Getting Power Reviewers to do Local Reviews for your business
November 4, 2008
This week has been very interesting from an online review perspective. MarketingVox introduced an article about how blogs strongly influence purchasing decisions (based on Jupiter research) and Rubicon Consulting shared a study that suggested 9% of Internet users produce 80% of all user-generated content. Putting both of those articles together means there is a small group of internet users that every business owner needs to meet, love and impress to get reviews and blog posts about their business.
I’ve said this many times but Local Internet Marketing and e-commerce are not that different. Both want sales and both require blogs, search engines, reviews and everything else to be found. It’s very similar to the Porn industry paving the way for online marketing tactics used by businesses today (only not as dirty and you can tell your mom about your business).
Some ideas for finding and/or creating reviewers for your business and finding the time to seek out the reviewers is why more and more local businesses are going to need help maximizing their online marketing plan. The average small business owner works too many hours on their business to devote to online (but finding the time to devote to online is worth every lost hour of sleep!)
Creating a YouTube channel for your business (ie: Will It Blend? or Mercedes C300) and actually using it. Creating a Google Profile for your business and actually using it. Creating a business profile and asking people to rate your service. All are great ways to create opportunities for people to rate your service. The next option is do a little research and email those people you see rating your competition and inviting them to your store.
Power bloggers are constantly being sent free products to blog about because major companies want them to be honest with their viewers. Ethical bloggers announce that they were gifted the items and then share their honest opinions. The same holds true for local bloggers. Would a “discount for a review” offer at your local store be worth it? Do you have loyal customers you could just ask to write a review? What kinds of strategies have you used?
Entry Filed under: Local Internet Marketing, Long Term Value, SEO, Small Business Tips. Tags: blog reviews, getting reviews, local business reviews, small business marketing tips.
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1.
Alex McArthur | November 11, 2008 at 10:38 pm
One of the simplest ways to kindly lead customer to review your business is to provide them with a simple guide on how to effectively do it. Provide instructions in a newsletter, in an automated email after a purchase, on your website, etc.
Do they even know how or where to review you? Why is it important?
Explain how and offer up a few prominent review sites (hint: mix up the reviews sites you recommend as opportunities continue to present themselves to get broader distribution). Let them know that you appreciate them taking the time to do so. A simple “thank you” goes a long way.
2.
Eric | February 9, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Great information. I’ll have to try this out, I think it would work well.