Online Reviews: Candid Shots

Using Online Reviews to Promote Your Business

Promoting your business online in an affordable manner doesn't have to be difficult. You can use the online feedback your clients are using to let the world know that your products are excellent and your customer service is top of the line. 

Video Transcript:

What if we chose a random moment in time to take a picture of your reputation? I’m betting that most times we would get a nice picture of who you are as you go about your day as a business owner making sure your business runs smoothly, your customers are happy, your products and services do what they are supposed to be doing and then you head for home to lead a pretty average life.

But, what if I chose the wrong moment to take that candid shot? You know what I mean… the time you ran to get the phone and tripped over the cat, landing on the coffee table and breaking you favorite vase. You snatched up that phone and let the person on the other end hear your less-than-happy voice.

Online reviews are just like these snapshots.

Better than 75% of online reviews show the snapshots of your business as functioning smoothly with great customer service and quality products – just like you know it typically is!

But every once in a while, someone catches that trip-on-the-cat moment and the candid snapshot they see of your business is less than pretty.

No one likes it when candid and less than flattering pictures of their lives end up being seen by anyone and the same is true with negative reviews. It doesn’t tell the full story and you’d like a chance to show a better picture.

If you are paying attention, you can do just that! Online review websites like Google My Business, Yelp, Yahoo, and many others will allow you to respond to reviews that are posted about your business!

You don’t have to feel powerless and victimized by negative reviews – you can take control of your online reputation!  Apologize for your cat-tripping moments and show people the really excellent business you actually run. Impressions Review Managing can help – contact our friendly team today!  We grow your reputation. You grow your business. 

Promote Your Business: Healthy Internet Marketing

Internet marketing doesn't have to be a mystery and it can serve to promote your business on many levels. On the review websites, it is all about taking control, responding to reviewers, and keeping the conversation alive.

Check out this infographic defining the difference between a healthy online reputation that is able to promote your business through online reviews compared to a business that does not manage its reputation and the web marketing and business health suffers as a result.

Take control of your online reputation today so that you are the one setting the tone of the conversation. Your internet marketing will improve and your clients will benefit as you grow your business!

www.impressionsrm.com 

Promote Your Business: Online Marketing Infographic

Summer is starting to wind down, but as families look at sending kids back to school and the weather turns cooler, don't slow down on promoting your business through your online marketing!

Follow the Path to Excellent Online Marketing

Online Reviews: Letting Customers Promote Your Business

The biggest reason business owners don't generate a lot of online reviews is that they don't ask. Your happy customers can be actively promoting your business through their online reviews, but you have to get comfortable approaching them and asking for the favor.

Ask for Online Reviews

If you have done your business with excellent customer service in mind, your clients will feel like they have been waited on by you and that you did them a favor by going above and beyond the call of duty. Most of them will be very happy to return the favor, so let's look at how to ask:

1. Think about how you usually wrap a sale or a visit from your customers. As you begin closing out your conversation, you likely ask something like, "Is there anything else I can do for you?" This can be the starting place for your request. Once your client says he or she has everything they needed, you can move into your lead in question...
2. Lead in question - Let your clients know you are gathering feedback from clients and would really like them to review your business. Ask something like, "Do you spend any time online?" This means, of course, that they could answer one of two ways...
3. If your clients respond that they do spend time online, you can easily respond with something like, "GREAT! Would you be willing to go to Yelp (or Google, or Trip Advisor, or wherever you are working to build your online reputation) and give us your feedback?" At this point, it would be a good idea to give the customer a business card or paper that has a link directly to your Yelp (or Google, or other review website) business page so that he or she has something to remind them when they go home.
4. Of course he or she could say "No." This is where some business owners get squeamish. No-one wants to feel awkward, so plan your route of escape ahead of time keeping in mind you also want to allow your customer to end the conversation gracefully. Something like, "I can completely understand that! I don't have a lot of time to be online either, but if you do find you are online in the future, it would be great to have your feedback on Yelp or Google - we want to make sure we always meet your needs."
5. No matter how the conversation ends, always end by thanking the customer for his/her visit and reminding them that you appreciate their honest feedback. 

Better than 75% of the online reviews that are posted are positive in nature and since you are speaking with a happy client, more often than not they will be happy to write you that review. Don't wait any longer - ask for those reviews and build your online presence so your customers can begin promoting your business!  

www.impressionsrm.com 

Negative Reviews? Turn Them Around!

