What is brand reputation management?
Updated October 2026.
Brand reputation management is the work of shaping what people find, read and say about your brand, in the press, in search results, on social media and in reviews. Prohibition is a PR agency in Leeds that runs it for UK brands through PR, digital PR, social media and search. For Keystone Brewing Group we cut negative sentiment in its coverage from 16% to 8.7% in a year.
Why does brand reputation matter?
Customers, partners, investors and job seekers look you up before they deal with you. What they find on page one of Google, in reviews and on social media decides whether they trust you. One bad story that sits at the top of search can cost you sales for years.
Brand reputation management for companies is different from reputation work for people. If you need help for a founder, a chief executive or a public figure, see our reputation management for individuals. We also use paid social to put positive stories in front of the right audience quickly.
How does brand reputation management work?
It works through three channels that feed each other.
Earned media: coverage in the titles your customers and partners read sets the story people repeat.
Social media: social media marketing and fast, honest replies show people how you behave.
Search: SEO and strong owned content push accurate, positive pages up page one.
Can PR change how the press sees your brand?
Yes, if you give journalists a better story than the one they are telling. Keystone Brewing Group was rescuing much-loved breweries from administration, but the trade press saw a private equity owner, closures and job losses.
We ran its corporate press office, thought leadership and issues management, and profiled its leaders through media relations. Over 12 months Keystone earned 501 pieces of group and brand coverage with 56.6M reach. 95% of it was positive or neutral, and negative sentiment fell from 16% to 8.7%.
Does a founder’s profile affect brand reputation?
Often more than the brand’s own news. People trust people, and a founder’s view travels further than a company statement. For Global Brands, the drinks company behind VK and Hooch, we built an always-on press office around founder Steve Perez. It earned 88 pieces of coverage, over half of them in tier-one titles, with 20M circulation. Steve became a regular voice in the titles Global Brands’ customers read.
For B2B brands we add LinkedIn and social content for corporate companies and content that delivers business results.
Social media and reviews
Your social channels and review profiles are where people judge you in real time. We manage social media profiles, reply to comments and reviews in your voice, and escalate anything serious before it spreads. It sits alongside our wider marketing and communications work.
Search results and your website
Most people never scroll past page one. We publish strong content on your website and earn coverage on trusted sites, so accurate pages outrank old or unfair ones.
What are the benefits of brand reputation management?
A better first impression in search, more trust and more sales. Google ranks pages it sees as trusted and relevant, so a run of good coverage and strong owned content changes what appears for your brand name. That protects your brand positioning and supports consumer PR campaigns when they launch.
Black Sheep Brewery, pictured, is one of the 11 Keystone brands whose reputation we support.
Reputation also wins business directly. Snap Finance UK needed authority with the retailers it wanted as partners. Every one of its 49 pieces of coverage carried its key messages, two potential partners approached the business and the sales team reported better leads.
A good reputation also helps you hire, keeps customers loyal and makes investors and banks more comfortable. Keep up with the social media trends that shape how people talk about brands.
How do you monitor what people say about your brand?
Every reputation programme starts with listening. Prohibition Insight and our social listening track mentions, sentiment and share of voice across news, social media, forums and reviews. You see what is being said, where and by whom, and we flag anything that needs a response.
We report sentiment and reach each month and check website analytics to see which coverage sends people to you. For corporate clients we also watch the business and trade press closely, and we monitor platforms such as X (Twitter) where stories can move fast.
How do you compare your reputation with competitors?
Through share of voice and sentiment benchmarking. We measure how often you and your rivals appear in the media and online, and how positive that coverage is. That shows where you are losing ground and which stories or spokespeople could win it back. For B2B brands we often add B2B influencer marketing and B2B social media marketing.
Brands That Trust Us
What happens when a crisis hits your brand?
The first few hours decide how the story is told. Our crisis management team writes holding statements, briefs your spokespeople and handles media enquiries with you. Reputation Guardian, our proactive and reactive PR service, puts issues planning in place before anything goes wrong.
Keystone faced a restructure, a relocation and a leadership change in one year. Planned issues management meant the coverage stayed balanced, and negative sentiment still fell.
Yes, you can contact us via phone for a free, no obligation quote. Our service is guaranteed to be hassle-free, cost effective, and at your convenience.
Building your brand reputation management campaign
We start with an audit of what people find and say about you today, then agree a strategy with clear targets. Most programmes combine a press office, content marketing, social media and, when it is worth it, paid social.
How do you measure brand reputation?
Against the AMEC framework. Coverage and reach are outputs. Sentiment, share of voice and key message pick-up are out-takes. The outcomes are what changes for the business: what ranks for your name, enquiries, partnerships and sales.
How much does brand reputation management cost?
We work on a monthly retainer for ongoing monitoring and a press office, or a fixed fee for a project such as an audit or an issues plan. The cost depends on how many channels we cover, how much content you need and whether you need crisis cover. We give you a written quote after a first call.
A good fit
UK brands and companies that want to change how the press, search results and social media describe them, with PR, social, content and search working from one plan.
Probably not the right fit
We do not remove lawful content by legal means or buy fake reviews. For takedowns or defamation, a specialist media lawyer is the right first call.
Prohibition is a multi-award-winning PR agency in Leeds, a previous PRCA Agency of the Year and a member of the Worldcom PR Group.
Crisis and Reputation Management
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- Individual Reputation ManagementRead more
- Brand Reputation ManagementRead more
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Talk to Prohibition about your brand’s reputation
Tell us what people are saying and what you want them to say. We will give you an honest view of what PR can do. Prefer to talk? Call us on 0113 430 4160.
