Reputation management is nothing but taking control of the message, impression, and image of your brand that your potential consumers see. It is about knowing what people are saying about your business and influencing the perceptions of your brand to put yourself in a positive light.
Executing proper reputation management strategies ensures that when someone searches for your brand online, they find the right information and positive vibes. Besides, it lets you counter misleading brand-information that can cause potential damages to your business.
Below we have discussed 7 business reputation building strategies to understand and influence your customers purchasing behavior.
#1 Value your customers and audience
Your customers are the lifeline of your business. Think of every possible thing you can do in your business in terms of delivering values to your customers and audience. Understand your customers’ needs and identify the segments where you can create more values than your competitors.
Focus on investing toward the customers and segments that you can best serve. This certainly will provide you the greatest value in return. Always look for the opportunities to create new value propositions and communicate it at the right time and right place. Listen to your customers and learn about their perceptions about your products or services.
#2 Create resources that truly empower your customers
Creation of powerful content or resources is one of the most important parts of reputation management for any business. Whether it is text-based content, videos, tutorials, or any other form of content, it will help you empower your customers.
One of the effective ways to create resources is to post helpful tips, tricks, guest interviews and ideas for your target customers. These types of content will help you attract more audience to your website and eventually, that will project your business to new prospective customers.
#3 Ask for and get genuine reviews and recommendations from your customers
Reviews and recommendations are the major factors in determining your brand’s trust and credibility. If your sales team works closely with your customers, you can personally ask them for testimonials. Additionally, you can send them personalized thank-you emails asking for a review after they successfully complete a purchase.
You need to make it real easy for your customers to leave reviews about your service or product or maybe about the quality of your customer support. Educate your customers on how they can rate you and encourage them to post online reviews about you and your brand.
#4 Build a strong interpersonal relationship with your customers
Customers want to be listened to by the seller. If you give them the priority, they are more likely to give your business their loyalty. To build a strong interpersonal relationship with your customers you may attend local events, use social media regularly, respond to customer-queries and feedback as quickly as possible.
Consider connecting with your customers online as well as in person to ask what new changes they would like to see. Start conversations, invite advice and show your customers that their opinions and inputs matter the most.
#5 Always be ready to help your customers and solve their after-sales problems with priority
Treat all of your customers in the same way - respond compassionately even to your most unhappy customers. This is especially true if you receive negative feedback regarding a specific issue. Rather than simply ignoring customer complaints, make sure to address all concerns professionally.
Avoid using a negative tone in your replies to such kind of comments and reviews. At times customers do not understand the whole process properly and face difficulty. So apologize for the mistakes you made and tell them what really happened and how to avoid such problems next time. Even you can offer a refund of the paid money or discount on the next purchase to solve customers’ after-sales problems more effectively.
#6 Use influencers to increase positive sentiment
One of the best ways to build your brand’s influence is creating positive sentiment among consumers regarding your company. You can team up with influencers that relate to your industry and have hotshot reputations among various social channels.
Typically, these influencers own huge following and that help you take your brand to a larger audience. Since people already count on them, they are more likely to trust your brand too. Suppose, If you are in the fashion industry, these influencers could be bloggers, vloggers, or even celebrities who could market your product or services through their platforms.
#7 Start using video content that showcases your products or services
Some studies show video contents can help you increase conversions by as much as 80%. This statistic indicates that video content is rising fast, getting more attention, more shares, and winning more customers. So if you want your good reputation to work for you, video content can help you out.
You don’t need high definition cameras and a studio set up to capitalize on video contents. Use a video testimonial platform and you can start using video contents just by asking your customers to submit their experience. You can post videos of your clients and customers using your item, visiting your business, or featuring your organization culture.
Conclusion:
Managing your company’s reputation can sometimes be a challenging and time-consuming task. But regardless of your industry and the nature of your business, it is absolutely imperative to carefully hand-craft your brand’s image. Hence, work on the strategies and techniques listed above to shape up your brand’s reputation that will outpace your competitors.
Soumya Roy is the Founder, CEO of PromozSEO.com, a digital marketing school in India. Besides, he is the Lead internet marketing coach at PromozSEO. Mr. Roy is a seasoned digital marketer with over 11 years of experience in different fields of internet marketing channels and technologies. He specializes in organic marketing and organizes a workshop-based SEO course in Kolkata for individuals and small business owners.