reviews
- word of mouth
Importantly, some stakeholders hold disproportionate influence. Commissioners, referral partners, regulators, community leaders and past clients all shape how your organisation is perceived.
And perception lasts.
In my experience, organisations may believe they have moved on while the market still sees them as they were five or even ten years ago. This is particularly true for long-standing providers.
People may still associate an organisation with an outdated facility, a historical service model, or negative media coverage from years earlier. Even where significant transformation has occurred internally, the outside world may know very little about it.
Old perceptions can remain remarkably persistent particularly in digital environments where historical media coverage and reviews remain highly visible.
If you do not proactively shape your reputation, others will shape it for you.
That matters because reputation directly influences strategic positioning.
Before an organisation can strengthen its reputation, leadership must first understand what it wants to be known for.
What is your organisation’s value proposition? What space does it genuinely want to occupy in the market? Premium, specialist, community-based, value-driven, highly personalised, broad service provider — or a deliberate combination?
Many organisations struggle with this because they operate across multiple service lines or legacy structures where siloed thinking exists. Internal stakeholders may hold very different views about the organisation’s strengths, priorities and identity.
Sometimes leadership believes the organisation’s positioning is clear, while externally the market sees something entirely different.
It can be difficult for CEOs and Boards to confront negative perceptions. I appreciate that. There may significant positive feedback, but where negative perceptions are strong or persistent, they still represent risk.
These concerns need to be understood and actively managed. Organisations can also earn trust by demonstrating that they are listening, responding and taking meaningful action. Understanding the full picture helps leaders identify both the challenges and the opportunities to strengthen existing organisational strengths.
The most effective and forward-thinking leaders actively seek genuine feedback rather than simply hearing what they want to hear. They invest in stakeholder relationships and understand the importance of demonstrating responsiveness, accountability and continuous improvement.
This is where independent external insight becomes extremely valuable. Stakeholder engagement, perception analysis and impartial feedback can help identify blind spots, emerging risks and disconnects between internal assumptions and external reality.
Because whether actively managed or not, reputation will shape your strategy anyway.
What this means for your organisation
If your organisation is navigating a changing landscape while pursuing sustainability, growth and stronger positioning, purposeful reputation management is not optional. It is foundational to trust, engagement and successful outcomes.
Edmonds Marketing works with health and aged care leaders to deliver strategic healthcare communications and aged care communications that bring clarity to complex change, strengthen organisational positioning, and support confident decision-making.
You can learn more about our work to helping aged care and health care clients navigate change with clear direction – here.
If you’d like to discuss how this could apply to your organisation, I welcome a conversation.
Get in touch to explore what’s possible.
