ANTenna Blog -- Business & E-Business

Ensuring the perception of your business matches your vision for your business is a full time job for any business owner -- both online and offline. Adding to the 10 steps from earlier this week, here are 3 more ways to keep your online reputation intact.

Engaging customers is vital to cultivating online reputation. Of course, there are companies that specialize in online customer engagement. In fact, one of them, RatePoint, a self-described provider of customer feedback and online reputation management services, offers a number of approaches to strengthening brand image that build on those included in 10 Steps To Maintain Your Online Reputation posted earlier this week.

According to RatePoint founder and CEO, Neal Creighton, "Customers want to know businesses care about their experience." Here's are his three tips for making that happen:

1. Move From Reactive To Proactive -- It's impossible to track everything that's being said about a business or product online. Even businesses without a Web presence -- the local pizza shop or hardware store -- find themselves being talked about on review sites. The strategy has been to chase after the latest negative review to either put out the fire or pursue the most recent positive review to encourage additional dialogue. Businesses should change their mentality from reactive to proactive when it comes to reviews. This means proactively soliciting feedback from customers at every opportunity and in a timely manner while the experience is still fresh. The majority of feedback that is proactively solicited is positive.
2. Don't Be Afraid Of Negative Feedback -- To know what customers are thinking, businesses have to ask. Many companies fear negative feedback, but failing to recognize and fix negative customer experiences can harm a company, its reputation, and its future sales. A negative experience is an opportunity to display superb customer service and personify a brand as being in-touch with its customer base. By proactively soliciting feedback and strategically responding, a company can significantly enhance its brand.
3. Make It Easy To Collect (And Ultimately Showcase) Feedback -- A suggestion box or a standalone survey doesn't provide a mechanism for dialogue between a customer and a retailer, nor does it fix a problem that may have just happened. Traditional brick and mortar businesses can also leverage new technologies to collect and show customer feedback and reviews. Customer feedback mechanisms can be employed not only on Web sites, but also on receipts, invoices, e-mails, and at point of purchase.

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