No matter what the size of your small business, it is essential you have plans in place to protect your reputation and manage any potential crises. Many small business owners mistakenly think reputation management is only for the big brands, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Having the right strategy in place to manage your reputation and taking a proactive approach, can have a positive impact on your revenue streams.
Small business reputation management is the act of improving the perception of your business in all the places where potential customers or stakeholders (employees, competitors) are likely to be searching to find out about you.
According to the Retail Buying Survey, 76% of UK consumers say they do research or get inspiration online before they make a purchase. This means it is more important than ever to manage what is found about you when your potential customers or clients type your business name into the search engines. Anything that people say about you, positive or negative, has an impact on your reputation.
Do you know what people are saying about your small business online? As an absolute minimum, every business should have a Google Alert set up, so they are alerted every time the business is mentioned online. This means comments can be responded to and managed immediately, and any potential reputational crisis can be mitigated. Similarly, you should have business profiles set up on review sites enabling you to respond to comments as the business owner/community manager for the business.
Managing the reputation of your small business should be a long-term strategy and not something you pull together in a panic when a crisis occurs. Monitoring comments and reviews online should be carried out daily.
Negative comments and reviews, whether fair or unfair, should be responded to in a measured and thoughtful way. Shooting from the hip and writing something you regret could cause major damage to your small business. Just as important is responding to positive comments and reviews left about your small business. People will see the way you’ve responded and made a judgement about you and your business. You want that judgement to be a good one. Seeing regular responses will also make other readers more likely to leave you a positive review. In a 2017 survey by Podium, 93% of respondents said online reviews impacted their purchase decisions.
It might be outside your comfort zone but if you have a happy customer, get into the habit of asking them to leave you a review. If you have a restaurant, for example, and a family has complimented you on their meal, tell them you would really appreciate them writing a couple of sentences about their experience. You’d be surprised at the number of people happy to share positive experiences.
According to the BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2018, consumers read an average of ten reviews online before they feel they can trust a business. This shows that when it comes to reviews, quantity is just as important as quality, so ask away.
At Reputation Matters, we have extensive experience in advising small businesses on their reputation management strategy and in helping them manage any immediate threats to their reputation, including dealing with negative comments written online and offline. Acting swiftly in such circumstances is essential, so fill in our contact form or give us a call on 07881 772960 today if you’re facing a reputation management challenge.
