Most brands strive to improve their recognition, secure many customers, and earn repeat sales throughout the year. However, a business will only turn a target market into loyal shoppers if it puts consumers’ needs first.
If you want your company to become an industry leader, you must perform various actions to grab others’ attention and earn their trust. Here are five top tricks to create a positive brand reputation.
1. Keep good company
The brands, influencers, and publications your company affiliates with will determine its credibility and reputation. If your business shares a controversial tweet, partners with an organization with poor values, or works with an Instagram influencer with bad morals, you will associate your company with their negative image. Create and maintain a positive reputation by working with brands and people who share your business’s standards and values.
The same rule applies to the employees you hire. If they don’t embody the company’s mission and values, it might result in a poor customer experience that dents your brand reputation. Ensure every staff member is on the same page by carefully choosing team members for a specific role and providing the appropriate training. Turn to experts in delivering managed learning services to create a culture of learning, as it will maintain your company’s high standards and reputation.
2. Monitor your brand reputation
Never take your eye off the ball when it comes to your brand’s reputation. Many consumers don’t think twice about airing their frustrations or anger with a brand on social media, online review sites, and even on a company’s blog comments.
For this reason, you must monitor your brand’s reputation and promptly address any issues. For example, you must reply to every positive and negative comment your business receives on the likes of TripAdvisor, as it will indicate to future customers that you are a proactive, caring, and helpful brand. Never reply aggressively because it will decrease trust in your company and its products or services.
Monitor your brand mentions online by setting up Google Alerts. Email notifications are delivered to your chosen address each time your brand or its variations are mentioned online. You can then act on any negative articles or comments.
3. Gather feedback and act on it
Of course, you can prevent negative online comments altogether by taking time to collect feedback from past customers and making the appropriate changes. Gather opinions on your products, services, or customer experience by asking customers to complete online questionnaires. You could even provide an incentive, such as 10% off their next order.
Never ignore your customers’ responses. Their impartial opinions could eliminate your brand’s weaknesses, which will positively affect your business and, in turn, its reputation and profitability. Also, providing customers with an outlet to express their dissatisfaction could reduce the likelihood of them sharing their frustrations online.
4. Publish professional content regularly
Most brands will receive bad reviews, negative customer feedback on social media, or unflattering articles or blogs at some point. Rather than allowing the comments to dominate the search engines, maintain a positive reputation by publishing as much positive, professional content as possible, such as:
- Website blog posts
- Videos
- eBooks
- Whitepapers
- Studies
- Podcasts
- Newsletters
- Infographics
The more informative, helpful, and well-executed your content, the better your brand visibility, credibility, and reputation.
5. Keep it real
Building a positive reputation in an industry will take time, effort, and determination. As business owners have financial targets and business goals to reach, many are often tempted to cut corners to stand out to their demographics. As a result, they might use black hat tactics to climb the search engines or post fake reviews to convince visitors to buy their products.
Yet, unscrupulous tactics will only come back to haunt your business. You must be authentic as possible to develop a positive reputation and enjoy sustainable growth. Savvy consumers can spot insincere brands. Some 90% of online consumers know the difference between genuine impartial reviews and PR and marketing tactics. If you focus your efforts on providing your target audience with exceptional products and a superb customer service experience, the buzz will follow.
Conclusion
Your company’s customer experience will determine if your brand develops a positive or negative reputation. Encourage consumers to choose your business over a rival by listening to their frustrations, acting on negative feedback, and maintaining an authentic brand. Also, you must be cautious of affiliating your brand with organizations, employees, or influencers that could damage its credibility.
If your company’s reputation takes a hit, you must strive to resolve consumer issues, reply to online comments professionally, and publish positive content to increase trust in your brand.
