What you need to know
Google has changed how websites and Google Business Profile listings (formerly Google Places / Google My Business) are ranked and displayed. Some listings now show a reputation score, zero to five stars, while others show no score and no reviews at all. If your business depends on winning new local customers, a strong score is no longer optional.
Put yourself in your prospect's shoes. They run a local search, look at the results, and decide who to contact. Are they calling the company with a 5-star rating, the one sitting at 3 stars, or the one with no rating at all? Almost every time, the 5-star listing gets the call.
Reputation marketing or reputation management?
We do reputation marketing, not reputation management. One is proactive; the other is reactive. Management waits for a bad review and then scrambles. Marketing builds a steady habit of earning genuine 5-star reviews so the occasional bad one barely registers.
If your listing has no rating or a low score, we can usually help turn it around. But our main focus is helping companies reach, and hold, a 5-star rating. If you're already there, don't take it for granted: a 5-star reputation is one bad review away from being in jeopardy.
The work goes beyond monitoring and reporting. We help you build a 5-star culture in the business and show your whole team how to ask for and earn more 5-star reviews. It applies to any size and almost any type of company, retailer, service business, or multinational. Your online reputation is often the deciding factor in whether a customer calls you or your competitor.
Ranking on the first page of Google local is only half the job. If your reputation is below 5 stars, first-page visibility is just advertising a weak reputation to more people. If that sounds harsh, it's meant to, these changes have caught a lot of businesses off guard.
To find out more about reputation marketing and how we can help your company earn and keep a 5-star rating, call Ken Wells at (647) 405-6711 or use our contact form. You can also read about our Google Business Profile and local SEO services.