American investor, entrepreneur and philanthropist, Warren Buffett, who is often described as the world’s richest man, has spoken out recently about the power and importance of corporate reputation.
In a recent letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, a company for whom Buffett is Chairman and CEO, he encouraged staff, shareholders and executives alike to: “zealously guard Berkshire’s reputation.”
He went on to write that over the past 25 years he had been steadfast in his plea that: “We can afford to lose money – even a lot of money. But we can’t afford to lose reputation – even a shred of reputation.”
In the letter he goes on to encourage his employees to do not only what is legal, but to act as though every decision that they made was open to public scrutiny, and could potentially be written about by a journalist working for a national newspaper. In other works, acting with integrity.
It is indeed refreshing and heartening to find a kindred spirit in the cut-and-thrust world of business, someone who also values reputation and integrity – this is central to our corporate vision at Publicity Queen. Our corporate credo is encapsulated in the term BRIO, meaning vigour, vivacity, energy, determination, honour and dignity.
This concept is also evident in our pursuit of a new method of business thinking in PR known as integrity marketing. To use a simple example, if one of our clients asked us to promote their product which is say, red socks, instead of going the traditional route and saying “our red socks are made from the best quality wool and are sold at a reasonable price”, it would be far more effective and powerful to send a message about the health benefits of wearing socks in cold weather to boost circulation and combat such health conditions as varicose veins and chillblains due to poor circulation. In doing so, we demonstrate how our client’s product could make a positive difference in the lives of its consumers.
At Publicity Queen we apply this principle of integrity marketing to all of our communications on behalf of ourselves and our clients, spreading messages and disseminating ideas that actually add value and provide new insights and information that our clients, contacts and partners find useful. It is the spirit that guides our entries on our Blog, our monthly e-newsletter Queentessentials, and all of our media approaches.
To read more of Mr Buffett’s letter, go to page 26 of the document available on this link. I commend it to you.
Yours in PR
Publicity Queen 