Did your company or business hit a rough patch in the form of a legal issue or social media meltdown? Did you file for bankruptcy or have a hate campaign target you online?
No matter what the issue, taking care of your business image is your number one priority and you’ll need to get it cleaned up and put back out there. But how?
These tips and tricks can help you clean up your image.
Bury It On Google
This one isn’t quick, but it’s effective.
If you can get alternate domains for your business (such as .net and .org), have these redirect to your company page. You won’t have to build up multiple versions of your webpage or have to keep up with more, just have one main site and the rest of them to “mirror” the content.
This will help keep you high in the search engines with content you want people to see. This way you won’t see negative reviews to come up on the first page of Google when they search for your company name.
Encourage and Accentuate Positive Reviews
Keeping a sign or closing a sale with “If you’re happy with us, tell your friends” can help add positive reviews to sites such as Yelp or Angie’s List. If you see positive reviews, thank them for posting and tell them you’re glad they enjoyed their visit.
Don’t engage negative reviews, it will only keep them higher in the site and on Google. If you have a hard time finding reviews of your business, set a Google Alert for your business name and Google will alert you whenever something is posted about you.
Paint and Landscape
It may seem odd, but if you can, put a fresh coat of paint on your business, inside and out. If your business has a small area where there can be landscaping, put in a few brightly colored flowers and some shrubbery. A new face-lift can have a positive effect on how people view your business, it can also create a good feeling as they come in and out of the establishment.
Keep Your PR Positive
Whenever you have a new item, create a stir. Do this by posting to social media and to your company’s blog. Creating press releases that focus on your new innovations and how this benefits the customer can keep your business name higher in the online ranks for good news instead of bad.
Create Discounts
Another way to wash negativity out of customer’s minds? Save them money. Create a discount and let them use it so that they can quickly establish more positive images with your brand. In today’s world of social media where everyone is in front of the public eye, your image is your business’s life blood. Keep troubles at bay, but when you can’t, make sure you clean it up as soon as possible. Ignoring a troubled image will not make it go away.