Why Reputation Marketing Builds Your Business and Your Brand

Reputation marketing is a viable way to build your business brand and get more customers.  It’s a secret “one-to-many” strategy that most business owners don’t take advantage of.

An article in Forbes states that “Customer reviews are perhaps the most potent medium for building and displaying a brand’s or business’s reputation…“.

Many Business owners wonder why they should bother with reviews and online reputation.  Some have mixed beliefs about the validity of reviews, the fear of asking and possibly getting bad reviews from their customers.

Let me dispel some of these beliefs and then tell you why not implementing Reputation Marketing as a part of your marketing campaigns to get more online reviews about your customers experience will hurt your business.

Belief #1   I believe that all reviews are fake.

I’m not going to say that there are no fake reviews on the Internet.  I know that some of my students have told me that they bought fake reviews (I definitely do not condone this tactic).  You are surely to come across companies who deal in the “Black Hat” way of solving your bad review problems.  But this is really NOT solving your problem and if you have many bad reviews out there, then there is definitely a problem in your business that you need to promptly address.

But, overall, most consumers are honest and give their honest opinions about their experience (and I would bet on that).  If you take a look at the survey that Bright Local did last year, you’ll see what the consumers polled really think about online reviews.  Take a look and you’ll see how reputation marketing can play a part and really be effective for your business.

Belief #2  People will hurt my company with bad reviews

I do know that there are “trolls” on the Internet.  But what are the chances that they have your business on their radar?  (The odds on this may also depend on your target audience.)

Perhaps it’s time to take a look at your customers’ experience.  How do YOU think your reputation is with your customers?  Do you get many unanswered complaints?  Do you have a system in place to correct any issues that may arise?  Do you try to solve problems as quickly as possible?

No business is perfect.  Consumers know this. But it does depend on how you handle problems that your customers share with you.  If you have a good system for handling issues and the majority of your customers walk away happy, then you most likely won’t have a problem with bad reviews.

Belief #3  My customers don’t want to be bothered with leaving reviews

Check yourself before you make this statement.  Many business owners use their own feelings as a measurement as to whether their customers like writing reviews.  You are not your customer.  Remember that line.

You should know your target audience, and most people will leave a review about their experience with a company if they are asked.  The best time to ask is right after you’ve rocked their world with great service and they tell you how much they appreciate what you’ve done.  You’ve solved a problem.  Most people will tell others if you make it easy for them.

In the Forbes article, they suggest that you “Ask happy customers why they didn’t write a review of a business that deserved one and they’ll tell you: They didn’t think to do so, or they forgot to do so, or they just found the process too difficult.

Each of these objections suggests an obvious counter-tactic: simply ask, remind and guide customers through the review process. In fact, these three things alone can be surprisingly effective as a review acquisition strategy in a “no duh” kind of way. Try them and you’ll wonder why you haven’t been doing them all along.”

If you want some tips and training on how to make it easy for your customers to leave a review, you can attend our master class where I teach you not only how to get more online reviews, but also how to filter out the not so good so that you can take care of the issue.

Reputation Marketing involves building a great reputation and then putting all of your hard work and praise to work for you by promoting it on places where your target audience will most likely see it.

An Online review is not the same as a testimonial.  Online reviews give social proof that your business is viable and goes out of the way to give the customer an enjoyable experience; so they have more power than a simple testimonial.  So if you have a website with “testimonials” written by past clients, it’s time to turn them into online reviews and then implement a reputation marketing plan to show social proof that your business is worth visiting.

We live in a reputation economy, your business has a presence on the Internet whether you put it there or not.  It’s time that you take a more pro-active part in what is being said about your business.  Don’t be that person who thinks that they can avoid having their business on the Internet.  Believe me, it’s there.  Embracing the idea of reputation marketing can give you a little more control and show prospective customers that you are a business they can trust and takes care of its customers.