The Marketing Revolution

Transcription

1 How To Take Advantage Of The Marketing Revolution That Could Ruin Your Business By Carroll Burritt The Online Reputation Pros

2 Executive Summary In the last few years a silent, steady revolution has turned traditional marketing principles upside down, rendering most of the tried and true strategies, that used to work reliably, into a blatant waste of money. The biggest danger, however, is not in the marketing dollars you may be wasting right now. The biggest danger is that you re ignoring the one form of marketing that can literally determine whether your business flourishes or fails in the next few years. What is this essential new form of marketing? It s called Reputation Marketing, and it is the literal key to your success in the years to come. Briefly, it is the integration of Reputation Management with Brand Marketing to adapt to these revolutionary changes in the marketplace. I know this is a bold claim and I encourage you to remain skeptical as you continue reading the compelling reasons why this is indisputably true. You ll also discover why the traditional media, which makes its revenue from the traditional methods of marketing, is not telling the whole story about this marketing revolution. Another way of understanding Reputation Marketing is that it leverages the communication power of the Internet to multiply old fashioned referrals by publishing them as reviews. Here s how Referrals compare to Reviews Carroll Burritt theonlinereputationpros.com page 1

3 Let s Get Personal In a moment we ll look at the statistical proof for this marketing revolution. However I m sure you ve observed the signs of it in your own recent buying decisions, and in the behavior of those close to you. Ask yourself these questions: Would you purchase a product or service that has several bad user reviews online? If one product has 2 good and 3 bad user reviews, while another product has 11 good reviews, which one would you choose? The answers are obvious, but the implications for your business may be shocking. The Rise of Social Proof User reviews are now found all over the web. And many are anonymous. They are everywhere; on shopping sites from Amazon to Zappos, on dedicated review sites like Yelp and Foursquare and on the your business Google+ page. Even if you never asked for a Google+ page, your business very likely has one. And incorrect information on that page may be hurting your business. Did you know that any Google user can alter the information on YOUR page, even your competitors. 1 Any person who wants to can now leave a negative, even a nasty review, about your business online, anonymously; a demanding customer, a disgruntled employee or even a devious competitor. They can say whatever they want: terrible service... staff is rude... food is tasteless... overcharged for the service... this place is a rip-off... don t trust this business... Those poor reviews remain permanently online, shouting to the whole world, Your business sucks! or Don t trust these guys! Even when they are false or fraudulent reviews. It s totally unfair! It s frustrating! It s infuriating! Bad reviews deter new customers, undermine staff morale and reduce the overall market value of your business or franchise. They can deeply damage or even destroy your business. 2 But this is the new reality and it is here to stay Carroll Burritt theonlinereputationpros.com page 2

4 The question you need to ask is, What can I do about it? The answer is A lot! You ve Lost Control of Your Reputation You used to have at least a first chance to make a first impression! You, or your agency, could carefully craft the image you wanted to show to the market. Not anymore. The fact is, The Revolution has come. Slowly, silently it creeped up on all of us until today the future of your business is literally in the hands of an anonymous crowd, unless you proactively take control of your online reputation. If you don t you ll be vulnerable to the unscrupulous anarchy that now rules online marketing. Getting upset won t change anything. Only a well planned and executed strategy can give you back control of your valuable reputation! First, you need to educate yourself about the problem, and then develop a solution. The best practice is to implement a proven battle plan to create a comprehensive strategy to protect your business and build the most valuable asset your business can have today, a 5 Star Reputation. But first you need to understand the rules of the Post Revolution Marketplace so you can make the best investment of your limited marketing dollars. The New Rules of Marketing Your Business Consumers don t trust marketing messages anymore, or certainly not as much as they trust anonymous social reviews posted by other (supposed) customers. According to the Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising survey, consumers trust online reviews more than any form of advertising/marketing you can do, including editorial coverage in media and press releases Carroll Burritt theonlinereputationpros.com page 3

5 FACT: 70% of consumers trust online reviews when making a purchase decision, second only to personal recommendations, according to Nielsen s Global Trust In Advertising Survey Q3, Only 58% trust branded websites and media endorsements. FACT: On average, consumers look up 10 reviews online before making a buying decision. They will trust a business that has 6-10 positive reviews and are thus ready to do business when they call or walk in. What do these statistics mean to your business? Simple. You need to take control of your online reputation, and you need to do it now. Still not convinced? Here are more reasons. The online search engines (think Google) know what consumers want and now can deliver reviews of your business in every category of search results including websites, local maps results, even paid ads results. (Note: search results will vary depending on several factors.) In other words, you can no longer control your marketing message by using these traditional forms of marketing. All the money you spend on advertising and marketing will be totally wasted until you create a 5 Star Reputation online. Why wasted? Because most consumers who see your ads will immediately search Google for your business name + city and read what your customers (and competitors?) say about you Carroll Burritt theonlinereputationpros.com page 4

