Your reputation starts when a prospect googles your name. What will they find when they search your personal name or your company’s name? In the seminar, Reputation Management: Give Them Something to Talk About, Carol Morgan suggests ways that companies can proactively work on reputation management while also giving some ideas of what not to do.
Most people trust online reviews and endorsements from friends and these influence their purchasing decisions. People will look online for recommendations and confirmation before making a purchase. And these reviews can either benefit or damage a company’s sales. Managing your reputation online is critical. Learn how to garner positive reviews and testimonials while reaping the benefits of crafting a solid online reputation.
The Power of Online Reviews
- 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business.
- Online reviews 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.
These statistics are from Forbes.com’s Online Reputation Statistics that Every Business Owner Needs to Know.
Get out in front of bad reviews. Be proactive in getting reviews and testimonials. Are you proactive or reactive? Do a quick audit and be honest with yourself about your company. Do you need help with online reputation management?
Do you have…
- Bad SERP Results (Search Engine Results Placements – what do you see when you Google your company’s name?)
- Bad Reviews on an individual site (Have you been slammed on Yelp, Rip off Report or Pissed Consumer?)
- Bad Reviews on multiple sites (Yikes, do you have multiple bad reviews?)
- No Reviews (If you don’t have any reviews, today’s buyers will assume that you don’t really exist.)
Now that you know where your pain is, what is the next step? Will you work to get reviews or testimonials? And, what is the difference anyway?
A review is a report in which a person gives their opinion on the quality or performance of a product or service. These are typically on third-party sites.
A testimonial is a formal statement of a person or company’s qualifications or character typically written or created after an experience of working with them.
It is important to know the difference because review washing was made illegal by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in its Consumer Review Fairness act. This federal law provides rules for survey systems and reviews. It makes it illegal to suppress negative reviews from third-party sites from appearing online.
Learning Outcomes:
- Learn about tools and techniques to monitor, protect and defend your brand.
- Discover how to proactively manage your company’s reputation through social media.
- Learn ways to get positive testimonials.
To book the Online Reputation Management seminar, call 770-383-3360 x20 or contact carol (at) denimmarketing.com.
Read our recent article on ironing out your online reputation – here.