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Even if your business isn't online, your reputation likely is. Building and monitoring your business's online AND offline presence is an important part of building a successful brand reputation, which can ultimately help to build consumer trust and land you new clients... 

Building a Brand Reputation Starts with Building Relationships

Knowledge and trust are the foundations of a great customer relationship. To establish these, you'll want to be consistently building meaningful & positive relationships with your customer base and actively ensuring that your customers have a great experience while interacting with your business. Some ways to begin building these relationships and creating positive interactions are:

Asking Questions: Ask how a customer heard about your business, and if there is any way you can cater to your customer's needs more successfully. Even simply asking how a customer's day is going is a step in the right direction. Showing how much you care about those supporting your business is a key component in building a relationship with them.

Remembering Names: Remembering and using the names of regular customers is important in making them feel special for continually supporting your business. Try making it easier on yourself by rhyming something memorable with their name in your head. Or, focus on your conversation with regular customers, while actively remembering their faces and name while talking to them. Another helpful tip is to repeat their name to yourself. After a little bit of practice - becoming a pro at remembering your customer's names will help in fostering a better connection between yourself and your customer base.

Engaging: Engage with your customers & followers on social media! This is especially important if you are running an online-only business or are not able to interact one on one with your customers every time they purchase a product or service from your business. It's great to make sure that you're responding to comments and any feedback on all social media. Having a strong social media presence, that actually captures the basis of your brand and company values helps customers feel as though they are able to understand and connect with the people running the business - YOU!

Saying Thank You: Thank your customers! Show a little appreciation for those who support your business. Handwrite some thank-you notes to put into your products, or leave these notes with customers after completing a service. Another option is to put a sign up in a visible spot within your business that thanks to your customers for their support. Thanking regular as well as new customers is important as both deserve some recognition for choosing to support your business. Thanking your customers will go a long way in establishing meaningful connections that will keep them coming back.

Spreading The Love: Do your customers own small businesses themselves? Do they volunteer at local organizations, or participate in community events? Give them a shoutout on your social media, offer to put up a flyer for their event, or make a small donation (financial or volunteer your time), to show them that you value them.

Monitoring Your Reputation

Bad reviews can sink a business, so it's always best to stay on top of what people are saying about you. You can do this by setting up Google Alerts -they'll let you know when people mention you so that you'll have a better idea of how you're being perceived, can respond to any issues, and thank your customers for their feedback.

Staying Engaged and Responding to Feedback

Actively managing all of your socials and consistently monitoring & replying to online reviews about your business is a great step in taking control of your online reputation. Focusing on the aesthetics of your social media pages is still a crucial element, but it should be in addition to interacting with your followers and asking for their opinions and what kind of content they would like to see via polls on stories or regular posts on all platforms dedicated to this purpose. Utilizing this information to curate your page’s content to be a direct reflection of what your customer base wants to see from you is key in building successful social media channels that not only add to your online reputation but also drive more customers & traffic to your business!

If there are any negative reviews left on your page, handle them with grace. What really matters in these situations is the way in which you respond to the negative feedback, as it says a lot about the values present in the way that your business is run. Addressing & acknowledging that you have seen the concern, apologizing to the customer for their negative experience and offering a way to discuss the matter further and/or providing a solution for next time are all important areas to cover in your response to negative reviews. By replying in a calm, understanding & helpful manner to negative reviews - you are putting yourself in control of the situation as well as how others will perceive the way that your business responds to negative feedback in a proactive & positive way.

By building relationships with your customer base, monitoring your reputation, staying engaged and monitoring feedback and adjusting your business accordingly you will be able to manage and improve your reputation and relationship with customers online and off! Want to read more on connecting with your customer base? Click here to browse previous posts on an assortment of small business-related topics from our Redefining Barter Blog gallery!