Reputation Management and Local Search

In my consulting practice at ikalynn (shameless plug) the first service that we offer new clients is what we call a Local Search Campaign.

In a nutshell, a local search marketing campaign applies the concept behind the old telephone directory to the new online model of searching for a business. Fifteen years ago, customers always looked to a phone directory to find local businesses to engage. But a paradigm shift occurred in how we all search for information which has resulted in the death of the telephone book and many other print media types. We all know that new model is the internet.

However, the impact of the internet on the print media industry is not actually what this post is about. It’s merely background for the real story.

The more important shift that has occurred is word-of-mouth marketing. Remember the Faberge Organics shampoo ad from the 1980’s? We all watched a young Heather Locklear explain how she loved her shampoo so much that she “told two friends, and she told two friends, and so on, and so on and so on”. The image kept multiplying on screen like a rapidly dividing cell, proving the point that when a consumer likes a product the positive word-of-mouth is exponential.

What that ad doesn’t tell us is, when a consumer has a negative experience with a product or service, they are nearly twice as likely to tell a friend and so on, and so on and so on!

And with the internet came social media, blogging and online reviews. When it comes to reviews in particular, there is a huge issue of anonymity. I call it an issue because people can go online and make comments about any person, place or thing that they feel inclined to discuss.

Anonymously.

It’s this phenomenon that has turned local search into a tool of reputation management.

When it comes to word-of-mouth we’ve identified the 2:1 negative vs. positive feedback, but when the consumer decides to place that traditional word-of-mouth online in the form of a review, it’s the negative reviews that often win out.

Let’s face it, when we’re angry with a company, we want everybody to know it. And this natural human tendency is magnified by the access and reach of the internet. Because going online takes quite a bit more effort than simply telling a friend, we are less likely to go online and tell everyone when we are happy with a business. Woe is the local business owner who has upset a customer, or even worse, has a disgruntled employee.

Because angry customers are more motivated, negative, angry and even vehement reviews are posted online every day about local businesses and service providers. Often exaggerated or even untrue, the local business owner has no recourse over this public lashing.

That’s where the local search campaign becomes more than just a directory listing and heads into the realm of reputation management.

As a tool of reputation management, in a local search campaign we help and encourage local business owners to ask for feedback from their customers. It’s important to poll customers to find where the weaknesses in the customer service structure occur and conversely to find where everything is right.  Having satisfied customers post good online reviews on behalf of local business begins to set right any effects of negative reviews.

Reputation management is assured by drowning the negative with the positive (assuming the business has more satisfied than dissatisfied customers). I often tell my clients that a negative review is like a drop of poison, in a cup of coffee it could be deadly, but in the ocean it amounts to nothing.

We believe that a local search campaign is necessary for every local business owner, to become more findable and for reputation management on a global internet scale.