Negative online reviews are frustrating to the business owner and harmful to local advertising. Sometimes the reviews just make you mad and you'd like to take legal action, but that's not usually going to produce the results you want.

Creative Responses to Negative Reviews

One creative restaurant owner responded to a negative and offensive review that suggested his waitresses "show more skin" by saying that is restaurant would be offering a potato skin special with 100% of the proceeds going to a local rape-prevention organization. His response went viral and his point is well-taken - when negative reviews strike, it's not time to respond with anger even though that may be exactly what we are feeling!

Turn Negative Reviews Around

Thoughts to keep in mind when you are responding to a negative review:

• Respond and do so as soon as you can - A recent study found that 79% of consumers who shared their bad customer service experience online were ignored and that consumers give a brand one week to respond to a question and then 50% of them will leave and go to a competitor. 
• Calm down before you write your response - negative feelings come through easily. Go for a walk, play with the dog, do whatever you need to do to shake it off before you compose your response.
• Be nice - When you respond online, you are not only posting to the person who reviewed you. You are also posting for everyone considering your business who may be reading along. 
• Show that you care about the person and his/her experience with you. If you made a mistake, own up to it, apologize, and work to make it right.
• Ask for feedback on your planned post - ask a trusted friend or co-worker to look over what you plan to post before you put it out for all the world to see. Choose someone who will be willing to let you know if your response sounds angry or defensive and who will help you tweak your writing so you put your best foot forward.
• Generate new reviews - It's important that people reading your reviews see a balanced view of your business. Ask your customers to write reviews for you - you will gain their feedback and provide prospective clients with information on your services, products, and quality.

 Negative reviews are frustrating, but you can turn them around and build a strong online reputation.

Negative Reviews: Issues of Customer No-Service

Unfortunately, there are many examples of how to get your customers to write bad reviews for you and Comcast just hit on one of them - arguing with a customer who wants to end service.




There surely will be employee training for this individual and Comcast is planning a formal apology for their behavior, but it actually hits on many different issues we as business owners have to be constantly considering.

How to Handle Negative Reviews

• Listening to the customer - Sometimes the business is simply not a good fit for the customer and the business needs to gracefully end service. If you want to amplify your reputation, help the customer find what he or she needs.
• Set the tone - As the leaders in our businesses, we have to set the tone for our employees. Yes, we need to make sales. Yes, we need to be mindful of upselling and retaining customers. Yes, we need feedback when a customer intends to leave us, but NO, we do not argue with customers. Service is the key word in customer service.
• Staff development training - All employees need to be aware of the serious power of online reviews. Consumers have a loud voice in social media and on online review websites. When poor customer service is captured and goes viral, business owners need to know how to respond and do so quickly, but far better to not get into that mess in the first place. 
• Long-term impact - Online reviews impact revenue and changes in review ratings can increase or decrease your ROI.

Building a solid online reputation takes time and focused effort. Don't wait for a crisis to address yours. 

Promote Your Business - Listen Up!

#promoteyourbusiness #internetmarketing #onlinereviews

You used to be able to promote your business with billboards and fliers and ads of all kinds. Now, if you want to promote your business in the digital realm, you need to be listening and responding to your clients.

Step One: Listen up! Your clients are giving you feedback on websites like Yelp, Yahoo Local, and Google+ among many others. Take the time to read the reviews they have left and use their feedback to make business improvements.

Step Two: Join the conversation! Nothing speaks to business-client relationship better than seeing that a business is responding to a client review. If it's a positive review, say "thank you" and let them know how much you appreciate their kind words. If it's a negative review, ask the person to contact you so you can work towards mending bridges. You will solidify your client loyalty and others researching you will see that you really seek to serve your customers.

Step Three: Ask for more! Approach your regular clients and ask them to leave review on the major review websites. You will get more information you can use to make your business even stronger and the reviews will serve to strengthen your ratings and promote your business through online word-of-mouth advertising.

Your clients have come to you looking for a quality experience. Show them that you are listening to their needs, concerns, and to what they value, so that you can provide the best possible services and products for them. Online reviews are powerful. Promote your business with them today!

Ann Pearson, CEO
Impressions Review Managing, LLC

Promoting Your Business with Online Conversations

#onlinemarketing #onlinereviews

The nature of online marketing makes it possible for you to be promoting your business by participating in online conversations with your current and prospective customers. Doing just a little digging you will find great examples of relationship building and customer service on all of the review websites. Take a look at these examples of business replies:

You can see that these businesses know how to interact with their clients online whether the feedback is positive or negative. Prospective clients researching these places are sure to gain a sense of the commitment to excellence and determination of these owners!

