Reputation management

How to Give a Five-Star Response to a One-Star Review

Online review boards and social media channels have taken the place of the complaint lines of the past. You may think you can ignore negative reviews posted on your site—particularly if there are only a few and the good ones far outweigh the bad. The fact is, you can’t. About 88 percent of customers trust... Read More

Back to the Basics with CRM and Reputation Management

No matter where you are in the business world—just starting, just catching your stride or a long-time veteran—you won’t get any further without loyal customers who trust you. To build up that foundation of trust and to improve on it you need feedback from your customers, old and new. You need a viable Customer Relationship... Read More

Why NAP Consistency Matters

Why NAP Consistency Matters NAP is an acronym for Name, Address, Phone. Essentially, it’s the contact information for your brick-and-mortar business, and it’s how visitors to your website are able to find and contact you. NAP consistency matters because major search engines, such as Google and Bing, give higher rankings to businesses that have a... Read More

How to Establish Authority For Yourself and Your Business

When the public trusts your voice or the voice of your business you are an authority in your field. It is essential to be the voice that people trust and turn to, for information, news or educated opinions, but there is a cacophony of voices competing to be heard in the online world. In order... Read More

Why Reputation Marketing Matters So Much to Local Businesses

Reputation marketing is all about a company choosing how they want to be seen and taking steps to build that perception. You have a reputation. Your family, friends, neighbors, and even Facebook all have a perception of who you are. People may see you as empathetic, hard-working, or  perhaps business-savvy. The same is true for... Read More

A Bad Rep Can Cause Hiring Woes

A Bad Rep Can Cause Hiring Woes If your business has a bad reputation, you already know it will cost you lost sales and new customers. It could have another affect, too, that will also hurt your bottom line: it could make it more difficult for you to hire qualified people. If you’re having a... Read More

Why Reputation Management Matters for Small Businesses

Why Reputation Management Matters for Small Businesses Traditionally, small businesses only needed to establish a good local reputation to succeed. Maintaining a reputation typically involves attracting locals and developing good relationships with them. Then, people would patronize a shop based on the recommendations of friends and neighbors. Nowadays, those endorsements are widely made online. All... Read More

Responding to Reviews 101

RESPONDING TO REVIEWS 101 No matter what industry you’re in, online reviews can directly impact your business. Positive customer reviews can amplify your marketing efforts; but all of the marketing dollars in the world may not be enough to overcome a negative online presence. The only space on the internet where you can maintain 100%... Read More

Quick Tip for Growing Your Facebook Audience [FREE]

A Quick Tip for Getting More Likes on Your Facebook Business Page One way to keep your customers engaged with your business is to post photos and updates on Facebook. But, if you want your customers to see your posts they have to “Like” your page (or you have to pay for advertising.) In the... Read More

How important is ‘drive-by’ web traffic?

By now, you’ve established your business on the world wide web through a website, various social media channels and through search engine optimization. What’s the best way to turn all that digital space into new customers? Pay attention, according to Kevin Steeland, CEO of PISTn Marketing. “To me, one of the number one things that... Read More

How to handle a social media crisis

Into every social media platform, a crisis will fall. It’s inevitable, with human nature the way it is, the relative anonymity of the Internet and the ever-present trolls lurking to pounce on any mistake or perceived sleight. In fact it’s difficult to turn on the television or scroll through someone’s social media feed without hearing... Read More

How to help your business show up in Google’s Local Pack

In the vast world of cyberspace, there’s nothing more important to a business than keeping it local. When you advertise on any digital medium, you’re looking for customers near you. That also holds true when customers are searching for you—you want your business to be visible when customers are searching for your services. To do... Read More

How to defend your brand

Without a doubt, we live in some peculiar times. As business owners, we are constantly building up, perfecting and defending our brand. It’s difficult enough to respond to critics, competition and any of the unusual slings and arrows hurled at your business every day. What do you do when you have to defend your brand... Read More

How KFC used humor to respond to a PR crisis–and won the day

For business owners, there’s nothing worse that running out of the one thing your customers are seeking from you. An oil change shop running out of oil, a tire shop running out of tires (all of them) or a chicken restaurant running out of chicken. That’s exactly what happened recently, when a change in suppliers... Read More

Six mistakes that will make your website look unprofessional

You don’t have to be a scientist to avoid these unprofessional mistakes. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. It’s true in life, it’s (mostly) true in business and it’s true on the internet. As a small business owner, you can’t afford to make the mistakes that might drive away potential... Read More

Survey says: local, online reviews are crucial for your business

According to a recent study by brightlocal.com, online reviews are more important than ever and, when it comes to the origin of those reviews, the closer to your business, the better. Brightlocal has conducted the survey every year since 2010. Last year, they polled more than 1,050 individuals to get insight on how online reviews... Read More

Four ways social media can help your CRM

Marketing with social media is effective because it can help build or strengthen your connections with existing customers. Used properly, it can enhance your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) results and build a solid, loyal customer base. There are plenty of reasons to improve your CRM, of course. The biggest is the cost factor. According to... Read More

6 ways to persuade customers through social media

Your business’ social media pages are perfect places for you to persuade customers to visit your shop, use your services or buy your goods. It’s more of a soft sell that other forms of marketing, like direct advertising or cold-calling; you’re trying to foster a relationship to build up trust to bring customers into the... Read More

4 essentials of reputation management

Online reputation management can make or break your business. You can’t put too high a price or place too much value on reputation management. The reputation your business has with your customers—new, old and potential alike—is the foundation for your success or failure. Consider these three statistics: about 82 percent of consumers say they visit review sites... Read More

How to handle customer complaints

Customer complaints are as much a part of doing business today as they have been since the first person traded coin for product. Obviously, the methods have changed. Back in the day, people would either bring it up in the store or, perhaps, stew a bit and then give the owner a call. Now, more... Read More