Why every business needs to protect its reputation

All your favourite brands and businesses have one thing in common - they all have great reputations. We have seen over the years how businesses have cultivated their image in the eyes of their customers. There is a reason why businesses value the importance of having a trustworthy reputation. Namely, business owners and marketing executives agree that a business with a positive reputation will always do well as they can build longevity into everything they do.

Just like with most things in life, people will generally only gravitate towards people and businesses they like and trust. A simple example that we can all resonate with is the current debate around climate change and global warming. Lots of businesses around the world are now placing a strong emphasis on ethical and sustainable processes such as fully recyclable packaging etc, to meet the expectations of their customers.

In this week's blog, we wanted to highlight some of the main reasons and challenges that business owners currently face when trying to protect their reputation.

The digital revolution
There is no doubt that the internet and digital technology has changed the way we interact with the world around us. From ordering food to communicating with loved ones, the digital revolution now impacts every part of our daily existence.

However, in the modern world, a business is also a living and breathing entity. Just like a human, every business has characteristics that need to be nurtured in different ways. One of the areas that often gets overlooked by busy business owners is the need to have a standardised process in place to cultivate a positive reputation over time.

The widespread adoption of social media networks such as Twitter have made it very easy for businesses and their audience to have a direct, real time, interaction. One of the best examples of this is aviation airlines that are often under the microscope from customers on Twitter when something goes wrong. A quick tweet with the businesses Twitter handle is now far more effective than calling a customer care number and being placed on hold for 30 minutes. Throw in the ability for tweets or posts to go viral and you can see why all businesses need to protect their reputation around the clock. This immediacy presents challenges to every type of business, both large and small, in terms of how they respond and remedy negative situations.

What harm can a negative review or post really have?
In public relations terms we have heard the saying, “all publicity is good publicity”. However, this isn’t exactly true when it comes to negative reviews or posts online about a business. Before the advent of the internet, this quote may have rung true because publicity was in traditional formats such as word of mouth or in print.

Fast forward to today and the internet allows posts to be saved almost indefinitely online. This means that any current or potential customer can find out exactly what has been said or written about the business throughout its existence.

While it is hard to quantify the exact monetary impact of a negative review or post, it is fair to assume that negativity around a business or brand can affect its profitability both in the short and long term. For example, think about the last time you were researching a hotel or restaurant to visit on TripAdvisor. If you are anything like us, you most probably scroll to the reviews and immediately your eyes are drawn to any negative reviews.

This process of looking for negatives and assessing what others thought is commonly referred to as ‘social validation’. For most businesses, having negative reviews can seriously hinder their ability to attract new customers.

Why does a positive reputation matter?
As we have seen above, a negative review or post can damage the reputation of a business and ultimately result in financial losses. Therefore, it is vitally important that the modern business starts to create a positive reputation.

Some tactics utilised by successful businesses around the world to build a positive reputation is asking for feedback, creating testimonial videos and having a loyalty programme in place to reward loyal customers.

By having processes in place to boost their reputation, a business can over time, create an army of brand evangelists who are ready to vouch for the business to others. As a result, any business can position itself as a reputation and trustworthy business in the eyes of new and prospective customers.

How can a business protect its reputation?
Having a quick browse of local businesses online and you will most likely discover one important fact. The vast majority of businesses simply don’t have a standardised process for capturing positive reviews but also more crucially, capturing negative reviews at source before they are posted online.

This is one of the driving forces behind why we created our Reputation Management Platform that can help businesses link to any review site in the world, including Google, TripAdvisor and Trust Pilot. However, more strategically, it can also capture negative reviews before they are posted online by giving the customer the opportunity to detail their experiences in a feedback form that is sent directly to the business.

As a result, businesses can now start to capture bad experiences and actually have the ability to reach out on a one to one basis with the affected customer to remedy the situation. Our Reputation Management Platform can be embedded on the businesses website or accessed through a QR (Quick Response) code that can be displayed on social media or on print collateral for ease of use.

To find out more about our Reputation Management Platform, you can visit our dedicated technology page here.

Summary
As we have seen throughout the course of this blog, there are many reasons why every business needs to protect its reputation. The digital world has opened up many opportunities for business and customers to interact together but this can be channelled in the right way to benefit both parties.

To find out more about our Reputation Management Platform and some of our other technology solutions, please contact us today.

Until next time, take care.