Even when you think you’re doing everything right in your business, there might come a day when your good name gets tarnished with an adverse incident or a minor oversight. From disgruntled employees seeking revenge to honest mistakes with product labels, many situations can land a business in a reputation crisis. Whatever the reason for a reputation damaged, the most urgent concern for any business is how to repair bad reputation.
The Importance of Business Reputation Management
Warren Buffet once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” This holds truer than ever in today’s fast-paced digital world. One social media post can bring down a corporation in less than five minutes. Even big brands such as Tesco, Starbucks and Facebook have had their share of bad press, tasked with the challenges that come with nursing a recovering reputation.
Despite this reality, there is hope. Reputation recovery experts exist to fix a tainted reputation with thoughtful strategies. When businesses are clueless about reputation recovery, they can benefit from hiring help for their business reputation management services.
How to Conduct Online Reputation Repair the Right Way
In the digital sphere, a business can get a negative reputation with bad reviews. Every business must have an online reputation repair strategy to counter negative feedback. Most business owners won’t have the skills or expertise needed to repair a bad reputation. If this is the case, hiring an online reputation management service like Rize Reviews is a sensible solution.
In addition to hiring external help, here are some strategies you can use to address a reputation damaged by negative online reviews:
1. Communicate
Sometimes people just want you to listen to their concerns. Responding to negative reviews can seem a daunting task, but it’s a necessary one if you want to assure your audience that you care about their feedback and are willing to do what it takes to resolve the issue.
Don’t know how to respond to negative reviews? Rize can help you do just that with its smart review response service. We deliver personalized and timely responses that help you manage negative feedback. With Rize, you’ll also be able to avoid many negative reviews entirely by requesting any negative feedback privately through an email form.
2. Apologize
Apologizing to your customers is one of the hardest but most important things you can do when working on your recovering reputation. When you word your apology, remember to avoid pointing blame and try to convey as much sincerity as you can. Tell your audience that you want to do better and that you are doing everything you can to improve your service or product.
3. Fix the Problem
If the problem is coming from your end, you need to get it fixed as soon as possible. Identify the root of the problem and create a long-term solution. Share the solution with your customers to show you are serious about resolving the issues brought to your attention. The secret to a recovering reputation can be as simple as making a small but significant change.
4. Change the Conversation
Attracting new customers and providing them with your improved service or product is a great way to generate positive reviews and repair bad reputation. As more positive reviews come in, the previous negative reviews become less visible. Being able to pivot customer opinions is a huge task, but it can be done.
5. Create a Reputation Recovery Plan
You need to develop a reputation recovery strategy in addition to responding to reviews and fixing problems. You can try to brainstorm and come up with a plan on your own or you could hire a business reputation management service to get expert help. Rize Reviews provides expert assistance in reputation recovery, which includes review response and online reputation repair.
6. Publish Positive Content
Put your website’s blog to good use and publish content that highlights your company’s initiatives towards providing excellent service to your customers. You can also use your blog to address any problems that get mentioned in negative reviews. Be sure to optimize the content so it gets noticed on search engine results pages (SERPs). This is an ingenious way to repair bad reputation as it counteracts any negative reviews that might also come up.
7. Monitor Your Brand Online
You can’t fix what you don’t know. You can use review monitoring services like Rize to get reliable, up-to-date information about what people are saying about your brand online. A clear idea of your brand’s online image is essential in creating an effective reputation recovery plan. Monitoring your brand online is now easier than ever with Rize Reviews’ online reputation management software.
8. Train Your Employees
When a reputation crisis unfolds, every person on your team should know how to handle it. Educate your staff on the importance of reputation recovery and provide a guide on navigating everyday situations, especially when facing customers. If every person in your company has the tools to respond appropriately, you automatically have a better chance to repair bad reputation.
9. Implement Preventative Measures
Getting your reputation damaged by a single incident is a learning opportunity. Ask yourself what could have been done to prevent the situation. Are flawed systems and inefficiencies causing the problems? Identify what needs to change so you won’t experience the same crisis in the future.
10. Keep Your Customers Updated
When you tell your customer you’re going to work on a solution to their concern, you need to do it. If you don’t, your brand risks appearing insincere and untrustworthy. When you come up with a solution, take the opportunity to tell the world – not just your customers. Broadcast your journey towards improving your products and services via your company blog and share it on your social media profiles.
It’s normal to feel helpless or lost when a crisis impacts your brand’s image. Having your reputation damaged by something you might not have control over is a tough challenge for any business to overcome. On the other hand, a crisis is an opportunity to look at your business from an outsider’s perspective and see things you might not have seen before. These moments provide valuable lessons that can shape your business’s future.
Are you looking for expert guidance in recovering reputation strategies? Contact us to learn more about our online reputation repair and business reputation management services.
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