Business Reputation Management – Why You Need It
When you’re running a business, your reputation in the market is only as good as what your stakeholders (employees, customers, strategic partners, and suppliers) have to say about you. You could be spending a good chunk of your company budget on turning your business into a recognized brand, but one angry customer or employee can make all your efforts dissipate within minutes.
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It takes virtually no time to damage your business’s reputation. Things, however, can be different if you have someone working on monitoring the reputation of your business online – someone that takes business reputation management seriously. Most companies use professional reputation management agencies instead of having an expensive in-house team.
The main job of these reputation management teams is to help you reduce any negative attention your brand attracts even if a single “bad” response goes viral.
In most cases, reputation management involves the following two courses of action:
- Removal of the remark in case it is abusive, rude, or constitutes for a legal problem
- Helping businesses coordinate a professional response to such claims and remarks
The idea is to solve the underlying issues, if any, in an attempt to make up for an unfortunate experience a stakeholder has with the company. Most of these efforts are focused on establishing and improving the relationship between a business and its customers.
Now the question is: why business reputation management is so important for you and your business? Let’s explore the reasons for that:
Trust and Credibility Matters
People love sharing their experiences with certain products and services with their friends and family. They even post reviews on the internet. If these people are your customers, it is important for your business that they trust you and what you offer.
You want people talking about you, but in a positive context. Obviously, anything negative is bad for your business.
Because Your Future Sales Depend On It
Damage control is real. You have a couple of customers badmouthing about your business and the next thing you notice is that you start losing customers and experience an abrupt decline in sales.
However, if you can manage to do what’s necessary to change the opinions of unhappy customers saying all the wrong things about your business, it’s highly likely that the same people will change the negative picture they painted about you online.
Because You’ve Got to Maintain the Company Image
When a third party considers your business for any professional purpose, i.e., joint partnerships or mergers, your business reputation is one factor that prevents them from moving forward.
If a candidate is evaluating your business, either a possible employee or a bank, they will check your reputation. A simple search of your business’s name on Google will tell them a lot about you. If it’s positive, they will consider you a good choice. If not, you could lose many business opportunities.
For these basic reasons and more, it is imperative for modern-day businesses to pay attention to reputation management. It could be a decisive factor that helps you beat your competitors!
If your business is ready for reputation management, contact us today.
Importance of a Positive Reputation
What is the importance of a positive reputation? Get the latest on why a good online image is so critical to success.
In 2020, consumers turn to the internet for answers to all of their problems. This is especially true when individuals are deciding to do business or buy from a new brand or company.
As a business owner, it is imperative that you work to build that safety net. A safety net we like to call your online reputation management strategy. That way, when a brand crisis emerges, you are fully prepared to face it effectively head-on.
Every business’s reputation rests upon its customers (past and future). What people say about you online, no matter if it is true or false, will impact your bottom line.
Companies with a bad reputation not only lessen their revenue stream. They start digging a hole that will be extremely difficult to overcome in the future. Whereas the benefits of a positive reputation online may attract more customers than you have ever imagined.
In this article, we will outline the importance of reputation management and the benefits of a good company reputation in 2020.
A Good Reputation Requires Patience & Character
Building a good reputation, whether it be for a business or an individual takes time. There is no magic trick to make negative content vanish online. There are certain circumstances where you can convince the webmaster (or whoever published the negative content) to kindly remove it.
However, for most businesses (and especially individuals) this process is not as simple as it seems. Managing to uphold a positive reputation online should be at the root of your mission statement or one of the main focuses for your business.
In 2020, there are no more first impressions. Consumers have all the access they need for finding important feedback about any company. This can include online reviews, public files, and even financial records. Most of which can be found with a simple Google Search.
For this reason, only, companies end up spending 10 times more than what they have to on advertising and marketing. Just to “flood out” any negative results that may linger online.
Did you know that nearly 80% of consumers will change their mind about making a purchase after seeing a single negative remark online?
The Ripple Effect of a Good Online Reputation
Generating a ripple effect and expanding your potential marketing effortlessly is possible thanks to online reputation management.
Have you ever noticed way certain companies can charge a higher cost for their products even when consumers know they are paying too much? Has your friend ever purchased a good item and talked up the store so much you had to check it out? Or maybe you are a business owner and one day you wake up to customers waiting outside before you even open?!
If this point in time, you’re probably wondering “Yeah sure, that’s great in theory and I would love for that to happen, but how?”. The answer is much simpler than you thing.
Take a step back and brainstorm all the companies (in your opinion) that had a tremendous amount of success in a relatively fast timeframe. Examples that come to mind could be, LuLuLemon, Supreme, Uber, White Claw, and even SiriusXM. What do they all have in common?
Stumped? Let us help. They all have extremely good online reputations.
All of these companies were successfully able to adapt to the digital movement and create segments of popular markets.
Most of these companies stay on top of reputational trends, marketing at the right time, and use word-of-mouth marketing to expand their customer base.
LuLuLemon: Sponsors popular sporting events & markets as affordable luxury activewear.
Supreme: Luxury streetwear for elitists (able to charge 10x for the same product)
Uber: Reduce drunk driving, save money with ride-share, creates freedom, and endless job opportunities. “Your day belongs to you”
White Claw: Front leaders in the “hard seltzer” movement. Appealing to everyone with their catchy slogan “Ain’t no laws when your drinking Claws”.
Online Reviews
The importance of a positive reputation when it comes to online reviews is unmatched. Some say your online reviews controls 80% of the perception consumers make when creating that “first impression”.
- 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business.
- 90% of consumers read less than 10 reviews before making purchases
- Online reviews have been shown to impact 67.7% of purchasing decisions.
- 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.
- 74% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more.
- Every one-star increase in a Yelp rating means a 5 to 9% increase in revenue.
- 82% of Yelp users said they typically visit Yelp because they intend to buy a product or service.
- 80% of consumers will change their mind about making a purchase due to bad review or negative information online.
- 85% of tech buyers read up to 10 online reviews before making a purchase.
Word of Mouth
Studies have shown that the positive use of word-of-mouth marketing generates 700% better results than traditional marketing. One bad experience can blacklist a company from an entire family or friend group from ever shopping there.
On the opposition, however, have a positive experience in this department will generate seemingly endless amounts of opportunities for your business.
Generating word-of-mouth marketing can be simpler than you might expect. Yes, consumers are going to say and do what they want. However, if you vaguely mention something to them about spreading the word, overtime you will see results.
One way you can incentivize your customers would be to create a loyalty program and hand out discount coupons with a number (designated to that initial customer). That way every time Jane Doe refers someone you know who and when it was so you can thank them next time you see them.
In theory, one person refers to three more people than those three people refer three more. Now you can 13 potential customers ready to purchase from you all thanks to one.
Conclusion: Importance of a Positive Reputation
At the end of the day, your customers will say whatever they want about you. Often times, disgruntled customers seem to hold nothing back online, coming for the throats of the business owners. However, it is important to remember the importance of a positive reputation – and that you are at least partially in control. There are infinite options and routes you can take to improve the public perception of your brand.
If you would like to learn more about how GuaranteedRemoval.com has helped thousands of businesses and individuals restore a positive reputation and finally take back control of their online reputation.
Remember, it takes 20 years to build a good reputation but only 5 seconds to lose it. Keep this in mind throughout life and your perspective will quickly change from all walks of life. Get in touch today, our team is standing by.