Join the conversation and start showing your prospective customers that you are hearing their voices and care about their input. It's a great way to be promoting your business online!

Web Marketing - Getting Great Reviews

#onlinemarketing #webmarketing #onlinereviews #onlinereputation

Yesterday's blog was about how your web marketing and business improvement can benefit from negative reviews, so it seemed right to touch on getting great reviews too.

Everyone wants positive reviews - what better way to promote your business than to let your happiest customers share their experiences?! The problem is that most of your customers do not understand the huge value online reviews are to your web marketing.

While I'm sure you could take the time to explain to your customers at great length (and no doubt to the point of boring your clients) the impact of your star-ratings and reviews to attract new customers, give you a higher ranking in Google, and solidify your online presence, that might not be the best way to gather new reviews.

Here are some tips to get your customers talking online:

• ASK! As you are finishing up with your customer, ask him or her to write you a review. They may have never thought to do so, but if you let them know you need and value their feedback, they will be much more likely to head over to Yelp, Foursquare, Yahoo, Google or any other site and leave you a note.
• Put something in the customers hands. Whether it's a business card that says on the back, "Leave us your feedback on our Google page" or a message on the printed receipt, you want the client to leave your business with something that reminds him or her when they put their keys and paperwork on their kitchen counter, that they were going to leave you some feedback.
• Consider offering a small incentive. You never want to give people the impression that you are paying them for their feedback, so keep it small and indirect - a drawing instead of something they will for sure be given.

Your most impressed and your least happy customers are going to write you reviews. By using the above tips, you should be able to get a nice share of your average customers to leave feedback too. This will give prospective consumers a well-rounded view of your business and it will provide you with the kind of feedback you need to serve your clients even better - the best in web marketing and business improvement!

IRM works with you to provide the level of support you need.
It's all about saving you time while promoting your business online.
www.impressionsrm.com

Web Marketing - Aren't Negative Reviews Great?!

Web marketing wouldn't be complete without addressing negative reviews...

Fortunately, most people are too polite to say what they think directly to your face, but if they are unhappy with your business, you can rest assured that they ARE saying it...somewhere. 

The best part about having negative reviews is that you will be completely aware that there is a problem that needs to be addressed. You can't fix something if you don't know it's broken!

Of course sometimes what happened to cause the upset was nothing more than a series of misunderstandings or unusual mishaps. Do your best to smooth things over with the client and assure him or her that such things do not typically happen and you will work hard to make sure their experience is a positive one. After all, it's much less expensive to keep an existing customer than it is to attract a new one. 

Sometimes the reviewer is not clear in his or her review and you won't know if what they are saying is accurate or what events caused them to feel the way they do, but most of the review websites will allow you to interact with reviewers, so take the time to find out!

Replying to a negative review can be as simple as saying, "I am so sorry that you had a negative experience with us! I'd like the chance to make this right with you - would you be willing to give me a call at (555)-555-1212?" The most important thing to keep in mind is that what you write will be seen by any and everyone researching your business - BE NICE in what you post. 

Let your customers know that you paying attention to and really care about the feedback they are giving. Negative reviews can give you the power to make wise business improvement decisions - give reviews a significant portion of your web marketing attention.

#webmarketing #onlinemarketing #negativereview

www.impressionsrm.com 

Online Marketing - The Road to Great Reviews

Web marketing is critical for your business, so you created an excellent website with all the bells and whistles. You made sure it has the information your clients need, and that it is aesthetically pleasing, has web-friendly content, and it works on mobile devices. However, if your business doesn't have solid reviews and a great star-rating, consumers will choose a competitor who does and they will never see the great website you created. You really need to have a strong online reputation, high star-ratings, and solid reviews.

Thankfully, there are many strategies for having great reviews to encourage people to check out your website and ultimately, walk through the doors of your business. The infographic below will get you started - check out our website for more help and support!

Impressions Review Managing empowers businesses to manage their online reputations through supportive services, staff development training, and customized programming. Visit www.impressionsrm.com for more information or contact our team at impressionsrm@gmail.com to enhance your web marketing today!

#onlinemarketing #webmarketing #onlinereputation

Online Marketing - Swimming Through Online Reviews

Online marketing for summertime tourist season has begun in earnest! As tourists pass through your location and use their smart phones to Google the best place to eat, sleep, and play, be sure your online reputation makes your business...swim to the top of their list!

