Others suggest that small-business transparency is essential for those very reasons. Since privately held firms aren’t required to release information, doing so sends a powerful message: You have nothing to hide. And since competition is intense, being open and honest can be a powerful competitive weapon. Consumers view transparent companies much more favorably, which can be a strong point of differentiation.

So should you be more transparent with your key publics? To answer that question, the first step is to understand the full meaning of the term transparency. According to Shel Holtz, Principal of Holtz Communication + Technology, transparency is the degree to which an small business shares the following with its key audiences:

•Its leaders—giving the public wide access to its owners and leaders.

• Its employees—encouraging employees to engage with prospects, customers, and other key publics to help them understand what the business does. 

• Its values—trumpeting its support of ethical business practices and sustainability.

• Its culture—telling the world about how its employees behave—toward each other and toward their customers.

• Its business results—candidly discussing its financial data, even when results are less than promising.

• Its business strategy—conveying to employees, customers, and investors how it plans to achieve its goals in the future.

Deciding whether or not to adopt transparency depends on the balance of pluses and minuses for your specific firm. On the plus side, here are some of the main advantages to consider:

• Greater credibility for your company and the product or services it provides.

• More support from key stakeholders such as customers, employees, and regulators.

• Greater ability to strike deals with sympathetic partners and suppliers.

• A more differentiated position in the marketplace.

• Greater public tolerance if/when a problem arises.

• Stronger ability to determine customer reaction to company initiatives.

• More informed customers, which translates into greater loyalty and sales.

On the negative side, greater transparency poses risks, including:

• Possibility of releasing company intellectual property by mistake.

• Potential leak of details about upcoming product or service launches.

• Negative reaction of key investors.

• Mistaken release of confidential personal information.

• Release of trivial information that squanders public attention.

After you assess the balance of positives and negatives and decide to proceed, what specific steps should you take? Here are ten initial strategies:

1. Display biographical and contact information about company owners and managers on your website.

2. Make sure the “voice of the owner” gets conveyed on your website, newsletter, and other communication vehicles. In fact, you may wish to consider launching a company blog where you talk candidly about your decisions and results.

3. Give employees a forum for sharing their passion for their jobs. This might be a newsletter column, company blog, YouTube video series, etc.

4. Publish a “values statement” or manifesto on your web site, where you list the things your company believes in.

5. Publish photos and videos of employees that show your company’s unique culture in action.

6. Consider developing an “open book” approach to releasing key financial measurers.

7. Be upfront about where the company is headed in the future across all communication channels.

8. Be open about your professional background, including accomplishments and setbacks.

9. Consider putting yourself and other key employees through a professional background check. Then share the results of these checks on your web site.

10. Share online reviews and other customer feedback with your complete customer base,

“Getting naked” doesn’t come easy to small business owners. But once they see the positive benefits, they become believers. What about you?