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.

Online Marketing Mahem - Handling Negative Reviews

Word-of-mouth advertising used to be something that you had no control over. People would say what people would say. If it was positive, sometimes people would come in and tell you someone recommended they use your business, but if it was negative, you might never know that it even happened.

Now, business owners have an opportunity to use virtual word-of-mouth advertising to their benefit. Review websites have given consumers a place to voice when they are happy with a business or product and when they are dissatisfied. Getting that pat on the back is always great, but should you do anything when the feedback is not so good?

YES, you should and here are just a few reasons why:

1. Retaining a client is much less expensive than attracting a new one.
2. Up-sales and repeat customers are two of the most common reasons for business growth.
3. Prospective customers are using review websites to decide if they should trust you or your product - good customer service is important for others to see.
4. Critical feedback can give you the information you need to grow and offer better services - engaging in the conversation will give you valuable insights.
5. The conversation will take place with or without you - your choice is whether or not you want to have a hand in steering the conversation to your favor. 

Every business will have its ups and downs and a negative review is sure to come along. Here are some basic do's and don'ts when handling a negative review:

DO

• Reach out to the customer and try to mend bridges - try a simple reply to the negative post that says something to the effect of, "I am SO sorry that this happened to you! I would like to gather some more information about what took place so we can make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else - would you be willing to give me a call?" Leave the business phone number and your extension, or let your staff know that the call may be coming through and they should send it through to you right away. Even if the person does not call, everyone else reading along will see that you are trying to work out a solution and that kind of customer service elicits trust.
• Find something for which to apologize. Even if you feel you have no fault in the situation, saying that you are sorry can deflate the anger and tension your customer is feeling. You can always find something to apologize for like: "I'm sorry you left here upset," "I'm sorry that we didn't meet your needs," or "I'm sorry we were not able to correct the situation to your satisfaction."
• Own up if you made a mistake. Most customers know that sometimes things just don't go like we want them to and they are much more willing to mend bridges when they feel you are being honest and taking responsibility.

DON'T

• Take it personally. You pour your life into your business and it is very easy to feel like it is a slap in the face when someone writes a negative review. Take some time and get away from the situation before you respond.
• Post anything publicly that sounds angry, defensive, or accusatory. A good rule is to take what you plan to post publicly and hand it off to someone you trust who is not emotionally involved in the situation. Let him or her give you feedback on how the post sounds and make corrections before you post your reply online. 
• Despair. Everyone gets a negative review once in awhile. Take the feedback, make any changes to your practices that you need to, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and do your best to provide quality services and products and you will find positives coming in again.

About 75-80% of the reviews online are positive reviews, so while business owners get worried about acknowledging that some clients may be unhappy, most customers are pleased and enjoy sharing their insights about their favorite places. Engage in the conversations with those positive reviewers too and watch how their recommendations spread the great news about what you are doing!

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.

Yahoo and Yelp - Promoting Your Business?

It is no secret that promoting your business through maintaining a strong online reputation and having a lot of positive content on the web is the best way to provide valuable information for prospective customers. Having solid star-ratings on the major review websites is one important piece of this process and the top search engines and review websites jockey to be the leading provider of quality information for consumers.

WSJ Article Photo: "Floor refinisher Dan Tringale
says nearly 50 reviews of his business have
disappeared since Yahoo made its Yelp deal.
'It's a slap in the face.' M. Scott Brauer"

While Google remains king of the search engines and thereby has the biggest impact with the reviews and star-ratings it lists, Yelp is growing and expanding its reach in the online reputation realm by making new deals with the other search engines, Yahoo and Bing. However, Yelp's methods are making many businesses "yelp" in frustration.

As this Wall Street Journal article notes, many businesses were aware that Yelp was joining forces with Yahoo so that Yelp reviews would be seen on Yahoo Local, but many were not aware that this would mean all of their previously posted Yahoo Local reviews would disappear!

For businesses that had few or negative reviews on Yahoo, this may have been a benefit, but some business owners had hundreds of reviews on Yahoo representing years of their reputation and often displaying the kind of quality customer service we all seek to provide, all gone and replaced with only the filtered reviews Yelp displays.

Yelp has come under fire for its filtering system in the past as many businesses feel that their positive reviews were filtered out while the negative reviews seem to have been given a more prominent place on their Yelp page. Others have reported that they were aggressively pursued by Yelp's advertising branch and felt that whether they chose to advertise with Yelp would make a difference in whether positive reviews would continue to be filtered - a claim that Yelp firmly denies.

Whether Yelp's move benefited or negatively impacted your business, it emphasizes the need to have reviews on a wide variety of review websites so your customers will be able to find a well-rounded base of consumer reviews from which to draw as they make their purchasing decisions. With Easter just around the corner, perhaps we should think of it as not having all of our review eggs in one basket.

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.