Online reviews determine whether potential clients will walk through your doors. When you have a solid star-rating and the supportive words of your top clients, consumers are willing to trust your services and try your products. For more information on online review managing and how IRM can help with your online marketing, visit www.impressionsrm.com.

#onlinemarketing #onlinereviews #webmarketing #impressionsrm

Online Marketing - Why Should You Track Your Reviews?

Tracking reviews is an important component of online marketing. Knowing what your customers are saying gives you insight into why they are (or are not) visiting your business, what they are looking for in products and services, and what you can do to improve your business.

As you read through your online reviews, here are some things to note:

• Positive comments - What are people saying they appreciate about your business and how can you use that to attract and/or keep more customers? For example, do they notice how friendly and helpful your staff are? Let your workers know that people notice and encourage them to keep it up!
• Wouldn't it be nice if... - Are people expressing anything they wish you had? More flexibility in hours? Additional services? More variety?
• Negative comments - Do you notice any trends? It's normal to have a couple of negative reviews that represent people who had an unusual experience, but if you see multiple negative reviews all saying the same thing - e.g. the receptionist was rude, the help was unfriendly, the secretary was snippy - then you have a bigger issue and need to address it. 

Knowing your reviews is a great was to know your customers' wants, needs, and concerns so you can cater your business (and your online marketing) to match!

Impressions Review Managing, LLC is a company committed to empowering businesses to manage their online reputations. For more information visit www.impressionsrm.com or email Ann at impressionsrm@gmail.com.

Promoting Your Business with Free Positive Web Content

Promoting your business online does not have to be expensive. When people search for your business online, in addition to your website, you want all sorts of positive web content and great reviews to pop up. There are many free ways you can promote your business through generating positive web content:

1. Online reviews - Ask your top clients to write reviews for your business on the top websites like Google+, Yelp, Yahoo, Foursquare, and any others specific to your business type (see some of my other blog posts for a more comprehensive list). Generating 4-5 new reviews every month will increase your search engine optimization and keep the online word-of-mouth advertising going. 
2. Blogging - Choose an area of your business about which you are passionate or surrounding a topic about which your clients frequently have questions and start writing. The search engines LOVE new web content. Writing a blog article 2-3 times per month will increase your web presence, address questions of your clients, and establish you as an expert in your field. Write on a blog website related to your business field or start a blog on any of the free websites - be sure to link your blog to your business website and give the link to your website each time you blog.
3. Informational videos - Think about DIY videos you could produce about your field that would help your consumers. Again thinking back to questions you are frequently asked can be helpful here in choosing a topic. Create a YouTube channel under your business' name and upload your videos. When people search your business' name, your YouTube channel will be in the search results.
4. Social media - Create and be active on one or more of the social media websites. Facebook and Google+ are great places to post pictures of your business and events or participation in community service projects. Consider Twitter for short news notes or Pinterest for pictorial advertising. 
5. Industry specific forums - Many online conversations are taking place in a wide variety of industries. Look for and participate in one that is related to your business. You can network with others through these forums, stay current on trends, and post information that can link back to you and your business.

Many other online advertising options are available. You don't need to do all of them, but you should find a couple that you can do regularly to continue to promote your business with positive web content. 

Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - a company committed to empowering businesses to manage their online reputations. For more information about the services IRM offers, visit www.impressionsrm.com or email Ann at impressionsrm@gmail.com.

Promoting Your Business - Offline to Online

We talk a lot about promoting your business through interacting with clients in online reviews, but your connection with your community is a great starting place for building your online marketing.

It is likely that you and/or your employees participate in various forms of community service. From acting in community theater to donating blood, running in 5Ks or even marathons benefiting charity, being an active and contributing member of your community is the norm for responsible citizens. 

Prospective customers like to see that the business they are supporting gives back to the community. For example, our family regularly opts for our locally owned grocery store over chain stores because we see the owner in the community, helping the 4-H club, contributing to youth and participating in the community events. Walmart is cheaper, but I never go there because the locally owned store is the one I want to support.

We see this preferential treatment of businesses regularly as people become aware of all the things the business owner and his/her employees do in the community and it leads to a healthy online reputation too. 

Using my grocery store again as an example, the weekly shopping trip is not all that exciting and while I may not think to write a review for the store because they had superb eggs that week, I do notice every time they show up as a community sponsor and contributor and THAT made me take the time to write them a stellar review online. I talk them up both on and offline and new community members will hear it all around - shopping local keeps our community strong.

