Like a good dentist or doctor, Reputation Management services are often only used when the patient is in extreme pain, the symptoms are unbearable and the patient is concerned about long-lasting damage. The reputation of a brand is like our own health, it can take a few hits, some negativity, maybe even a failed product. However, over time with a slow drip of negative reviews on review sites, social media posts picking up on the smallest of faults, and ranting comments of an over-zealous blog writer, the reputation of a brand will be slowly warn down to four out of five stars, or even worse…three!
Well, actually, like a good Doctor or Dentist, the time to hire their services isn’t when you’re in gut-wrenching pain, laid out with a long way back to recover. For any brand who values their reputation it is necessary to address the value of your reputation every day, every month, every year.
How do you know what your Online Reputation is?
This might seem like a stupid question but actually when you work for a company, when you’re the owner, you look at your company and that brand you personally designed through very rose-tinted glasses. What you need to do is for one day spend time in the shoes of a new or prospective customer. You’ve seen the TV programmes like Undercover Boss, they are shocked to see how their employees act when they don’t know they’re their boss. They’re appalled at the service their customers receive from employees they thought they had trained well. Also, how does your product or service hold up against your competitor’s alternative offering? There’s a chance that you really don’t know your market at all.
The second step to take is to find out what your current and previous customers are saying about you and your product. Do a Google search for your brand name, or for the company name. Wouldn’t it be great if only your own website was served as a result! Unfortunately not, often review websites and blogs about your market are ranked closely behind your own website. What picture do those comments and reviews paint about your brand? Now check out your competitors, do they get off lighter?
Third step is to hit social media, try out some hashtags (#yourbrandname). What are people saying about your product? Are they showing off their new product, proud to own it? Or are they ranting about the poor service they received when they called up your Customer Service team?
Time to hire Reputation Management services?
Add this all up and you have your Online Reputation. It might well be time to hire the use of an Agency that specialises in Reputation Management services. They will work closely with you to repair the damage to your brand online so that these small hits to your reputation to grow into something more serious. They will inoculate you from bad reputation, providing the antidotes to recover your online reputation health.
2018 ·