The

Marketing Revolution

How To Survive

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By Carroll Burritt
The Online Reputation Pros

Executive Summary
In the last few years a silent, steady revolution has turned traditional marketing principles upside
down, rendering most of the tried and true strategies, that used to work reliably, into a blatant
waste of money.
The biggest danger, however, is not in the marketing dollars you may be wasting right now. The
biggest danger is that youre ignoring the one form of marketing that can literally determine
whether your business flourishes of fails in the next few years.
What is this essential new form of marketing?
Its called Reputation Marketing, and it is the literal key to your success in the years to come.
Briefly, it is the integration of Reputation Management with Brand Marketing to adapt to these
revolutionary changes in the marketplace.

I know this is a bold claim and I encourage you to remain skeptical as you continue reading the
compelling reasons why this is indisputably true. Youll also discover why the traditional media,
which makes its revenue from the traditional methods of marketing, is not telling the whole story
about this marketing revolution.
Another way of understanding Reputation Marketing is that it leverages the communication
power of the Internet to multiply old fashioned referrals by pubishing them as reviews. Heres
how Referrals compare to Reviews.

2014 Carroll Burritt

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Lets Get Personal

In a moment well look at the statistical proof for this marketing revolution.
However Im sure youve observed the signs of it in your own recent buying decisions, and in
the behavior of those close to you.
Ask yourself these questions:
Would you purchase a product or service that has several bad user reviews online?
If one product has 2 good and 3 bad user reviews, while another product has 11 good reviews,
which one would you choose?
The answers are obvious, but the implications for your business may be shocking.
The Rise of Social Proof
User reviews are now found all over the web. And many are anonymous. They are everywhere;
on shopping sites from Amazon to Zappos, on dedicated review sites like Yelp and Foursquare
and on the your business Google+ page.
Even if you never asked for a Google+ page, your business very likely has one. And incorrect
information on that page may be hurting your business. Did you know that any Google user can
alter the information on YOUR page, even your competitors.1
Any person who wants to can now leave a negative, even a nasty review, about your business
online, anonymously; a demanding customer, a disgruntled employee or even a devious
competitor.
They can say whatever they want: terrible service... staff is rude... food is tasteless...
overcharged for the service... this place is a rip-off... dont trust this business...
Those poor reviews remain permanently online, shouting to the whole world, Your business
sucks! or Dont trust these guys! Even when they are false or fraudulent reviews.
Its totally unfair! Its frustrating! Its infuriating!
Bad reviews deter new customers, undermine staff morale and reduce the overall market value of
your business or franchise. They can deeply damage or even destroy your business.2
But this is the new reality and it is here to stay.

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The question you need to ask is, What can I do about it? The answer is A lot!

Youve Lost Control of Your Reputation

You used to have at least a first chance to make a first impression! You, or your agency, could
carefully craft the image you wanted to show to the market. Not anymore.
The fact is, The Revolution has come. Slowly, silently it creeped up on all of us until today the
future of your business is literally in the hands of an anonymous crowd, unless you
proactively take control of your online reputation.
If you dont youll be vulnerable to the unscrupulous anarchy that now rules online marketing.
Getting upset wont change anything.
Only a well planned and executed strategy
can give you back control of your valuable
reputation!
First, you need to educate yourself about
the problem, and then develop a solution.
The best practice is to implement a proven
battle plan to create a comprehensive
strategy to protect your business and build
the most valuable asset your business can
have today, a 5 Star Reputation.
But first you need to understand the rules of the Post Revolution Marketplace so you can make
the best investment of your limited marketing dollars.

The New Rules of Marketing Your Business

Consumers dont trust marketing messages anymore, or certainly not as much as they trust
anonymous social reviews posted by other (supposed) customers.
According to the Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising survey, consumers trust online reviews
more than any form of advertising/marketing you can do, including editorial coverage in media
and press releases.

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FACT: 70% of consumers trust online reviews when making a purchase decision, second
only to personal recommendations, according to Nielsens Global Trust In Advertising Survey
Q3, 2011. Only 58% trust branded websites and media endorsements.
FACT: On average, consumers look up 10 reviews online before making a buying decision.
They will trust a business that has 6-10 positive reviews and are thus ready to do business
when they call or walk in.
What do these statistics mean to your business? Simple.
You need to take control of your online reputation, and you need to do it now.
Still not convinced? Here are more reasons.
The online search engines (think Google) know what consumers want and now can deliver
reviews of your business in every category of search results including websites, local maps
results, even paid ads results. (Note: search results will vary depending on several factors.)
In other words, you can no longer control your marketing message by using these traditional
forms of marketing.
All the money you spend on advertising and marketing will be totally wasted until you create a
5 Star Reputation online.
Why wasted? Because most consumers who see your ads will immediately search Google for
your business name + city and read what your customers (and competitors?) say about you.
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You may be thinking that many prospective customers wont be going online to look for reviews
before calling you. Think again,
Researchers at Real Strategic asked over 350 subjects, When a business is referred to you, what
do you do next?
The vast majority, 87%, said they went online to search for the companys information.

