(Newswire.net — January 8, 2015) The Dalles, Oregon — In a recent survey conducted by Verizon, in conjunction with Small Business Trends, 85% of small business owners stated that “Word of Mouth” or referrals are their best source of new customers. A decade ago the answer was the same. In 2005 83% of businesses surveyed claimed referrals to be number one source of new customers.
A 2011 Neilson Global Trust survey found that 92% trusted recommendations from people they know. Referrals are more trusted than websites, TV ads and even newspaper articles according to the survey.
Since “Word of Mouth” marketing is the most trusted source of information for customers (92%) and most relied on by business owners (85%), we asked, “Why isn’t every business that offer quality products and service growing like gang busters?”
Brad Harmon, founder of U B All U R Business Solutions, a leader in Reputation Marketing, discovered one probable answer and has developed a solution. “I learned the hard way the value of an online reputation,” he began. “About 4 years ago, a client hired me to do some online marketing for them; a website, some SEO, Google Maps, Social Media, etc. Within a few months the business was dominating its keywords for the local market in the search engine results. Traffic to the website was up, likes and follows on social media were growing. Things are good, right?”
“Then I get the call. ‘Sales are down. Foot traffic to the store has dropped by half. This internet marketing stuff doesn’t work,’ he yelled. ‘You’re fired!’ That was a wakeup call.
“I went online to see what was happening and discovered 17 bad reviews about this business, all posted in the last 90 days. Turns out that an unhappy assistant manager was taking it out on the customers and crew when the owner wasn’t around and the results were showing up as negative online reviews and scaring customers away.
“Within a few days of this experience,” Harmon continued, “I received a call from a plumber in a large metropolitan city. He told me he’d spent thousands of dollars putting logos and phone numbers on his new trucks, wasted thousands more on bill boards, radio and newspaper ads, but could not grow his business. He wanted to try internet marketing and was begging me for help.
“I did a Google search while I had him on the phone and found 9 terrible reviews. I started reading them to him. ‘Tracked mud in the house, swears like a sailor, greasy hand prints on white walls.’ Before I could finish, he shouted out, ‘I fired that guy over a year ago and he’s still costing me business!’ All of his adverting was driving people to the internet to find his phone number, and the bad reviews had them calling the other guys. No advertising, including word of mouth, will work if you have a poor online reputation.
“People are 3 times more likely to leave a bad review than a good one,” Harmon explained. “All it takes is for someone on the team to have a human moment and you’ve got a bad reputation online. Most businesses lack a system for collecting feedback from their clients, let alone a strategy to encourage positive reviews online.
“We’ve discovered that almost 90% of referrals go online to get information about the business referred: phone numbers, address, business hours. But what’s the first thing they see? The businesses’ online reputation. And since 79% of potential customers trust online reviews as much as a referral from friends and family they look to validate the referral with online reviews.
“Most small business professionals claim they don’t have time to monitor reviews, let alone repair or build their online reputation. Reputation Marketing should be a top priority for every business.”
Do you know what being said about your business? Learn more about your online reputation here
U B All U R Business Solutions is offering a new service for 2015, Online Review Branding Commercial. They have offered reputation marketing solutions for years and are taking it to the next level, combining the power of Review Marketing + Video Marketing + Company Branding and have created one product. To learn more, claim your complimentary Reputation Report @ http://MyReputationOnlineReviewSites.com
Sources:
http://MyReputationOnlineReviewSites.com
http://smallbiztrends.com/2014/06/small-businesses-get-customers-through-word-of-mouth.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reputation_marketing
About U B All U R Business Solutions
U B All U R is a leader in digital marketing. Our primary focus is your most valuable asset – Your Online Reputation. We offer the tools and service for: Reputation Marketing to attract more customers. Press Releases and Video marketing to build authority in your marketplace. New for 2015: Online Review Branding Commercials the power of digital marketing.