Should you care about Reputation Management?

You have the best product or service in your market, you’re innovative, great value for money, your creative agency has done a sterling job of your logo and packaging…should you really have to worry about Reputation Management?

How does Reputation Management Fit into your Business Strategy?

There’s a lot being said about Reputation Management, because now more than ever, everything that happens can be recorded. People love to write about their experiences at restaurants and hotels. They record a quick video for their Instagram or Facebook followers to show off their new car or vacuum cleaner. When customers buy they often read reviews first. So yes, your prospective customer’s perception of you is being built by what they read and see online.

Suddenly you see the point right? Your reputation while built partly through the experience you give your customers, and how you nice you make things look, is greatly affected by the reputation that is built up online by what other people say about your brand. That means, that no matter what your sales projects are, how good your R&D department is, how well priced your product is, and how effective your sales team is, your whole business strategy can be undermined by your online reputation. That’s rather scary, but that’s where we are.

But surely there’s not much you can do about what other people post or write? You’re right there’s not! However, you can change what your prospective customers read. This is where Reputation Management comes in.

Why your Company Needs a Reputation Management Strategy

You can change your online reputation. How you ask? Have a Reputation Management Strategy. What might that involve? First thing you need to do is consult an expert, as you would hire a Creative Agency to look after your graphics work, there are plenty of great Reputation Management Agencies out there who will be able to assess your current online reputation and then work strategically to turn your online reputation around so that you are best in industry.

A second strategy is to embed Reputation Management into your Customer Service team. Assess the optimum point in delivery of your product and service to ask your customer, directly or indirectly, to share their positive experience of your brand with their friends and the rest of the world. How do you get them to do that? Send them a link to a review site or ask them to use a hashtag on social media with a photo of them and your product. Run competitions to get the best photo or video of someone using your product.

The third point is to make your customer-facing employees aware of your current reputation and make it their mission to improve on that. Tie bonuses to the rating of your product or service on the most relevant review website. If your employees are concerned about your reputation, that will directly affect how they treat their customers.

It really is time to care about Reputation Management, because the companies who adopt it will reap the benefits while their competitors continue to take hits to their reputation.