6 You may be thinking that many prospective customers won t be going online to look for reviews before calling you. Think again, Researchers at Real Strategic asked over 350 subjects, When a business is referred to you, what do you do next? The vast majority, 87%, said they went online to search for the company s information Carroll Burritt theonlinereputationpros.com page 5

7 After searchers find the company information: 52% search for online reviews of the company 35% go to the company website and 13% look for a social media (Facebook or Twitter) page for the company. These results make it very clear precisely where you should be investing your marketing dollars first you need to build a 5 Star Reputation. It is undeniable. Today consumers are skeptical of all forms of marketing and they want social proof in the form of a critical mass of positive online reviews. Whatever claims you make they will check out against your online reputation. If they can t find any reviews of your business they will continue to look for another business with at least 6-10 good reviews. And they will choose that business every time. This is the new social reality of online, and offline marketing. The good news is many of your competitors have not yet caught on to what s happening. Many have not yet even claimed their Google+ page, which is an essential first step in taking control of your online reputation. This means you can turn this situation into your competitive advantage if you act quickly. How? The Reputation Marketing Solution How To Get More Customers The Reputation Marketing Solution is a carefully planned strategy to build you a 5 Star Reputation and then robustly market that reputation to get you more customers. This solution leverages the social proof and free publicity of online review sites to attract new customers to your business. There are four phases to turning this new reality to your advantage. First I will list them and then describe each step in detail. Read carefully because this will be your strategic plan to bulletproof your business in the new Reputation Marketplace! Here are the four phases: 1. Accurately assess your current online reputation and create a reputation culture within your business by training all your staff in Reputation Marketing. 2. Proactively build a 5 Star Reputation for your business online Carroll Burritt theonlinereputationpros.com page 6

8 3. Market your 5 Star Reputation all over the Internet and in local media. 4. Monitor and maintain your 5 Star Reputation. (Note: While it is important you understand these steps, don t worry about how to implement them right now. You can request a complimentary strategy session in which we describe in exacting detail precisely how you can do this yourself.) 1. Assess your current online reputation... Normally this would require hours searching through review sites for any negative reviews of your company as well as checking your listing on the relevant directory sites for your business. However, we know how valuable your time is so we have made this step easy for you. Go to ReputationAuditReport.com and enter your and the official phone number of your business. You will immediately receive a full Reputation Audit Report describing in detail the current state of your online reputation. There is no charge for this report. Your detailed Reputation Audit Report will show you where to immediately focus your attention by showing the review site listings for your business that you need to claim, beginning with your Google+ business page. Here is a sample of an actual report Carroll Burritt theonlinereputationpros.com page 7

9 Notice that 50% of the listings for this business on review sites are unclaimed. This is a big mistake, especially ignoring the Google listing. To claim means to confirm that you are the owner/manager of your business on the site being claimed. This is very important because it gives you the ability to respond to reviews. You can thank customers for positive reviews and explain your side when reviewers criticize your business. 64% of consumers say they would avoid a business that has negative online reviews, but 56% of those same consumers look favorably on a business that responds to those negative reviews. Once you have claimed all your listings you ll need to educate your staff about the importance of providing 5 Star Service and then requesting new reviews from your customers.. It is essential to get the buy-in and cooperation of every staff member because you will always be just one dissatisfied customer away from a bad review, which really hurts your business. We have created a very efficient solution for our clients that frees up all of their time to attend to other responsibilities. We provide a dedicated online training program that monitors each employee s participation. Here s how it works. Each employee is given a unique access code to their personal online training classroom. There they are guided through a series of video tutorials, and intermittently tested to make sure they grasp the importance of maintaining a 5 Star Reputation for your business. As the owner, you can access the study records and test results of each staff member to ensure your entire team buys into your new 5 Star Performance culture. When you have claimed your listings and trained your staff you will be ready to launch your 5 Star Reputation campaign. 2. Create a 5 Star Reputation In this phase your staff will proactively encourage your many satisfied customers to post a positive review of their experience online. Most will be happy to do so when they are asked and provided with a simple and easy way to do so. To make it easy for your staff to request reviews from your customers you can use: in store signs waiting room notices 2014 Carroll Burritt theonlinereputationpros.com page 8

