If a brand wants to do well online and offline, they need a solid reputation, with a foundation in their digital presence. However, it is not just down to good designs and excellent content. A high quality product or service backed by excellent customer service is perhaps even more important. In fact, even the way in which employees are treated has an impact on reputation. A reputation management agency will usually focus on the digital content that exists, although they may also provide advice on issues such as customer service and employee satisfaction.
A Reputation Management Agency Teaches You to Walk the Walk
All brands need to have a consistent spread and marketing of positive, genuine, and fresh online content. They aim is to make sure that if any negative content exists, it is hard for others to find. Research has shown that people now read a lot of reviews before deciding whether or not to trust a brand, so it is very important that you have reviews to offer, and that they are positive. The damage from negative reviews can be offset thanks to reputation management strategies, but it is obviously better to attract positive reviews in the first place.
A great way to make a brand look positive outside of attracting good reviews is to create authoritative content. This content has to provide something of value to the audience, setting the company apart as a trustworthy expert in their niche. At the same time, this content has to be SEO (Search Engine Optimization) optimized, meaning it contains the right keywords and the right backlinks. It should also be posted in all the right places, which is anywhere where a potential customer could search for information about this particular niche.
Essentially, this is about talking the talk (creating content) and walking the walk (showing that you mean what you say and having this confirmed through positive reviews).
Real Life Scenarios
Businesses can do a variety of different things in order to improve their overall image. Obviously, this should start by focusing on customer service. It has been shown in a study by Dimensional Research that 54% of people would share complaints about receiving a bad customer service at least five different times, in different places. Furthermore, the survey showed that 58% of people are now far more likely to leave reviews compared to the same time five years ago.
It simply cannot be stressed enough how important it is to offer the highest levels of customer service. Reputation management can do a lot to make it harder to find negative information. Excellent content strategies can set you apart as an expert in your field. But if the real life element, which is your customers interacting with you, your product/service, and your customer service, is a negative one, no amount of hard work can make it better. You need to see reputation management as a form of marketing, in other words, and that only works if your foundation is right.