It's good people helping out and making a difference right where they live. What do you do in your community? You are building your reputation and you can make a bet that it will end up online too!

Online Marketing Services: Reputation or Faҫade?

When you are looking at selecting an online marketing service to help manage your reputation, it is always important to choose a company that will help you grow your reputation and not just play the numbers game or try to create a faҫade of excellence. After all, you want people to see how truly excellent you really are!

As you will see in the infographic and descriptions below, there are three major areas to consider when you evaluate a company that offers review managing services.

Empowerment
This is YOUR reputation we are talking about, not any other company's reputation. It is vital that YOU are involved in the process and that you are given the information you need to solidify and grow your reputation online. This typically means there should be an educational component to the program.

Look for a program that includes staff development training and ongoing consultation services to help you work with the feedback your customers provide you through their reviews. Any company that encourages you to just let them handle it all, while they may be very well-intended, runs the risk of misrepresenting your business.

Impact
Think about where you go to research companies and products. Chances are, your customers are going to similar websites. You want reviews and customer feedback to be posted where potential customers are going to see it - this means on the major review websites and the major search engines' review websites - Google+ and Yahoo Local for example.

In order to have reviews on Google+ and Yahoo Local, your customers must post directly on these websites. NO third party company can post directly on your Google+ or Yahoo Local business page. They can only post to a website that that company owns and controls - this may produce more positive web content for your business, but it will not impact your Google+ star rating or the star rating on any of the other major review websites.

Ownership
Third party companies that are gathering your clients' reviews and posting them on their own website often retain the power to remove those reviews if/when you cancel services. Make sure that you own the feedback that is gathered from your clients.

Grow Your Reputation and Not Just a Faҫade
You work hard to make your business a quality and reputable place for your clients. Make sure the company you choose to manage your online reputation is committed to transparent and meaningful practices too.

Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - a company committed to empowering businesses to manage their online reputations. For more information about the services IRM offers, visit www.impressionsrm.com or email Ann at impressionsrm@gmail.com. 

Online Marketing Ideas: Grow Your Reputation

Building your presence online through claiming your review website pages, monitoring for new reviews, interacting with your clients online, and generating new reviews is one of the most effective means of local online advertising.

People turn to Google to find businesses and to research their quality as well as the quality of the products they provide.

Taking an active role in managing your business' online reputation will help you keep the customers you have, attract new clients, and grow your presence online.

Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - a company committed to empowering businesses to manage their online reputations. For more information about the services IRM offers, visit www.impressionsrm.com or email Ann at impressionsrm@gmail.com.

Client Surveys or Online Reviews? - Marketing Tips for Promoting Your Business

When you are looking at promoting your business online, you want client feedback that will be seen by many people and that will impact your star-ratings on review websites. This may seem obvious, but many businesses make the mistake of conducting client surveys to gather feedback not realizing that this can impede your ability to generate new online reviews.

Asking your clients to fill out a survey can give you great information, but once a customer has completed the survey, they are MUCH less likely to also wander out to Google and write you a review. The tendency is for your customer to feel that he or she has done you a service by completing the survey and giving you the specific feedback you wanted. Writing an online review would be just redundant.

Don't get me wrong, surveys are great and they can give you specific feedback on your business, facilities, employees, products, and more, but the results are only seen by you. Until you have a solid star-rating and presence on all of the major review websites, hold off on conducting surveys and ask your clients to write reviews for you instead. You will still get the feedback you need AND you will be promoting your business online.

Everyone wants quality customer feedback for business improvement, but if you are going to ask your clients to give you feedback, why not also let that information and their praise promote your business to prospective consumers too?

Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - a company committed to empowering businesses to manage their online reputations. For more information about the services IRM offers, visit www.impressionsrm.com or email Ann at impressionsrm@gmail.com.

Online Marketing Help - What Someone Else Can and Cannot Do For Your Business

Who has time to manage all of the online marketing that needs to be done to adequately promote your business?! From social media websites to online review websites to constantly changing SEO (search engine optimization) to blogging and YouTube and Pinterest... there are a ton of different ways to promote your business and many third parties willing to help you do so.

How do you know who to trust?
It's important to know what third party businesses can and cannot do for you in each of the online marketing arenas so that you can make wise decisions in what you outsource and what you handle in-house. Let's take a look at the online review options.

