What is reputation management, and why is it important?

Together, customer reviews and testimonials  – plus whether or not you have a functioning website and social media profile – form your business’s online reputation.

Your online reputation is essential to growing your business and winning more work, so you need to find time to give it the attention it deserves.

To further explore this and its effect on your company’s success, we’ll be looking at online reputation management.

Why is online reputation management important?

In this day and age, online visibility is essential in business. That’s why boosting your SEO so that your customers can find you when they’re searching is so important. And with that comes the importance of your reputation. When people find you online, you’ve got to be seen as quality and trustworthy.

Having a positive reputation can mean more customers will choose your business over your competitors, increasing your workload. It’ll help you to grow your business.

You need people to talk about your business. People appeal to people.

With lots of customers saying you’re a great business, that opinion resonates with potential customers and they feel more confident in working with you.

The process of building to this point where you’re being recommended by customers is known as social proofing your business. For further information on why social proof is vital, please see our ‘what is social proof?’ guide.

What is reputation management?

Online reputation management involves influencing what others think about your company and brand online. This can be done through positive reviews, glowing testimonials, and using video to showcase your best work.

Managing your online reputation will cover anywhere you appear; your website, Google listing, other online listings (cough, cough, Checkatrade), and social media profiles.

Right from the get-go you want to show customers what you can offer as a business and how your services are the best choice. There are several ways to save time and money by building trust before a customer even works with you.

One of the best ways is through customer reviews. Collecting reviews is one thing, but acknowledging and reacting to them is another. You look good to potential customers researching you and you make your actual customers feel heard and respected.

How reputation management works with negative reviews

During your career, you may receive a negative review. Tradespeople on average receive one per year. Staying on top of this is key, by responding and remedying any customer issues.

This will show customers that you’re a trustworthy, committed business. It’ll help you stand out.

Imagine the perception of your brand if a potential customer saw a negative review with no response. For all that person knows, that negative review could be true, and an accurate reflection of your brand.

However, when you respond to customer issues or negative reviews, you’re giving that prospective customer a better perception of you. Reputation management demonstrates that:

• You care about your business and want it to succeed, so you’re likely to want to do a good job
• You’re actively checking reviews, showing that you care about the quality of your work and your customer experience
• You’re helpful and diligent in responding if and when there’s an issue

This is why reputation management is so important – you’re actively improving your brand and your perception with potential customers.

Benefits of online reputation management

Deciding whether or not to invest time and energy in online reputation management is something you need to consider based on your business.

To make your choice easier, there is a range of different benefits of online reputation management including:

• It helps to draw in more customers
• It increases the sales of your services
• It helps make your company appear more legitimate and credible
• It shows you are trustworthy
• It helps your business to show up on Google through creating more opportunities to rank in the search engine

Disadvantages of online reputation management

As with most things, there are also a few disadvantages of online reputation management, although these mostly include the time and funding you need to invest in this process.

Some of the drawbacks of online reputation management include:

• It can be time-consuming, especially if your company is large and you receive frequent customer reviews. A great way of resolving this is to hire someone to keep on top of this for you.
• Hiring someone to improve your online reputation can be costly, although if you’re very busy, it may be impossible to manage this yourself. You can save money by asking an existing employee or even a family member to help.

Who needs reputation management?

You may be surprised to learn that every trade business or tradesperson needs reputation management to ensure a steady flow of work.

Reputation management is especially important for:

• Any professional looking to attract more customers
• Any professional hoping to grow their business
• Any professional wanting to beat the competition
• Any professional hoping to improve their brand image

Be seen as quality and trusted to win jobs

As a tradesperson, you’ll likely receive your fair share of leads. You’ll know as well as we do, hearing from a customer doesn’t mean you actually have the job.

Knowing how to effectively win jobs that you’re qualified for is a great skill to have and an excellent boost for your business.

How to improve reputation management

Our great guide titled ‘you know you can do the job, but how do you win the job’ is bursting with helpful tips to help you transform customer leads to sales.

But there’s something you could do right now to boost your online reputation…

Join Checkatrade.

Checkatrade is one of the most well-known signs of quality in the industry*. By becoming a member (hopefully, once you pass our checks), it will set you up to be trusted by homeowners and to start winning more work.

8 out of 10 people would choose a tradesperson we’ve checked over one we haven’t**. People trust the the Checkatrade tick, don’t miss out on work because you’re not a member.

Managing your time and workload

The key to helping your business reach its potential is through customer reviews and testimonials. However, this often means asking your customers to take the time to post these which may be at the bottom of your long to do list.

As these forms of social proof are so important to promote your business, it may be helpful to learn about how you can find the time to contact your customers and get the most out of your workday. So, why not read our guide on managing your time and workload for advice and a variety of tips to optimise your day.

Final word on reputation management

• Online reputation management involves influencing how customers see your company and your brand online.
• It’s really important to have a positive online reputation to draw in new customers and have a steady workflow.
• You can use positive reviews and testimonials plus your company’s social media accounts and website to improve your reputation.
• Joining Checkatrade is a great way of improving your company’s reputation with a unique profile page where you can display customer recommendations and testimonials, plus examples of your work.
• Every business and tradesperson can benefit from online reputation management.

* Deep Blue Thinking 2021 Trade Perception Survey
** Deep Blue Thinking 2021 Trade Perception Survey – compared to a trade with no other endorsements