| ford businesses are not alone in doing what they can | | | | business, your hotel may be listed in several online |
| in the Reputation Marketing field. | | | | directories. It is well worth putting aside a few hours |
| Every business has a reputation and it is important to | | | | each week or month just to check out your reputation |
| work on getting a good one. It can take a long time | | | | on these websites – what did people |
| and a lot of money to get a good reputation and yet it | | | | think…. How many stars did they rate |
| can be lost in an instant. Everything your business does | | | | you…. |
| is observed. You need to know what customers or | | | | Feedback from your audience in the form of their |
| clients think of you and work on getting it right for | | | | experiences, opinions, etc can also be put circulated |
| them. Feedback from your audience is very valuable. | | | | onto the many chat, blogs, forums or social networking |
| But how do you get that feedback? | | | | websites around. By monitoring what people are |
| In this day and age, using the internet is certainly a big | | | | saying it helps you to keep in control of any crisis |
| tool to utilise, especially via your own website. | | | | situations, for example, you may need to do a product |
| Testimonies from your customers are like gold and | | | | recall, you may need to squash a rumour. Positive |
| you should include them on a webpage within your | | | | experiences can be worked to your advantage too. |
| website. | | | | By being willing to change and adapt in response to |
| But what about negative feedback? | | | | feedback, you find over the long term, that your |
| This is important, especially if you are getting a lot of it | | | | business will succeed. You really do want people to |
| about a particular product or service. You | | | | talk about your business – positive and negative |
| needn’t put all the nasty stuff onto your | | | | feedback will have an impact on your business. |
| webpage, but by taking quick action and put, say 1 in, | | | | It sounds like a full-time job to keep abreast of it all, but |
| announcing that you are sincerely rectifying the | | | | as long as there are tools allowing people to share |
| situation, demonstrates to your audience your duty of | | | | their content (opinions) there will be tools to monitor it |
| care – your reputation goes up. If the negative | | | | too. For example you can google to alert you on the |
| feedback has any merit, why not look at modifying | | | | results of a certain phrase or topic. Google can even |
| your business operations to make sure that the | | | | alert you on any topic out there on the blogs. So if time |
| situation doesn’t arise again and again let your | | | | is a concern for you, look into outsourcing this activity. |
| audience know. | | | | Finally, watch out for criminals who want to get in on |
| Feedback about your product or service is not | | | | the act and can blackmail corporations by threatening |
| necessarily always left on your website. It can be left | | | | to damage their reputation online. You may also bump |
| within a trade directory, or similar websites that relate | | | | into the occasional competitor who may also wish to |
| to your business. For example, if you are in the hotel | | | | cause you trouble too! |