The Importance of a Good Reputation During COVID
December 3, 2020
Reputation management has always been important for small businesses.
Nine times out of 10, people will read reviews and do more research before purchasing a product or working with a local business.
There are a lot of small businesses out there that offer similar services and products, and consumers want the best. Reviews help to narrow down their options and find someone they feel they can trust.
Having accurate business information on local directories and sites is also important to a small business’s reputation, as well as properly managing and responding to reviews.
However, thanks to COVID-19, reputation management plays an even more critical role in a small business’s success.
Why reputation management matters more than ever
The pandemic has changed a lot about how and what people consume.
COVID-19 has created a lot of uncertainty. Between schools and businesses closing and opening back up, the back and forth on mask effectiveness and all of the other unknowns surrounding the pandemic, it’s been difficult to always know which way is up.
This uncertainty has impacted consumers in many ways. For one, consumers are much more risk-averse than they used to be. The last thing they need is more uncertainty in their lives, which makes them want to be extra careful about finding a small business they can trust.
Furthermore, apart from the usual risks, like a business being unreliable or doing poor-quality work, there’s now a risk of actually getting sick by working with someone who might be shedding the virus. This is especially true when you work one-on-one with people or in their homes.
Yet another thing that can impact your reputation during the pandemic is how you treat your employees, what you’ve done to keep them safe and how you’ve balanced it all.
How to effectively manage your business’s reputation during COVID
Be proactive instead of reactive
Too often, small businesses don’t pay attention to their reputation until there’s already a problem.
Reacting to reputation crises rather than taking steps to prevent those crises in the first place is not an efficient way to manage your reputation. And, you’ll be a lot more successful if you start being proactive.
A reactive approach to reputation management looks like this:
You don’t pay much attention to your reviews, nor do you respond to them. You do, however, provide great service, and you’ve managed to an average star rating of 4.5 on Google — that is, until a string of negative reviews brings your average down to 3.0.
Since you don’t check your reviews often, you don’t realize that you even have a problem. Then, a few weeks later, you’ve noticed a drastic drop in leads, and the phone isn’t ringing like it used to. So, you finally check your reviews.
The first negative review was from way back in March, and a few more have trickled in since then. It’s too late to respond, so you’re stuck figuring out how to pick up the pieces.
A proactive approach to reputation looks like this:
You’re on top of your reviews, and you keep a close eye on your average star rating across Google, Yelp, Top Rated Local and every other review site you’re listed on. You focus on providing great service, and you make it a point to regularly ask for feedback and reviews.
When that first negative review came back in March, you were able to respond, apologize and make the situation right the very next day. The customer was so impressed by your timely response and dedication to fixing the problem that they revised their review and ended up giving you five stars!
You were also able to listen to and learn from the feedback you got in that first negative review, alerting you to an issue impacting the quality of your service. With this knowledge, you implemented changes to address the issue and were able to avoid the subsequent negative reviews.
Making it a point to stay on top of your reputation will help you avoid setbacks that can cost you customers and revenue.
Take care of your employees
When people think of reputation management, they mostly see it from the perspective of their customers. However, how your employees see your business matters just as much (if not more), and it will eventually start to bleed over into how your customers see your business.
Too often, small businesses forget that, in addition to being on your team, your employees might also be your customers. And, if they themselves aren’t customers, you can bet that they have friends or family who are.
If you treat your employees poorly, your customers will hear about it. Luckily, though, if you treat your employees well, your customers are likely to also hear about it.
I’m not saying that every employee should get a raise, a bonus and a two-weeks paid vacation for the holidays, but it’s important to make their health and safety a priority.
One of the most important things you can do to keep your employees safe is to have a generous sick policy. It’s no longer acceptable to expect an employee to come to work when they’re sick, as it presents a risk to everyone on your team and all of your customers.
Your employees are probably your biggest brand ambassadors. How you take care of them will play a huge role in how consumers in your community see your business.
Make safety your number one priority
Safety is of the utmost importance at the moment, and for good reason.
Now is not the time to cut corners or skip steps. Not only will you be putting customers and employees at risk, but it could seriously hurt your reputation.
Reduce the risks by making it a point to follow government guidelines and advice for your area, respecting shelter-at-home orders and other restrictions.
Safety precautions to consider include sick leave policies, testing, social distancing, business travel guidelines and personal protective equipment (PPE).
It can be difficult to navigate operations while following safety precautions. Don’t hesitate to reach out to any industry partners you have to work together to come up with creative solutions.
Keep the lines of communication open
Communication is one of the most important aspects of navigating reputation management amid a global pandemic.
Restrictions on operations during the pandemic have made it necessary for many businesses to change the way they do business.
Some businesses have had to simply make a few adjustments to their services, while others have had to completely change their offerings. Whatever changes you’ve made, it’s important to properly communicate those changes to your customers.
Lots of customers will want to keep supporting your business, but they need to know how.
It’s also a critical time to actively listen to your employees and customers. It’s not possible to know about everything that happens in your business, and your perspective might look a lot different than a customer’s or an employee’s.
The best way to stay in the know about exactly what is going on is to regularly ask for feedback, and to actually listen to it.
Reputation management has never been more critical; however, it’s not always easy to get right.
The fact of the matter is that reputation management involves a lot of moving parts, and keeping all of it straight can often feel like a full-time job. Luckily, Marketing 360®’s reputation management software makes it easy.
With Reputation, you’ll have everything you need to monitor your reviews from across the web, quickly and easily request reviews via text and email, build a trust badge for your website and so much more.
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