Monitoring online reputation is essential for a brand to grow and make sales. No matter the size of one's company, its reputation will determine whether it succeeds or fails. With people's ability to google brands and businesses online, controlling what people say might be difficult. A person's business may start to receive negative reviews leading him to lose his customers to his competitors. One negative review is enough to do immense damage. However, the good news is that by using an online reputation repair tool, one can monitor and repair a damaged reputation.

This article explains why a company needs to repair a damaged reputation and how to do it.

To Build Trust, Credibility, and Transparency

One of the reasons for repairing a damaged reputation is to keep an individual's customers. Business owners need customers to buy their products for them to realize profits.

Through word of mouth, customers also have the power to bring in or turn away other buyers. After buying a product from a store, they'll likely discuss their experience with other potential buyers. And with the power of the internet, potential consumers can be influenced by customers' information, whether they are true or false. Therefore, business owners need to know how to manage their customers' ideas about their company.

To do this, they need to have an online review management strategy. Building credibility isn't easy, but using a tool that incorporates customers' reviews can help them understand how their buyers view their company. With those reviews, they can make necessary adjustments and improve customer experiences.

To Improve Employee Loyalty

For one's business to succeed, he needs to have employees who are professional and loyal. Brand owners need to know how their employees talk about them because it influences customers' buying decisions and new employees' recruitment. Employees would not work in a company with a bad reputation.

Therefore, brand owners need to ensure that their employees are comfortable and loyal to the company. They can do this by collecting their reviews and addressing their complaints. Having dedicated employees can enable one to make high profits and recruit other talented workers.

To Improve Business

76% of consumers evaluate how a brand values them through its customer service. That should be reason enough for a brand owner to have a reputation management strategy. Reputation management shouldn't just be about how customers see a company, but how they know it. And understanding something requires building a relationship. 

Business owners can build a relationship with their customers in various ways. They need to understand what they expect and need, listen to them, collect their feedback and opinions, and pick their suggestions. With this information, they should improve their products and services to suit their customers' tastes and preferences. That way, they'll have built a relationship with their buyers.

On top of that, they can manage their reputation by addressing unhappy customers' concerns, proving to them that they care and are willing to solve their problems.

How To Repair A Damaged Reputation

1. Request Google (News - Alert) To Bring Down A Post

It's uncommon for brands to receive information that can damage their reputation. It may be from dissatisfied customers or from haters who love tarnishing others' reputation. And once such negative information gets to the web, pulling it down may not be easy.

If that's the case, a brand owner can contact Google and ask them to remove the post from the web. However, before doing that, they need to check Google's policies first because Google may not consider all defamatory content types.

2. Ask For Positive Reviews

Positive reviews are an excellent way for brands to repair a damaged reputation. To earn back the trust of lost customers, one needs to have many positive customer experiences. Brand owners can do this by asking customers to rate their products and purchase experiences.

Additionally, including calls to action that prompt buyers to leave a review is an excellent way of asking for positive reviews. Do this by utilizing product pages and social media pages. By doing this, some customers or prospects will probably like what's offered and give a positive review. Though it's good to ask for positive reviews from buyers, it's unethical to bribe customers to give a positive review on one's site.

3. Create a Facebook (News - Alert) Business Page

Facebook currently has more than 2 billion users, so it definitely can be a customer goldmine. Besides that, it can also be an excellent platform for repairing a damaged reputation. Most buyers nowadays search for a company's Facebook page to see the products they offer and reviews they have before making a buying decision.

Therefore, a brand owner needs to have a social media expert that can address people's concerns and respond to their questions. He also needs to respond to customers' complaints and make efforts to solve any issue. When a brand maintains a lively presence on Facebook, it presents itself favorably and encourages prospects to buy its products.

4. Own Up a Mistake And Talk About It

Owning up a mistake is a method that a brand can use to repair a damaged reputation. If one realizes that his company has made a mistake, he should talk about it and take responsibility for that error. When a brand owns their mistakes and apologizes to customers about it, they increase their trust. It also shows that they are sensitive to their concerns. Instead of being defensive, explaining why the error occurred, and the actions that are taken to solve it can be a great way to build the brand's credibility.

5. Create A Youtube Channel

Brands can also use videos to repair their damaged reputation. People can easily relate to businesses that are helpful to them and others. Therefore, a company can reclaim its trust in customers by supporting charities, fundraisers, and local communities. Having this on their YouTube (News - Alert) channel may tell their prospects that they are sympathetic. Also, if such activities are aired on TV, most people will identify with them and buy their products.

The Bottom-line

Although it is hard for a business to keep a good reputation consistently, having reputation repair strategies may help it to keep selling their products. That's why brands need to have personnel that listens and addresses customers' concerns to build good relationships. With good relationships, a brand is guaranteed to make profits.