KEY TAKEAWAY – Here’s the exact blueprint for building your company’s all-important 5-Star online reputation.
We’ve seen previously how:
• the broader your online exposure, the more prospects you’ll attract to your business
• your business is probably already listed on directory sites like Google, Yelp and others
• people will write reviews – bad or good – about your business on those directories for the world to see
• your online reputation now matters A LOT to prospects shopping for your products or services.
It’s Quiz Time! Three companies offer identical services…Company A has 3 bad reviews, Company B has no reviews at all, and Company C has 4 5-star reviews and 1 poor review.
Which company would you choose?
Company C, of course! And why?
Because it has the best overall reputation!
Attract new clients like a magnet with your new 5-Star online reputation!
This is the HUGE shift in consumer behavior – being able to write and read reviews online. You may have done it yourself, as just another consumer… going online and reading customer reviews…maybe even writing one.
The business owners who ignore this new reality – that the majority of new prospects now consider your company’s online reputation in their buying decisions – do so at their own peril.
The good news for you, though, is that most of your competitors haven’t realized what’s changed yet. They don’t know just how important their online reputations have suddenly become.
The few that do get it, though, are taking action now and turning that game-changing local competitive advantage in their favor. They understand this is a HUGE window of opportunity that won’t last long.
So what, exactly, are they doing?
They’re taking these 4 steps:
1. Actively building their reputations
2. Actively managing their reputations
3. Actively marketing their reputations
4. Actively instilling a reputation “culture” within their organizations
Reputation Building:
• Claiming & optimizing their company’s listings on the major directory sites
• Eliciting reviews and feedback from their customers
• Posting only authentic, positive reviews
• “Averaging up” their reputation scores
Reputation Management:
• Monitoring major review sites
• Getting real-time email “review” alerts
• Generating reports, metrics & analytics
• Building custom review & survey forms
• Engaging online with both fans & critics
Reputation Marketing:
• Streaming their best reviews across all their Web2.0 properties
• Posting reviews to popular social media sites
• Posting reviews to popular directory sites
• Syndicating videos to popular video sharing sites
Reputation “Culture”:
• Great reputations start with management’s commitment
• Building a great reputation culture with formal staff training
• Looping customer survey data back to staff as positive reinforcement
Summary of my 4-Step Reputation Strategy:
1. Build it
2. Manage it
3. Market it
4. Live it
Unless you already have a great online reputation, this is where I would strongly suggest you focus your internet marketing efforts over the next few months, as everything else depends on this.
NOW is the time to start taking action if you want to get the jump on your competition and position your business for more customers, higher sales and continued growth.
NEXT UP: We’ll take a look at one area of the internet that has literally exploded the last several years, one that any knowledgeable business owner can’t afford to ignore.
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