Small Is Beautiful
Nancy and I were chatting about the issue of company size in the home improvement services sector. Many of these companies are small, but bigger than small would suggest. They're bringing in $1 million, $5 million, $10 million a year. They spend, collectively, a hefty chunk on marketing.
I thought about it a bit later in connection with the reputation issue. The big difference with a small company is that you have the means to be proactive and nimbly address process issues or problems with isolated individual incidents of customer dissatisfaction.
It seems like it's easier for big companies to do PR because they have whole departments for that. But between consumers' highly tuned BS-meters and antipathy built into the approach many members of the media take to business journalism, problems can spiral out of control. A few folks in the media can even do a pretty good job of orchestrating (at least a short-term) "takedown."
Imagine if your job was with PR with
this grocery chain, for example. They were fined for a mouse problem at their warehouse. Those of us who know the stores and regularly drive by the warehouse might say "ewww" and that's the end of it. But it doesn't help that the person deciding which photo to show next to this story in the print edition of
The Toronto Star decided to put up a shot of a truck with the company tagline - "We're fresh obsessed" - plastered across it. (Can you say "sarcasm"?) If you were in the PR department for that company you'd probably be wondering who (internally or externally) was waiting in the weeds to make you go eeeek! next week.
An advantage of small is that your advocates will be vociferous and will spread the positive word about you. But it takes effort. No PR department is going to put out your brush fires.
Labels: online reputation
Posted by Andrew Goodman
0 comments | Permanent Link
Managing Your Online Reputation Takes Patience, Integrity
We were honored last week to find our way into an excellent piece by Lisa Stephens of the Globe and Mail, on the subject of companies
managing their online reputations, especially in cases where they've faced negative consumer reviews.
Negative reviews are inevitable. They're also nothing new. In fact, a Google Search for the term "negative reviews" turns up 1.38 million results!
When it comes to reputation management, some business owners are still in denial. How about
this cafe owner, who - stung by negative reviews on Yelp, a popular local business review site - posted a sign banning "Yelpers" from the cafe. Talk about compounding the problem!
There is, of course, such a thing as an unfair review or a bad customer. But the savviest business owners know that sour grapes won't help turn the tide of public opinion. By being proactive and open and courting an entourage of supporters who will be willing to drown out (or argue with) the negative voices, it's possible to come out on top.
Sam Decker, VP of BazaarVoice,
writes about the importance of negative reviews in establishing the overall credibility of a site that incorporates user feedback. I couldn't agree more. I was recently a little disconcerted when I visited the American Apparel site, because of the presence of too many glowing, cheerleading reviews of its products. Some simply said "I haven't tried this yet but I'll be getting one really soon!" Poring over the various reviews, I actually felt like I'd be more likely to buy the product that had at least one negative or moderate review. Why? Because I wouldn't be as likely to suspect that the reviews are fake.
To boil the advice down to one point, I'd probably say that you shouldn't wait for negative "incidents" in online reputation, but rather, be proactively building that reputation all along. That means treating the online world as an extension of the offline word-of-mouth world... including, potentially, participating respectfully in the debate. Consumers are the kind of animal that can smell fear. Build confidence by establishing online reputation as part of your proactive, not reactive, marketing arsenal.
Labels: online reputation
Posted by Andrew Goodman
3 comments | Permanent Link
