For businesses in the hospitality space (including restaurants, bars, and hotels), “reputation management” is a familiar concept. Reputation management is, essentially, the process of shaping public opinion. For many companies, this conjures up visions of giant press war rooms with throngs of public relations professionals firing off press releases. In reality, modern reputation management means managing the online perception of a company, namely through the comments and reviews that are left by clients and customers. Think this doesn’t have anything to do with your business? Here are three reasons why having a reputation management plan is important for professional service businesses:
- If you don’t have any reviews, and suddenly you get just one bad review, that is the entirety of your brand.
90% of consumers read fewer than 10 reviews before forming an opinion about a business
54% of people will visit the business’ website after reading positive reviews
74% of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more. Having a healthy reputation management practice in place can help mitigate the ups and downs that occur. This also ensures that one review is not the only voice that people hear about your business.
- If your reviews are old, they may as well be non-existent.You’ve probably looked at a business whose last review was from three years ago. Subconsciously, you may wonder what happened that no one has left a review since. You’re not alone.73% of consumers think that reviews older than 3 months are no longer relevant
- Reputation management isn’t just about a good score.
For professional service providers like accountants, architects, engineers, dentists, and doctors, great reputation management is having a follow-up contact with your clients. It’s an opportunity to find out about and fix any rough spots before they become lingering issues.
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Source: Bright Local