How to handle a negative review

Nearly a quarter of small and mid-size businesses monitor reviews.

Some use Brandify, a free service launched by Microsoft, paid reputation management companies or Google searches to show Yelp, Angie’s List and other major sites.

Because dissatisfied customers tend to tell more people than satisfied ones do, getting a negative review can be hard.

Use complaints for quality control.

If you can access the person, contact them and offer to “make good”.

Then, ask them to write a good review that says what you did to fix the problem and remove the bad one, if possible.

Most people will be impressed that you were willing to go the extra mile for them and will be happy to comply.   

Angie’s List says they will contact the reviewer and investigate if a business complains about an unwarranted review.

Ask all satisfied customers to give reviews to balance—or even bury—the less-than-glowing ones.

Reviews are not as important if businesses have a website, a blog and social media to create ongoing stream of good press.

For more information, contact us at www.dellrichards.com.

The Internet for research and fun...

How long has it been since you picked up a Yellow Pages to find a phone number or used an encyclopedia to do research?

If it’s been more than a year, join the club.

Wikipedia’s main search page had nearly 280 million hits in December 2012 and that’s not counting people like me who google the subject, scan what’s available and usually click the Wikipedia page.

In fact, there are nearly 700,000 Google searches every minute.

Which is nothing compared to, 2.8 million emails sent every second.

But more than 10.5 million pictures uploaded to Facebook every hour.

When you say that of the 2.4 billion Internet users every day, 172 million of them visit Facebook, it sounds like a lot, but it’s a small percentage.  

Still, 400 million people post tweets on Twitter, every day, the most-read ones being about entertainment.

It’s been less than 20 years since the Internet took off.

In the next 20, maybe the phone book dropped at the door will be just a memory.     

For more information, contact Dell Richards Publicity at (916) 455-4790 or visit our website at www.dellrichards.com.

The Internet means interaction

A client recently told us someone posted a video on YouTube of their event without telling them.

While pleased they got the extra mileage, they were wary that they hadn’t been able to control the information.

This brings up two points, tracking and the nature of the Internet.

For tracking with Google, keywords need to be broad enough to include your company when the name isn’t complete.

To filter out unwanted info, negative keywords also can be set up.

That said, companies spend tons of time and money creating platforms to get people involved.

Look at the Ford Motor Co. Facebook page.

People post photos of their cars and trucks—and more than half a million “like” Ford.

Posts about the company on the Internet are what most businesses want.

The only way to control what’s out there is if no one cares—and that’s the last thing anyone wants.

For more information, call Dell Richards Publicity at 916-455-4790 or visit us online at www.dellrichards.com.

How do you get your clients?

You know what works if you track your marketing by asking new clients where they heard of you.

Because we’ve worked hard at satisfying clients in different sectors over the years, we’ve created a network of past clients who send us referrals.

Clients also come from vendor lists and websites that have our information.

Some come from this blog or articles published years ago.

Some find us on the Google, like the look of our website and call us.

A few come from people we actively cultivate and people we have asked for referrals. When business slows, we turn to friends and colleagues.

Enough business usually comes in after making a few calls, there’s rarely time to complete this ongoing list.

Does this mean we should spend more time on growing the business?

Maybe, but not necessarily.

As long as we’re satisfying our clients and doing enough marketing to keep busy, we believe enough work will come to will keep us happy—and sane.

For more information, call us at 916. 455.4790 or contact us through our website at http://www.dellrichards.com/