Reputation Marketing For Local Businesses

What Is It? Why Every Business Needs It … Now!

Benjamin Franklin, “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it”

It’s our experience that there are 4 marketing R’s that every local business should plan for:

Reputation:
In this world we live in it is so easy for anybody to write some sort of comment or review online about your business, and it might be either positive or negative, or even true or false. Do you know what over 50% of consumers say is the first thing they do BEFORE they consider doing business with you? If you said “Google” you … you are absolutely correct. They are researching your reputation and what other people are saying about you. That’s why being proactive about your online reputation is the foundational step of all your marketing efforts.

Reach:
The basic idea with Reach is that more people know about your business today than yesterday. What are you doing every day to ensure that this happens?

Resell:

Once you’ve made all this effort to build a good reputation and reach out to more and more potential customers to grow your business, you want to increase the lifetime revenue that you get from each customer by upselling, crossselling, and reselling. In other words, make it easy to buy from you again and be proactive about it. The classic example here is “Do you want fries with that?”

Referrals:

If you do all of these things right and doing a great job taking care of your customers, you will have the opportunity to create more buzz about your company and generate more referrals than ever. You’ll want to have referral systems in place that makes it easy for your raving fans to spread the word about you. This is what you want – positive word-of-mouth marketing – it’s the most effective form of marketing that there is.

How do people Find Your Business?

We’re going to focus this presentation on reputation.

How do people Find Your Business?

Bill Gates, said on May 2007 “Yellow Page usage among people … below 50, will drop to zero, near zero, in the next five years.”

We all know that yellow page usage just isn’t the same as it used to be. When was the last time you actually used the yellow pages to look up a business? Even if you still use it, the vast majority of consumers, especially below 50, even 40, don’t use them. Put yourself in the mind of your consumer the next time you think about your yellow page advertising.

What are consumers using today?

Today, consumers use search engines, social media sites, online directories, and more.

Here’s a sampling of online keyword searches on Google

Keyword Searches (SEO) – A keyword search such as “Restaurant” + city+state or “Dentist + city+state. This has to do with SEO (search engine optimization) and is why you get calls from telemarketers all the time promising in broken English that they can get you #1 on Google

Reputation and Referral Search – This is when you’ve been either referred by somebody, or they’ve seen an ad, a truck, a sign, flyer or something that triggers what happens next.

Why Reputation Marketing Is Vital To Every Business

73% of consumers look up an average of 10 reviews before making a purchasing decision
~ BrightLocal.com

A difference of one “star” in average rating led to difference in revenues of 5 to 9 percent.
~ 2011 Harvard Business Review Study

4 out of 5 consumers have changed their minds about a recommended product or service based solely on negative information they found online
~ Cone Study, 2011

“Negative reviews can hang an albatross around your neck if they appear prominently in search results.”
~ NYTimes.com

We know you work hard every day in your business
Your Reputation is your #1 Asset!
Your Business Is Naked Online When It Comes To Your Reputation
If you’re paying money for Advertising … And You Have A Poor Online Reputation
You Are Throwing Money Down The Drain!

Here’s why consumers love reviews:

What Is Reputation Marketing?
Building and Promoting A Strong Online Reputation In Order To Stand Out Above Your Competitors

9 out of 10 consumers trust “earned media” such as referrals and reviews
~ Nielsen Study 2012

Benefits Of A Great Reputation

Trust!
Pre-sold, pre-qualified buyers
Better lead conversion
You can charge more money
You can be more selective or exclusive
Buyers give you the benefit of the doubt if others are raving about you

72% of buyers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations
~ BrightLocal.com

How Do You Get Started Creating A Reputation Marketing Strategy?
4 Step Reputation Marketing Strategy

1. Provide Great Service! Focus on providing the basics of great customer service, such as:

2. Build A Positive Online Reputation

3. Promote Your Online Reputation

Social media sites
Company web site or blog
Press releases
Search results
Testimonial videos
Marketing & sales process
Customer communications

4. Monitor Your Online Reputation

Be engaged! How Do I Get Started?

You Want A System That Is:

About our system:

Online Reputation Marketing is the New PR & Word of Mouth
Take complaints and bad reviews seriously, not personally
Don’t leave your online reputation to chance … your business is at risk if you do!
Are you ready to take control of your #1 asset – your reputation? Give us a call today! 770-391-9136

Reputation Marketing

Reputation Marketing For Local Businesses