Reputation is one of the most valuable assets any organisation has, whatever its size. Without trust, there is no business. In the latest episode of Compromiso Iberaval, the podcast produced by Iberaval, Laura Garrido, Partner and Chief Growth Officer at APPLE TREE, draws on more than two decades advising organisations on reputation management. She explains why reputation has become a strategic business asset at a time when artificial intelligence and message saturation are reshaping how people build trust.
In the conversation, Garrido discusses how organisations can protect trust in their brands and manage moments of crisis without losing coherence.
Laura, why is reputation such a critical asset for businesses today?
“If you want to buy something but you do not trust the person, the website or the brand in front of you, you simply will not buy it. Reputation is trust. And it is fragile: a track record built over many years can be destabilised in minutes by a single poorly managed incident.”
When a crisis occurs, what are the fundamental principles every communications leader should apply?
“There are three principles I always come back to:
1. Anticipation
Know and assess communication risks before they escalate. With the right tools already in place, organisations can respond with calm, confidence and control.
2. Honesty and transparency
Companies make mistakes. The key is to acknowledge them and address them openly and sincerely.
3. A holistic view
In the urgency of informing one specific audience during an incident, organisations often overlook other stakeholder groups. We cannot leave anyone behind.”
With digital channels and formats evolving so quickly, has the essence of communication changed?
“The fundamentals have not changed: a clear diagnosis, relevant content, well-defined communication territories and, above all, coherence. What has changed is how people interpret that content, and how we need to deliver it back to them.”
How are Agentic Relations changing corporate reputation management?
Artificial intelligence adds another layer of complexity to reputation management. Until now, many digital strategies have focused on SEO — improving visibility in search engines.
Today, Agentic Relations are emerging: optimisation for generative engines in an environment where answers no longer come only from a list of links, but from artificial intelligence systems that interpret, combine and reformulate information from multiple sources.
For businesses, the challenge has shifted. It is no longer enough to know how they appear on Google. They also need to consider what an AI assistant will say when someone asks about their sector, reliability, products or value proposition.