10 table top cards and menu notices postcards s appointment cards etc. However, I ll share with you two crucial ninja strategies our customers use to take complete control of their online reputation. First we create a mobile review app for our clients which they install on an Android tablet. They can then install the tablet in a handy location such as a waiting room, or even hand the tablet to the client as they ask for a review while the customer is most satisfied with your service. Second, we do not initially direct the client to a public review site to leave a review. Instead, our clients send them to a Private Review Page which we create for their business. This enables us to monitor each review and intercept any negative reviews before they become public. We then send an alert immediately to our client, notifying them they have a less than satisfied customer so they can follow up right away to make the situation right. Customers who leave a positive review are immediately redirected to various public review sites so they can easily copy and paste their review into a public forum. Your Review Campaign will continue as long as you are in business, creating an ever increasing number of positive reviews which very quickly positions you as the leader in your local market. Furthermore, this is the only way you can overcome negative reviews. You cannot have them removed but you can drown them in a flood of positive reviews. To encourage our clients staff we analyze their overall Online Reputation Score each month and calculate the number of reviews they need to reach a 5 Star Reputation. This gives them a target to aim for and thus they are able to measure their performance. 3. Market Your 5 Star Reputation Even as you are building a solid 5 Star Reputation you can begin to promote it. We syndicate our clients 5 Star Reviews far and wide across the web so they will be found everywhere, including: live streaming onto the client s website on their Google+ business page (very important) on their social media sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) on image sharing sites (Pinterest, Photobucket) 2014 Carroll Burritt theonlinereputationpros.com page 9

11 on video hosting sites (Youtube, Daily Motion and others) in their customer s in store or in office signs, and window signs and other forms of promotion appropriate to your type of business A 5 Star Reputation attracts new customers and instills pride in everyone associated with your business. It becomes easier to attract and keep the best employees as well as great customers. It is also the most valuable longterm asset you can build for your business. However, one bad review can do untold damage unless neutralized by a continual flow of positive reviews. That s why you ll need to pay daily attention to your reputation. 4. Manage Your 5 Star Reputation Constant vigilance is necessary to maintain your 5 Star Reputation after you ve built it. You need to monitor all major review sites daily for negative reviews, and respond appropriately if you find any. As the Business Owner you should receive biweekly reports of all reviews received. (For Franchisors and Owners of multiple branches, location specific reports are essential to pinpoint problems and prevent them from damaging other branches.) Continue to post incoming 5 Star Reviews on your website and all the sites mentioned above, thereby maintaining your 5 Star Reputation. Let s Review The rise of social review sites has taken away even your first chance to make a first impression. Online reviews will pass judgement on your business even before prospective customers have a personal experience of your service. No other form of marketing works anymore unless, and until, you have a 5 Star Reputation. You re throwing your money away. The most urgent need to insure the future success of your business is to take control of the online conversation about your business that is going on right now. Facts To Remember 70% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations buyers on average look at 10 reviews before making their decision you need between 6-10, 5 Star Reviews to be trusted by consumers 2014 Carroll Burritt theonlinereputationpros.com page 10

12 business increases by up to 19% with a 1/2 star improvement in a Yelp business rating 87% of prospective customers search online for information about a referral they receive 52% of those people then search for online reviews about that company before calling your online reputation determines the results of every other form of marketing today Your Reputation Marketing Strategy Overview Here are the 4 big steps you need to take to take advantage of this revolution in the market: 1. Accurately assess your current online reputation and educate your staff about the importance of building a 5 Star Reputation. 2. Build your 5 Star Reputation for your business online. 3. Market your 5 Star Reputation proactively. 4. Maintain your 5 Star Reputation with constant monitoring. It is not rocket science and if you have the skilled staff and the time to do this yourself you could do this. Here s exactly how we do it for our clients. Your Exact Step-By-Step Blueprint Audit Your Current Online Reputation & Directory Status* Register & Claim Your Business Listings On All Relevant Directory & Review Sites Personally Train And Test All Your Staff Members On The Importance of Reputation Develop Specific Tools ( Onsite Mobile App, Professionally Designed Print Material, Templates, etc.) For Your Staff To Use To Get Reviews Fast Create Professionally Designed Survey And Feedback Pages To Collect & Filter Reviews Stream Reviews To Your Website and Blog Daily Post Your 5 Star Reviews To Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn & Twitter Create Professional Review Images For Daily Syndication To Pinterest & Photobucket Create & Broadcast Monthly Video Review Commercials Monitor Review Sites Daily & Alert You On New Reviews Immediately Create Monthly Reputation & Feedback Analysis Reports [Reinforce Staff Performance] This is a comprehensive plan to build you a strong 5 Star Reputation and thereby position you as a leader in your local market. If you don t want to take this on yourself, help is available Carroll Burritt theonlinereputationpros.com page 11

