Have you googled your small business’ name lately? What did you see on the first page? What would you do if you saw a barrage of negative comments and bad reviews? Sometimes we don’t know the reputation our brand has until we go in search for it. Here are three steps to improving your bad reputation.
STEP 1: What has caused the bad reputation?
When you are aware that you have got a bad reputation, it is important to acknowledge the reason why you have the bad reputation. There are three reasons you could have a bad reputation:
Bad experience
Someone has interacted with your product or service and had a bad experience. When this occurs the injured party may leave a review or comment on a social site. It is important to acknowledge the fault and say how you would like to remedy the situation. It is also important to move the discussion offline as soon as possible.
Take on more than you can delivery
Sometimes in the glow of starting your business and the fear that you won’t have enough work people often take on more than they can do. It is better to acknowledge the workload you can effectively tackle. When you know what you can do, then always under promise and over deliver to your customer.
Previous reputation
Have you taken over the ownership of a company and it has a bad reputation? Then you need to see why it has a bad reputation and let your old and new customers know how you going to do things differently from the previous owner of the company and follow through.
STEP 2: How can you fix the bad reputation?
When you have identified what is causing the bad reputation there are a few things you can do to remedy them. As mentioned above you need to acknowledge any bad comments or reviews and offer a solution to the aggrieved customer. When you have made promise to do a solution, you must ensure that it is done flawless. As hell has no fury as customer who has received bad service or a faulty product twice.
Now you can move on to getting the bad reviews to the second page of Google where no-one often goes. This can be done by contacting the customers who are happy with your product or service and asking them to leave a review on your website or social media pages. You can also contact your suppliers and local news and try to get some positive news out about your services and products.
STEP 3: What to do next?
Now that you have reacted to your bad rep and have managed to restore your reputation, you need to monitor it. You can do this by setting up Google Alerts. Furthermore you can look into using online brand reputation tools which will let you know what people are saying about your business online.
By following these steps, you will be well on your way to improving your small business’ reputation online.
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