F E AT U R E Why Online Reputation Management Matters for Construction Companies and How to Engage with Your Customers by Judyann Sonido, Thrive Internet Marketing Agency
From a global pandemic to economic unrest, many construction companies have struggled to stay afloat during the past years. Construction projects have been greatly impacted by worker shortages, delays, soaring material costs and stoppages, causing a significant decline in optimism among contractors and distributors. As the construction industry struggles to deal with costly challenges, the last thing any business owner needs is a damaged online reputation. This particular challenge is bound to hamper your projects and stretch your resources even thinner. Online reputation management (ORM) is a critical component of building and maintaining a successful business. Unfortunately, it’s something that construction companies neglect, thinking that reputation management serves only as damage control. After all, why invest in ORM services when you’ve already got a stellar brand reputation, right? But the reality is: Construction reputation management is more than just reputation repair. It’s about building and maintaining a positive brand image, protecting your digital presence and proactively engaging in online conversations about your brand to stay in control of your reputation. With this broader perspective of construction reputation management, find out why day-to-day management of your brand reputation is crucial to your long-term success.
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C O N T R A C T O R ’ S
Construction Reputation Management: Maximizing Your Digital Resources To Build Customer Loyalty Contractors are only as good as their mistakes. One error can undo thousands of hours of hard work and years of good reputation. Incidents like delayed project fulfillments, ill-disciplined staff and poor customer service can cause disgruntled clients to leave negative reviews online, which can spread like wildfire across the web and taint your reputation. This is why it’s critical to have a systematic brand reputation management system in place. With a holistic construction reputation management plan, you can:
• Protect Your Digital Real Estate The Edelman Trust Barometer shows 65 percent of consumers rely on search engines when researching a business. As the modern clientele becomes more digitally focused and technology savvy, you need a reputation management strategy to ensure your digital assets deliver enough value to your prospects. Construction reputation management combines search engine optimization (SEO) and ORM best practices to safeguard your digital properties. These include your website, social media platforms and Google Business Profiles. SEO and ORM strategically combined work together to protect your brand from negative customer reviews and malicious information that could lower your search rankings and tarnish your digital presence.
C O M P A S S
• Gain Higher Trust A BrightLocal study found that nearly 3 out of 4 consumers trust a company with positive reviews more so than one without. What’s more, 60 percent of prospects reveal that negative reviews discourage them from transacting with service providers. By implementing tailored reputation management strategies, you get more happy clients to write a resounding review of your construction business. And with more positive reviews come clients who will actively reach out to your construction company and seek you to price their project.
• Grow Your Network Whether you’re aiming to expand your client base, attract top talents or win new projects and investors, construction reputation management is important to achieve your goals. Everyone from homeowners looking to build residential properties to businesses expanding their facilities prefers contractors with lots of positive reviews. If they don’t see positive online reviews or relevant content about your company, they’ll skip your brand and choose your competition. On the other hand, construction firms with excellent online reputations will attract the right people and close higher-value projects.
• Rectify Your Mistakes Even the most successful construction companies come across dissatisfied clients that can quickly turn into brand haters when not properly dealt with. Through
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