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After searchers find the company information:

52% search for online reviews of the company
35% go to the company website and
13% look for a social media (Facebook or Twitter) page for the company.
These results make it very clear precisely where you should be investing your marketing dollars
firstyou need to build a 5 Star Reputation. It is undeniable.
Today consumers are skeptical of all forms of marketing and they want social proof in the
form of a critical mass of positive online reviews. Whatever claims you make they will check
out against your online reputation.
If they cant find any reviews of your business they will continue to look for another business
with at least 6-10 good reviews. And they will choose that business every time.
This is the new social reality of online, and offline marketing.
The good news is many of your competitors have not yet caught on to whats happening. Many
have not yet even claimed their Google+ page, which is an essential first step in taking control of
your online reputation.
This means you can turn this situation into your competitive advantage if you act quickly. How?

The Reputation Marketing Solution How To Get More Customers

The Reputation Marketing Solution is a carefully planned strategy to build you a 5 Star
Reputation and then robustly market that reputation to get you more customers.
This solution leverages the social proof and free publicity of online review sites to attract new
customers to your business.
There are four phases to turning this new reality to your advantage. First I will list them and then
describe each step in detail.
Read carefully because this will be your strategic plan to bulletproof your business in the new
Reputation Marketplace!
Here are the four phases:
1. Accurately assess your current online reputation and create a reputation culture
within your business by training all your staff in Reputation Marketing.
2. Proactively build a 5 Star Reputation for your business online.
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3. Market your 5 Star Reputation all over the Internet and in local media.
4. Monitor and maintain your 5 Star Reputation.
(Note: While it is important you understand these steps, dont worry about how to implement
them right now. You can request a complimentary strategy session in which we describe in
exacting detail precisely how you can do this yourself.)
1. Assess your current online reputation....
Normally this would require hours searching through review sites for any negative reviews of
your company as well as checking your listing on the relevant directory sites for your business.
However, we know how valuable your time is so we have made this step easy for you.
Go to ReputationAuditReport.com and enter your email and the official phone number of your
business. You will immediately receive a full Reputation Audit Report describing in detail the
current state of your online reputation. There is no charge for this report.
Your detailed Reputation Audit Report will show you where to immediately focus your attention
by showing the review site listings for your business that you need to claim, beginning with
your Google+ business page. Here is a sample of an actual report.

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Notice that 50% of the listings for this business on review sites are unclaimed. This is a big
mistake, especially ignoring the Google listing.
To claim means to confirm that you are the owner/manager of your business on the site being
claimed. This is very important because it gives you the ability to respond to reviews. You can
thank customers for positive reviews and explain your side when reviewers criticize your
business.
64% of consumers say they would avoid a business that has negative online reviews, but 56% of
those same consumers look favorably on a business that responds to those negative reviews.
Once you have claimed all your listings youll need to educate your staff about the importance of
providing 5 Star Service and then requesting new reviews from your customers..
It is essential to get the buy-in and cooperation of every staff member because you will always be
just one dissatisfied customer away from a bad review, which really hurts your business.
We have created a very efficient solution for our clients that frees up all of their time to attend to
other responsibilities. We provide a dedicated online training program that monitors each
employees participation. Heres how it works.
Each employee is given a unique access code to their personal online training classroom. There
they are guided through a series of video tutorials, and intermittently tested to make sure they
grasp the importance of maintaining a 5 Star Reputation for your business.
As the owner, you can access the study records and test results of each staff member to ensure
your entire team buys into your new 5 Star Performance culture.
When you have claimed your listings and trained your staff you will be ready to launch your 5
Star Reputation campaign.
2. Create a 5 Star Reputation
In this phase your staff will proactively encourage your many satisfied customers to post a
positive review of their experience online. Most will be happy to do so when they are asked and
provided with a simple and easy way to do so.
To make it easy for your staff to request reviews from your customers you can use:
in store signs
waiting room notices

