Change Brand’s Reputation With Our 9 Tips

Not actively managing your company’s reputation is one of the easiest ways to sabotage the growth of your business. Customers will go to great lengths to support you long-term if they trust you. This trust extends beyond customers to employees, stakeholders, and others who have the power to impact your business. However, trust must be earned. It’s up to you to be intentional about shaping your brand reputation or, in other words, the way the world perceives your company. In this article, we’ll provide the tools you need for reputation marketing near me and avoid brand reputation killers.

What is Brand Reputation?

Your brand reputation encompasses everything that impacts how the general public perceives your brand, such as:

• Online presence
• Ratings and reviews
• Brand consistency
• Employer branding
• Customer service
• Corporate responsibility
• Customer loyalty
• Company mission statement
• Brand identity
• And much more!

Why is a Good Brand Reputation Important?

While we’ve already touched on a few core data points behind the importance of brand reputation, you may also want to consider these statistics:

• People are willing to pay 22% more for a product or service from a business with a good brand reputation.
• 81% of consumers said they only buy from a brand once they can “trust the brand to do what’s right.”
• Over 93% of customers look at a business’s brand reputation before making a purchase.

In short, a strong brand reputation is crucial because it helps you attract more customers quickly and accelerates your business growth.

9 Ways to Build a Better Brand Reputation

Although not everything is in your control, there’s plenty you can do to earn and maintain a good company reputation.

1. Think Through Every Aspect of the Customer Experience

61% of customers would leave your business for a competitor after just one bad experience. That’s a 22% jump from last year! After two negative experiences, 76% of customers would leave you for a competitor. Therefore, it’s critical to understand where friction exists in the customer experience from the customers’ perspectives so you can reduce or eliminate it. This may involve:

• Improving your website or app’s navigation or user interface.
• Responding to customer inquiries and concerns faster and more professionally.
• Offering additional payment options for convenience.
• Offering faster or cheaper shipping options.
• Providing more high-quality product photos and videos.
• Giving incentives or rewards to long-term or repeat customers.
• Simplifying your return, exchange, and refund policies to reduce friction for customers.

2. Request Honest Feedback

Unfiltered feedback from your ideal, current, and past customers is the best source of ideas for how to improve your brand reputation. It will reveal what people like about your brand and what you can do better. The key is not to expect people to volunteer this feedback. It’s your job to ask for customer feedback, and it should be a habit. 

Simply asking for reviews can go a long way, as 70% of people are willing to leave a review when asked. Make it as easy as possible for your customers to give reviews. For example, create a QR code that links them to your review sites or create quick and simple feedback questions in your surveys.

3. Handle Negative Feedback Wisely

At some point, you will get negative feedback. Whether you feel it’s justified or not, responding with professionalism is essential. Never argue with a customer or be snarky, even if you’re only communicating privately. Just because you’re not being seen on a public review site doesn’t mean the customer won’t spread the word about their bad experience with you. In fact, they most likely will. Handle negative reviews and comments the same way you’d like a company to handle your comments and concerns. Additionally, don’t view complaints individually. If you notice patterns in the feedback, shift to focusing on prevention instead of only being reactive.

4. Engage with Ideal and Current Customers

All else equal—price, quality, convenience, etc.—which business would you support? One that’s cold and impersonal or one where the employees are friendly and go out of their way to show an interest in you? You’d probably pick the latter, and the same is true of your potential, current, and past customers. Hence, engaging with customers is important. This could mean making polite conversation with folks who visit your physical location or, in this digital age, regularly responding to comments on social media. Your interactions shouldn’t feel purely transactional; prioritize building customer relationships.

5. Foster Brand Advocacy

Encourage your loyal customers to share their enthusiasm. There are many ways to do this:

• Ask for referrals periodically.
• Gather written or video testimonials that you can use in your marketing.
• Collect and promote user-generated content.
• Start a customer loyalty or referral program.

6. Hire the Right Employees

The people you hire to represent your brand can impact its reputation—for better or worse. You need more than just live bodies or even people who are well-qualified on paper. Screen for attitude and work ethic. Seek people who have the same core values as you (e.g., kindness, professionalism, reliability) and who can share how they embody those values in daily life.

7. Treat Employees Well

“It’s easy for employees to fall into this lackadaisical attitude when they don’t feel fairly compensated, appreciated, or are otherwise in an unhealthy work environment. In contrast, happy employees are more likely to go above and beyond for you and for customers. And the better the customer experience you and your employees provide (consistently), the better your brand reputation will be.

8. Set and Stick to Brand Guidelines

Consistency is key to building and maintaining a good brand reputation. If your marketing messaging is constantly changing or you have no distinct brand voice, it can cost you respect. Without a consistent brand reputation, you may look less professional or trustworthy than competitors. Your business will be less memorable than if you were intentional about making it known for one or a few distinct attributes. And your ideal customers may even be confused about what you offer and why they should be interested, costing you sales.

To prevent this, create guidelines for both your messaging and visual brand. Stick to them yourself and ensure that anyone representing your company does also.

9. Prepare for Mishaps in Advance

Despite your best efforts, things can go wrong and impact your brand reputation negatively. An unhappy customer (or even a past employee) could leave a damaging review. Human error or technical issues such as site outages may cause inconveniences for customers. Your brand may need to respond swiftly to local or global crises or tragedies without being insensitive. The list goes on and on. While you can’t prepare for every possible scenario, you should have a general plan for handling situations like these if and when they arise. This will keep you from making snap decisions that could hurt your reputation.

Conclusion

Building and protecting your brand reputation requires a proactive approach and ongoing effort. By thinking through every aspect of the customer experience, you can create a strong, positive brand reputation that supports long-term business growth. Remember,  reputation management for dentists doesn’t start with saying your company is great; it starts with the values that form the foundation of your company and how well you stick to them.