I like to end on a happy note, so let's start with the no-nos. Third parties can NOT:

• Write reviews for you. All reviews must be written by consumers. This is a good point to keep in mind when you are tempted to have Gramma or your brother or your hunting buddy write you a review. It's not only unethical, it's illegal and can land you in significant trouble. Just ask McMillan Law Group in San Diego.
• Post to review websites on behalf of your clients. If one of your clients fills out a survey for you and leaves fabulous feedback and the highest recommendations, a third party company cannot take those words and put them up on Yelp or Foursquare or any other review website. Only your client can do that. The review websites require that a person sign in with his or her account information and write the review directly on the site. 

• Post reviews on Google+. Let's say you are dentist in Chicago. Prospective clients looking for a dentist are typing in a Google search bar something like "dentists Chicago IL." What comes up in a search like that is a list of all the dentists in Chicago. Under each business name is a star rating and a link noting how many Google+ reviews the business has. Just like what was described in the previous bullet point, the only way for Google+ reviews and star ratings to be changed is if your clients write reviews directly on Google+. No third party company can post reviews on your clients' behalf. 
• Remove negative reviews. Wouldn't it be great if you could control every negative thing that someone wanted to say about you? How reliable would review websites be if they let businesses silence the people who didn't like them or their products? Not very. The idea is to give you an opportunity to right wrongs, mend bridges, and grow your business by listening to and responding to your clients.

Before we jump into the good things that third parties can do... third parties should NOT:

• Post replies on your behalf. Clients are posting to your review websites and describing situations of which only you are going to be familiar. The idea is to build relationships with your clients. Just like you couldn't build a friendship by having some un-involved person represent you, you cannot build client trust and loyalty if you are not the one doing the interacting. (Side note: Social media sites are different in this respect and it can be very helpful to have a third party posting there on your behalf because they are starting the conversations)
• Keep log in and password information from you. If a third party is acting on your behalf on the review websites, you should still be able to fully access and make changes to your account whenever you desire and without having to go through that company. 

Now what you've been waiting for... third parties CAN:

• Assist you with the claiming and updating of your business listings on most of the major review websites. A few are fee-based, but the biggest and most frequently used sites are free to access and a third party company can save you considerable time in this process. 
• Save you time monitoring the review websites for new reviews. It takes time to keep an eye on all of the different review websites. For any business, there are at least 9 general review websites and then a host of industry-specific review websites to monitor as well. Every site needs to be monitored a bare minimum of once per week, but preferably every day. Many services have advanced software that can automate monitoring for you.
• Consult with you on encouraging clients to write reviews. There are many strategies to encourage your top clients to leave you valuable feedback.
• Consult with you on responding to review posts. Both positive and negative reviews benefit from replies. While a third-party should not write the response for you, they can provide guidance and help you evaluate the tone and potential repercussions of your posts.

Obviously this is a short list, but my hope is to equip you to carefully evaluate the third party you are considering using for your online marketing needs so that your business gets the most value for your marketing investment. 

Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - a company committed to empowering business to manage their online reputations. For more information about the services IRM offers, visit www.impressionsrm.com or email Ann at impressionsrm@gmail.com.  

Got Reviews? - Online Marketing Ideas

Here in the Midwest, it doesn't seem like it, but summer IS coming and summer means more people are traveling and exploring new vacation spots with their families. This also means that small businesses need to focus on their online marketing ideas to attract those summer vacationers.

Picture how the typical family decides how and where to spend their vacation monies.

We've been driving for hours and we are all getting hungry...

• "Hey Hon, we are coming up on Eau Claire. Look up what they have for Mexican restaurants."

The dutiful spouse opens up his smart phone and...

• "Looks like we've got Azul, Cancun... OH LOOK! Tacos Juanita is a 4.5 star one! Let me look at what the reviews have to say..."

Now, I've been to Eau Claire and all three of those restaurants are great places to eat. So how can the other restaurants compete when Tacos Juanita has 29 reviews and a 4.5 star rating that jumps off the screen at the customer?

They, like every restaurant, hotel, and business that hopes to attract tourists need to have reviews and solid star ratings. When consumers have choices, why wouldn't they opt for the business everyone is talking about and everyone recommends?

There are many strategies for generating reviews, but the most important one is to ASK! People love to be asked for their opinions and they love to talk about the places they love. So, what are you waiting for? Start asking your customers to write reviews today!

Ann Pearson is the CEO of Impressions Review Managing, LLC - a company committed to empowering business to manage their online reputations. For more information about the services IRM offers, visit www.impressionsrm.com or email Ann at impressionsrm@gmail.com.