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 table top cards and menu notices

postcards
emails
appointment cards
etc.
However, Ill share with you two crucial ninja strategies our customers use to take complete
control of their online reputation.
First we create a mobile review app for our clients which they install on an Android tablet. They
can then install the tablet in a handy location such as a waiting room, or even hand the tablet to
the client as they ask for a review while the customer is most satisfied with your service.
Second, we do not initially direct the client to a public review site to leave a review. Instead, our
clients send them to a Private Review Page which we create for their business. This enables us to
monitor each review and intercept any negative reviews before they become public. We then
send an alert immediately to our client, notifying them they have a less than satisfied customer so
they can follow up right away to make the situation right.
Customers who leave a positive review are immediately redirected to various public review sites
so they can easily copy and paste their review into a public forum.
Your Review Campaign will continue as long as you are in business, creating an ever
increasing number of positive reviews which very quickly positions you as the leader in your
local market.
Furthermore, this is the only way you can overcome negative reviews. You cannot have them
removed but you can drown them in a flood of positive reviews.
To encourage our clients staff we analyze their overall Online Reputation Score each month and
calculate the number of reviews they need to reach a 5 Star Reputation. This gives them a target
to aim for and thus they are able to measure their performance.
3. Market Your 5 Star Reputation
Even as you are building a solid 5 Star Reputation you can begin to promote it. We syndicate our
clients 5 Star Reviews far and wide across the web so they will be found everywhere, including:
live streaming onto the clients website
on their Google+ business page (very important)
on their social media sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter)
on image sharing sites (Pinterest, Photobucket)
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 on video hosting sites (Youtube, Daily Motion and others)

in their customer emails
in store or in office signs, and window signs
and other forms of promotion appropriate to your type of business
A 5 Star Reputation attracts new customers and instills pride in everyone associated with your
business. It becomes easier to attract and keep the best employees as well as great customers. It
is also the most valuable longterm asset you can build for your business.
However, one bad review can do untold damage unless neutralized by a continual flow of
positive reviews. Thats why youll need to pay daily attention to your reputation.
4. Manage Your 5 Star Reputation
Constant vigilance is necessary to maintain your 5 Star Reputation after youve built it.
You need to monitor all major review sites daily for negative reviews, and respond
appropriately if you find any.
As the Business Owner you should receive biweekly reports of all reviews received. (For
Franchisors and Owners of multiple branches, location specific reports are essential to pinpoint
problems and prevent them from damaging other branches.)
Continue to post incoming 5 Star Reviews on your website and all the sites mentioned above,
thereby maintaining your 5 Star Reputation.

Lets Review
The rise of social review sites has taken away even your first chance to make a first
impression. Online reviews will pass judgement on your business even before prospective
customers have a personal experience of your service.
No other form of marketing works anymore unless, and until, you have a 5 Star Reputation.
Youre throwing your money away. The most urgent need to insure the future success of your
business is to take control of the online conversation about your business that is going on right
now.
Facts To Remember
70% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
buyers on average look at 10 reviews before making their decision
you need between 6 - 10, 5 Star Reviews to be trusted by consumers
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business increases by up to 19% with a 1/2 star improvement in a Yelp business rating
87% of prospective customers search online for information about a referral they receive
52% of those people then search for online reviews about that company before calling
your online reputation determines the results of every other form of marketing today
Your Reputation Marketing Strategy Overview
Here are the 4 big steps you need to take to take advantage of this revolution in the market:
1. Accurately assess your current online reputation and educate your staff about the importance
of building a 5 Star Reputation.
2. Build your 5 Star Reputation for your business online.
3. Market your 5 Star Reputation proactively.
4. Maintain your 5 Star Reputation with constant monitoring.
It is not rocket science and if you have the skilled staff and the time to do this yourself you
could do this. Heres exactly how we do it for our clients.

Your Exact Step-By-Step Blueprint

Audit Your Current Online Reputation & Directory Status*
Register & Claim Your Business Listings On All Relevant Directory & Review Sites
Personally Train And Test All Your Staff Members On The Importance of Reputation
Develop Specific Tools ( Onsite Mobile App, Professionally Designed Print Material,
Email Templates, etc.) For Your Staff To Use To Get Reviews Fast
Create Professionally Designed Survey And Feedback Pages To Collect & Filter Reviews
Stream Reviews To Your Website and Blog
Daily Post Your 5 Star Reviews To Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn & Twitter
Create Professional Review Images For Daily Syndication To Pinterest & Photobucket
Create & Broadcast Monthly Video Review Commercials
Monitor Review Sites Daily & Alert You On New Reviews Immediately
Create Monthly Reputation & Feedback Analysis Reports [Reinforce Staff Performance]
This is a comprehensive plan to build you a strong 5 Star Reputation and thereby position you as
a leader in your local market.
If you dont want to take this on yourself, help is available.

