This document provides tips for small businesses on managing their online reputation to protect their bottom line. It notes that negative online reviews or a lack of reviews could hurt a business, as consumers increasingly search and make purchasing decisions based on reviews. It offers three key steps for businesses: 1) proactively gather online reviews on sites like Google and Yelp, 2) monitor reviews and social media mentions, and 3) promote positive reviews through various online and offline channels. The goal is to incorporate online reputation marketing into a business's existing PR and word-of-mouth strategies.

1. Warning:
Negative Online Reviews (Or Even A Lack
of Reviews) Could Be Hurting Your
Bottom Line!
What you need to know to protect your #1 asset
– your reputation!
Presented by Tim Fahndrich
thirdRiver Marketing LLC

2. “It takes many good deeds to
build a good reputation, and only
one bad one to lose it”
~ Benjamin Franklin

3. Could this happen to you?

4. Ouch!

5. Or this …

6. 4 out of 5 consumers have changed
their minds about a recommended
product or service based solely on
negative information they found online
- Cone Study, 2011

7. Let’s Get Started
1 How do people find your business?
2 What are people saying about you?
How are tapping into “earned
3 media” and “social proof”?

8. How do people
1 Find Your Business?

9. “Yellow Page usage among
people, say, below 50, will
drop to zero, near zero, in the
next five years.”
~ Bill Gates
May 2007

10. What are consumers using today?
… and over 1500 others!

11. 7 out of 10 web searches
start on Google … and 89% of
all clicks on Google happen
on page one

12. Two types of searches:
1 Keyword Search (SEO)
2 Reputation and Referral Search

13. What’s one of the first things
consumers do when referred
to you?

14. What Are People Saying About
2 Your Business?
… this can potentially make or
break your company over time

15. A difference of one “star” in
average rating led to difference
in revenues of 5 to 9 percent.
-2011 Harvard Business Review Study

16. 52% of consumers state that
online reviews are the most
influential factor when making a
purchase decision

17. “Negative reviews can hang an
albatross around your neck if they
appear prominently in search
results.”
-Kermitt Pattison, NYTimes.com

18. 3 Reasons Consumers Love Reviews
Saves Time Having positive
1 reviews shows
your prospective
Peace of Mind consumer that
2 you are the right
choice
Saves Money
3

19. How Are You Tapping Into
The Power of
3 “Earned Media” and
“Social Proof”?

20. 9 out of 10 consumers trust
“earned media” such as peer
reviews
-Nielsen Study 2012
-As opposed to only 33% trust paid media / advertising

21. Did you know?
74% of consumers rely on their
social networks to guide
purchasing decisions

22. Facebook alone has over 900
million members … typically
with a huge local reach in your
community …
What if you could get people
talking about you in the form
of reviews on social media
sites?

23. How do I get started to
protect my reputation?

24. Provide Great Service!
… If you don’t make this part of
your company culture … even the
best ‘reputation management’
won’t be able to help you

25. Manage
1 Your Online Reputation
• Claim your online listings
– Google+Local
– Yelp
– Bing
– others
• Proactively ask for reviews

26. Reviews:
• Google+ Local
• Yelp
• Insider Pages
• Industry specific sites like Zillow
Recommendations:
• Facebook
• Linkedin

27. Monitor
2 Your Online Reputation
• Review Sites
– Respond to reviews
• Social media (Twitter, Facebook, et. al)
• Blogs and forums
• News stories

28. Free Monitoring Tools
• Google Alerts
• Social Mention
• Hootsuite
• RSS readers

29. Promote
3 Your Online Reputation
• Social media web sites
• Company web site or blog
• Press releases
• YouTube / Reputation Videos (SEO!)
• Marketing and sales process
• Customer outreach

30. This can all be a little
overwhelming … we
understand

31. Typical Questions When Getting Started:
How do I ask for a review?
1
Where do I send them to leave a
2 review?
Should I offer an incentive to leave
3 a review?
… and many more!

32. Introducing
S ave
Y our
S elf
T ime
E nergy
M oney

33. Proactively Gather Reviews
1
Monitor Reviews
2
Share and Promote Reviews
3
Incorporate all the major touch points

34. Online Reputation
Marketing is the New
PR & Word of Mouth

35. Take complaints and bad
reviews seriously, not
personally

36. Questions?

37. Was this helpful??
Tell us what you loved about it at…
thirdriver.whirlocal.com


38. Tim Fahndrich
thirdRiver Marketing LLC
www.thirdrivermarketing.com
Facebook.com/thethirdriver
p. 503.581.4554
Thank you!