Now more than ever, brands and businesses looking to succeed are finding it necessary to take matters into their own hands when it comes to reputation management. The simple fact of the matter is that regardless of what it is you do these days or who you’re trying to reach out to, you’re almost 100% guaranteed to be completely overwhelmed by the competition in every single sector across the board.
What’s interesting about the face of modern business is the way in which it no longer tends to be product quality and value for money alone that determine the success of a product or the brand behind it. Instead, it’s all about the brand’s reputation and its ability or otherwise to earn a loyal client base – something that’s altogether more difficult than just selling great products at great prices. Reputation can make or break a business, which is precisely why even the largest brands wouldn’t think twice about involving the best shopper marketing agency London has to offer and taking a hands-on approach with their own reputation management.
But in the case of the smaller business, perhaps a small-scale e-commerce endeavour, just what can be done to give reputation management efforts a shot in the arm?
1 – Get Involved
First and foremost, what separates a standard brand from a brand that’s trusted and respected tends to be its authority in the niche or area in which it’s based. Or in other words, it won’t happen if you act like little more than an online vending machine. There are so many ways by which a business owner can become more involved – anything from starting a daily blog to building a strong social media presence and generally anything that demonstrates that you are the resource to head to above all others. The more deeply you’re involved in the industry you’re in and its community, the more positive your audience will respond.
2 – Give Your Audience a Voice
It’s also important to explore the various ways and means by which you can give your target audience members a voice of their own. This again could be accomplished in the form of a blog, perhaps a feedback forum or even a social media page that accepts comments and suggestions from pretty much anyone. It’s all about making sure that those your business is targeting feel as though they are an important part of what you do, as opposed to just a set of sales statistics. And of course, giving your audience a voice means making sure you listen to what they have to say and respond accordingly.
3 – Actively Seek Feedback
Still on the subject of feedback and comments, there’s really nothing to say you must or indeed should sit around and wait for the essential feedback you need to come your way. Crossing the line into pure fraud by falsifying feedback is always a terrible idea, but there’s nothing to say you cannot ask for feedback from those doing business with you. It’s uncommon for consumers these days to offer feedback without being first prompted, so it’s important to take a more proactive stance. Even if it means reaching out personally by email and essentially begging for their feedback, it’s an important step to take.
4 – Spread the Word
When the positive feedback starts rolling in, you’ll of course be more than keen to share it with the world. In terms of the best way of going about this, having a dedicated feedback page on your website isn’t a bad idea at all, but at the same time it’s even more effective to punctuate your site as a whole with relevant feedback snippets. Someone comments on your speedy delivery, add this to your shipping page. Great customer service, add it to the page with your contact details and so on and so forth.
5 – Don’t Hide Criticism
Last but not least, never under any circumstances underestimate just how beneficial negative feedback and comments can be. If, for example, you receive a negative comment, act on it and summarily manage to win over the person responsible for the comment, you show the kind of dedication to your target audience that’s a rarity these days to say the least. Turning a negative into a positive often results in an even bigger positive than any piece of glowing feedback could ever be. So, not only need you not shy away from constructive criticism, you may also want to consider getting it put out in the open.
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