2014 Carroll Burritt

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Your Turnkey Solution

If you feel overwhelmed with the amount of work required and confused as to where to start,
thats understandable. If youre thinking that it will take a lot of work to learn how to implement
the 4 Steps To Creating A 5 Star Reputation you are absolutely correct.
Its fair to say that it will require one person dedicated full time to handle all these tasks, if
youre able to find a person who has these skills.
If you now understand the importance of building a 5 Star Reputation and of taking control of
the fate of your business, you may be interested in a fast-track option to get your complete
program up and running within the next 30 days.
If so, you can ask us to prepare a detailed proposal to provide you with all of the services listed
above at a fraction of the salary of a full time employee.
Call us today at (226) 400-1905 to request your free half hour online Strategy Consultation. This
will enable you to assess whether we are a good fit for your needs and allow us to determine
whether your business is a good fit for our services. We are a small agency by choice and
provide a very high level of client service so we are careful to select only clients we feel
confident are a good fit.
There is no obligation for this Strategy Consultation and you will leave with a better
understanding of your options.
(Disclaimer: During your Strategy Consultation we will be assessing at your current online
reputation. We know only too well that good businesses can end up with negative reviews, often
through no fault of their own. (See footnote 2) We are committed to helping these businesses
repair the damage caused by such reviews. That being said, we will not work with any company
which has a bad reputation because of unethical practices or a blatant disregard for the ethical
service of their customers. We are not a Public Relations firm. We do Reputation Marketing.)

2014 Carroll Burritt

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Footnotes
1. A restaurant owner in the United States is suing Google for an incorrect Google Maps listing,
which he claims led to a sudden decline in customers and forced him to shut his business down.

The Serbian Crown restaurant had been operating for almost 40 years in a wealthy suburb in
Virginia. But in early 2012 the restaurant suffered a 75% drop in customers on the weekend.
The owner, Rene Bertagna, claims he was forced to lay off staff and eventually had to close the
Serbian Crown in April 2013 as a result of the incorrect listing. Bertagna believes the restaurants
Google Places listing was sabotaged and claims Google did not do enough to verify the changes.
He says he had never used the internet or Google Maps and so was initially unaware of the
problem with the Serbian Crowns listing. Google Maps incorrectly listed The Serbian Crown as
shut over the weekend and Monday, which were previously the restaurants busiest days and kept
it profitable.
Bertagna claims the problem is that anyone with a Google+ account can submit a change to any
detail of a Google+ Local page, whether verified or not, including the listed website address,
phone number, physical address or name of the place.
Users can also mark the place as closed, as a duplicate or flag inappropriate reviews or photos.
2. 2,045 complaints have been filed with the US Federal Trade Commission against Yelp,
accusing the company of posting false negative reviews (anonymous) and hiding positive
reviews of businesses that decline to purchase a $500 monthly promotional package. You need
to constantly protect your reputation as if your business depends on it, because it does!

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About The Author

Carroll Burritt is CEO of The Online Reputation Pros and Executive
Producer with its online broadcast division, LocalReviews-TV.com.
After a diverse career that has included print and website design,
copywriting and video production I now focus exclusively on
Reputation Marketing for a very strategic reason.
As the popularity of Social Media and Review sites grew, I noticed the
decline in ROI of conventional marketing strategies for businesses who
were not proactively building a 5 Star Reputation.
While Reputation Management is now a commodity service, there are few providers of a robust
shock and awe Reputation Marketing campaign that can propel a business into a position of
leadership in their local market very quickly. This is the service we provide our clients.
As Peter Drucker pointed out many years ago, Because the purpose of a business is to create a
customer, a business has twoand only twobasic functions: marketing and innovation.
Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing,
unique function of the business.
And what is more unique to a business than its online reputation?
Building a 5 Star Reputation is building an enduring asset for a business, and vigorously
marketing that 5 Star Reputation is the most effective way for a business to get new customers
today.
Reputation Marketing is simply Referral Marketing that leverages the communication power of
the Internet to gain exponential results. It is really the obvious evolution of the most solid and
proven marketing strategy of all time.
When you grasp this, it is obvious why it is the most effective investment of your marketing
dollars you can make.
For me, the most rewarding aspect of my work is helping really good, customer focused
businesses, and their owners, sort through the overwhelming confusion of marketing options
available today, and focus on building the one value, and the one message, that is timeless and
enduring; a 5 Star Reputation earned by providing genuine 5 Star Customer Service.
And then shouting it from the rooftops for all to hear!

2014 Carroll Burritt

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