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As a small business, you are responsible for marketing your business – and that means identifying your most viable marketing avenues. Whatever size your business is, there is no denying that it should have an Internet presence, as the Internet is arguably the most powerful marketing arena there is today. A large part of establishing a strong online presence is managing your online reputation.
The definition of Reputation Marketing is:
Online Reputation Marketing or Online Reputation Management (ORM) as it is also known as, is becoming increasingly vital for businesses, whether you are a small business or an international business. Controlling your online presence and making sure that you are one step ahead of your competition can be the difference between making a sale or not.
There are a many review sites that exist solely for allowing your customers and clients the opportunity to post their experiences with your business, and these sites are where your online reputation can be made or broken. Online review sites include Foursquare, Yelp, Bing, and Qype, among others; even Google provides a dedicated space on your Google My Business page for customer reviews. In addition to the review sites, your online reputation is also affected by comments in industry forums, threads on social media sites, online articles, blog posts, public record documents, and many more.
If you don’t do it, someone else will. Even if your business is a small family run shop with only a very basic website, you have to keep this statistic in mind: 90% of all consumers research the Internet when looking for businesses to deal with. That means that if you are not proactively managing your own business reputation, then it will be managed by the actions of others. Taking into account the previously mentioned statistic, consider the implications of even one negative review about your business, especially if that is all people find when searching for you.
Simply search the web for your business name and see what results you get. (You may also want to search your name, the names of your high-profile employees, your brand, and your product/service.) You need not look past the first page of search engine results, as 99 percent of your customers will never get past that page.
Once you know what is being said about you and your business, you can form a plan for managing your reputation, based on what you know. You will need to take a multifaceted approach to your reputation management. For example, if most of what you find is indifferent (or, if you can’t find much at all), then you need to work on building your brand; also, respond to positive and negative items accordingly.
Building a 5 Star reputation will kick start your business. However, online reputation marketing is a complex process, but it is vital to your business success. To make the most of your online reputation, call us today on 01689 602 248 or email us.
Click the following link to learn why it is important that your business has a good online reputation.
Blue Square Management provide Online Reputation Marketing and Management to small businesses through tried, tested and ethical strategies.