13 Your Turnkey Solution If you feel overwhelmed with the amount of work required and confused as to where to start, that s understandable. If you re thinking that it will take a lot of work to learn how to implement the 4 Steps To Creating A 5 Star Reputation you are absolutely correct. It s fair to say that it will require one person dedicated full time to handle all these tasks, if you re able to find a person who has these skills. If you now understand the importance of building a 5 Star Reputation and of taking control of the fate of your business, you may be interested in a fast-track option to get your complete program up and running within the next 30 days. If so, you can ask us to prepare a detailed proposal to provide you with all of the services listed above at a fraction of the salary of a full time employee. Call us today at (226) to request your free half hour online Strategy Consultation. This will enable you to assess whether we are a good fit for your needs and allow us to determine whether your business is a good fit for our services. We are a small agency by choice and provide a very high level of client service so we are careful to select only clients we feel confident are a good fit. There is no obligation for this Strategy Consultation and you will leave with a better understanding of your options. (Disclaimer: During your Strategy Consultation we will be assessing at your current online reputation. We know only too well that good businesses can end up with negative reviews, often through no fault of their own. (See footnote 2) We are committed to helping these businesses repair the damage caused by such reviews. That being said, we will not work with any company which has a bad reputation because of unethical practices or a blatant disregard for the ethical service of their customers. We are not a Public Relations firm. We do Reputation Marketing.) 2014 Carroll Burritt theonlinereputationpros.com page 12

14 Footnotes 1. A restaurant owner in the United States is suing Google for an incorrect Google Maps listing, which he claims led to a sudden decline in customers and forced him to shut his business down. The Serbian Crown restaurant had been operating for almost 40 years in a wealthy suburb in Virginia. But in early 2012 the restaurant suffered a 75% drop in customers on the weekend. The owner, Rene Bertagna, claims he was forced to lay off staff and eventually had to close the Serbian Crown in April 2013 as a result of the incorrect listing. Bertagna believes the restaurant s Google Places listing was sabotaged and claims Google did not do enough to verify the changes. He says he had never used the internet or Google Maps and so was initially unaware of the problem with the Serbian Crown s listing. Google Maps incorrectly listed The Serbian Crown as shut over the weekend and Monday, which were previously the restaurant s busiest days and kept it profitable. Bertagna claims the problem is that anyone with a Google+ account can submit a change to any detail of a Google+ Local page, whether verified or not, including the listed website address, phone number, physical address or name of the place. Users can also mark the place as closed, as a duplicate or flag inappropriate reviews or photos. 2. 2,045 complaints have been filed with the US Federal Trade Commission against Yelp, accusing the company of posting false negative reviews (anonymous) and hiding positive reviews of businesses that decline to purchase a $500 monthly promotional package. You need to constantly protect your reputation as if your business depends on it, because it does! 2014 Carroll Burritt theonlinereputationpros.com page 13

15 About The Author Carroll Burritt is CEO of The Online Reputation Pros and Executive Producer with its online broadcast division, LocalReviews-TV.com. After a diverse career that has included print and website design, copywriting and video production I now focus exclusively on Reputation Marketing for a very strategic reason. As the popularity of Social Media and Review sites grew, I noticed the decline in ROI of conventional marketing strategies for businesses who were not proactively building a 5 Star Reputation. While Reputation Management is now a commodity service, there are few providers of a robust shock and awe Reputation Marketing campaign that can propel a business into a position of leadership in their local market very quickly. This is the service we provide our clients. As Peter Drucker pointed out many years ago, Because the purpose of a business is to create a customer, a business has two and only two basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business. And what is more unique to a business than its online reputation? Building a 5 Star Reputation is building an enduring asset for a business, and vigorously marketing that 5 Star Reputation is the most effective way for a business to get new customers today. Reputation Marketing is simply Referral Marketing that leverages the communication power of the Internet to gain exponential results. It is really the obvious evolution of the most solid and proven marketing strategy of all time. When you grasp this, it is obvious why it is the most effective investment of your marketing dollars you can make. For me, the most rewarding aspect of my work is helping really good, customer focused businesses, and their owners, sort through the overwhelming confusion of marketing options available today, and focus on building the one value, and the one message, that is timeless and enduring; a 5 Star Reputation earned by providing genuine 5 Star Customer Service. And then shouting it from the rooftops for all to hear! To your success, Carroll Burritt 2014 Carroll Burritt theonlinereputationpros.com page 14