What is Reputation Marketing (And Why Should I Do It)?

Reputation marketing refers to the processes that a business goes through to positively promote its brand content in the digital world. It also includes acquiring as much positive feedback as possible, either through social media, online forums, and traditional press, among others.

Any company planning to take its business online should have a clear understanding of what reputation marketing is to ensure that the brand is properly prepared to succeed online. If you’re a business owner and you want to build an online reputation to better market your company, here are some things you may need to know first:

Reputation Marketing vs Online Reputation Management

Many people confuse reputation marketing with online reputation management (ORM), and while there are a few similarities between the two, they are actually different concepts. Both concepts are geared towards improving a brand’s overall image to build more trust between the customers and the company, which leads to better conversion and eventually, more profit. However, while reputation marketing aims to highlight and amplify positive brand content, reputation management is more concerned with influencing what and how consumers think about a particular brand.

An effective reputation management strategy uses a combination of search engine optimization (SEO) practices, high-quality content creation, social media activity, and strong public relations to establish a positive online reputation for a brand or person. The idea is to strengthen a brand’s digital presence organically so that only positive results will come up once an online user utilizes a search engine to look for your brand. If done right, a reputation management strategy can bury negative search results enough to avoid them from coming up on most searches.

Reputation marketing services, on the other hand, enter the scene once the business has already built a positive reputation. The main task of reputation marketing is to spin the business’s content into programs and campaigns that can get positive online feedback and favorable relationships with both the public and the media.

Simply put, reputation management is what establishes a positive online brand presence for a business, while reputation marketing aims to make the most of its positive content by running it through effective brand management campaigns and case studies.

How Do Online Reviews Drive Reputation Marketing Strategies?

In this digital age, customer feedback is mostly recorded through online reviews. These reviews can be posted on the customer’s personal social media accounts, a third-party review website, or on your business’s feedback section (if you made one). Online reviews are important for both customers and businesses because of how much value it provides to both parties. Online users rely on online reviews by other customers to know better about a product or service, and a huge chunk of online shoppers trust these reviews more than professional feedback written on the websites. Businesses, on the other hand, get free marketing from positive reviews, building better brand recognition and online visibility. They can also make use of negative reviews to improve their products and set an example of how much value they give to their customers’ feedback.

While negative reviews can help you business improve by showing you potential areas of improvement, it might be better to keep the bad feedback to a minimum. Customers are significantly swayed by star ratings, and if a brand somehow manages to get multiple 1-star reviews, it might have a huge impact on consumer behavior towards the business. Reputation management statistics show that negative online reviews coupled with poor star ratings drive most potential customers away from a company and into its competitors who have better star ratings. Top executives of successful companies believe that reducing unfavorable reviews from coming up on search results is better to win the trust of customers, which translates to better sales in the long term.

If you can boost positive online reviews on your website, you’ll have a better chance to have customers overlook the negative feedback. A great online review can help you increase conversions by letting more people know about your brand and how well you deliver your services products. Once you get online users talking about you (in a positive way), they’ll start searching for you online, leading to more website visits and possible consideration. At this point, you just need to make sure that when shoppers compare you with your competitors, your products will stand out and attract them to purchase from you.

Learn How to Handle (Negative) Reviews

Negative reviews will come at some point, and it’s important to handle them professionally to show your customers that you care about what they think and feel. Respond to their comments immediately for a timely discussion on what you can do to improve their customer experience. As long as you continue to provide customers with quality service even after they’ve told you about your product’s shortcomings, you have a good chance of winning them back with your professionalism and authenticity.

Once you’ve learned how to place your negative reviews under control, you also need to learn how to maximize the positive reviews you get. There are several ways for you to get positive feedback – you can use your own website to set up a review section for your products, or you can go with digital surveys and social media posts. Regardless of which platform you choose, make sure that you take the time to ask your customers for feedback. Online reputation marketing works best when you have many good reviews to work with since your goal is to build up as much promotional material as possible using authentic customer experiences.

A Final Word on Reputation Marketing

An effective reputation marketing strategy can help your business improve brand recognition so that you can stand out from the competition, especially in search engine results. Depending on your goals for your business, you should adjust your strategy to better fit how you want to market yourself and how you want to be perceived by the general public.

A good reputation marketing campaign needs several positive reviews, and it’s not easy to ask people to review your products or services. In fact, it’s easier to get reviews when the customer is upset and emotional, although these reviews will most likely be negative. If you need assistance in securing more positive reviews for your business, you can rely on Review Llama.

Review Llama allows your business to take a more proactive approach in getting better online reviews from your customers.By using comprehensive online review management techniques, Review Llama can help you gain more control over your online reputation by securing more positive customer reviews that can help you be more visible and credible in your customer’s eyes.

(Source: Business2Community.com.)