Reviews - one of the most powerful PR tools there is

Reviews and Public Relations

Whether you conduct your business’s public relations in-house or contract it out to an agency, it is important to see reviews and review management as an integral part of your relationship with your customers, both existing and future.  

It is also important to realise that reviews of your business, especially Google reviews, will be used as a primary source by journalists, bloggers and vloggers alike.

It is so easy for your customers’ reviews to contradict the image that you put so much effort into promoting and maintaining. It is equally easy to harness the power of your happy customers – by turning them into brand advocates through the medium of reviews, it just takes a positive attitude and some know-how. 

A powerful resource

 Any PR messages here? You bet! And these are just two of over sixty similar stories on Google and 150 on the business's own website

A positive presence in reviews makes for a massively credible voice in support of all your public relations and marketing efforts. 

Remember testimonial marketing – that built brands such as Pears Soap and Coca Cola? – reviews are the new testimonials. 

The first impression 

Every search made by a potential customer delivers reviews. Like this…

…or like this…

A measurable impact 

Google reports the impact of reviews, every month, like this…

…so it’s not a case of ‘hit and hope’, you will have proof positive, one way or the other.

Wherefore HelpHound?

HelpHound exists for two reasons: first, to enable businesses to display independently verified reviews on their own websites, like this…

…and, just as importantly, to provide moderation between business and consumer pre-publication, so the likelihood of reviews containing misleading or inaccurate information is minimised, for the benefit of both business and consumer. 

The next step

Speak to Fiona Christie or Karen Hutchings and they will happily discuss the myriad ways reviews can be incorporated into your business's PR strategy.

Oh! And one other important benefit - we'll make sure everything you do is compliant with the CMA rules!

A PR disaster - some lessons to learn

There's probably no way that this Range Rover dealership could have predicted that their customer's story would make the national press...

...but they could have done much more to make sure that it wasn't reinforced by the image that they have allowed their other dissatisfied customers to create online:

Whether it is ignorance or just plain laziness (or maybe even review denial), there's no excuse for allowing your dissatisfied customers to dominate your online reputation in 2017. 

At this point some of you will be thinking 'Maybe this business is just rubbish at customer service'. And you may be right - we don't know the business from Adam. But we do know that Range Rover have very strict customer service guidelines for their dealerships in place - and a product that Clarkson & co have consistently rated very highly, so is likely that they have simply fallen down on their review management.

What should they have done?

They should have adopted a professional review management strategy and engaged with their customers. They currently have eleven reviews on Google - a business like theirs should have a nought added to that figure by 2017, and look a lot more like this:

 
  ...a great score, great reviews and a headline number that cannot be argued with


The effect?

Would be...

•  reassurance

...for their existing customers who read the article and then checked them out online and for prospective customers when this article is returned in search for the future.

Review management - it is all about protecting, and projecting, your hard-won reputation.

HelpHound and the Marketing professions - everyone wins

HelpHound - solving the reviews conundrum for you and your clients - and their customers    
  

 Just a small selection of the hundreds or review sites that businesses and consumers have to contend with. Is it surprising that professional review management has a vital role to play?

HelpHound is not a review site - we are review managers. That means we provide businesses and their advisers with professional review management, that we are your guide through the minefield that is the world of reviews - choosing whichever solution benefits each individual client and their customers, now and for the future.

Reviews - maximising the benefits whilst minimising the disadvantages

The Strand Palace Hotel, one of central London's largest (800 rooms) four star hotels uses HelpHound to host reviews on its own site to encourage direct bookings,helpHound enables the hotel to manage guest issues offline and enhance its rankings and scores across the web

Every business on the planet loves reviews - in theory. It is only when they experience the downsides that they back away - and often disengage altogether.

What can go wrong with reviews? Let's see...

• they can be factually incorrect - or just plain misleading - reviews can be written
• malicious reviews can be posted - by competitors or ex-employees
• human nature and human behaviour on the web - means that an unhappy consumer is an estimated fifteen times more likely to write a review
• a business can engage with a review site, only to find that it's the wrong review site (because it lacks visibility in search, doesn't comply with CMA rules or simply vanishes - Yelp, the biggest reviews site on the planet packed its bags and left the UK last year)

 But when you get it right...

    

Our standard module on a client's website - covering their three branches -and driving enquiries and new business. It could be any kind of business - from accountancy to a zoo - HelpHound adds value for everyone

• reviews drive enquiries
• reviews drive business
• reviews improve staff morale
• reviews form the basis for great PR and marketing
• reviews support advertising

HelpHound's role...

 Two businesses - with very different Google scores. You, even as an experienced marketing professional, will almost certainly be thinking 'Well, I won't be using the one on the left' when the only difference between the two is the one on the right is a HelpHound client

...is to ensure our clients - and their professional advisers - have mechanisms in place to ensure that they make the very best of these positives whilst minimising any negatives.

We will work with you to make sure your clients...

  

Working with Winkworth Plc and Homeflow to ensure maximum impact on their website

• display great credible reviews on their own websites
• go on to deploy those reviews on the sites that give them maximum visibility

 When Winkworth became clients their average branch had 2 Google reviews and - self-evidently - none on their own site. These now feed through to organic search - top left (with star rating directly derived from their HelpHound verified reviews) and under 'Reviews from the web' in the knowledge panel. All the 41 Google reviews are thanks to HelpHound - and the important rich snippets are gleaned from them by Google

Whilst...

• enabling them to manage all the 'disadvantages' through our Resolution™ mechanism

  

 All good businesses - whether large (Greene & Co - part of Countrywide Plc) or a small independent (like Sussex Oven Cleaning) benefit from professional review management

In addition...

   combine your design with HelpHound's software and professional expertise

• by using our API you and your client have full design control and flexibility - to show verified reviews on your clients' websites, in the locations you choose and with design to complement their branding