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Targeted by fake reviews

April 22nd 2021 / Marketing Strategies

Author: LOUISE CRANSTONE

Has your business been targeted by fake reviews?

Sadly, more and more organisations are being targeted by fake and negative online reviews. These can be hugely damaging to brand reputation and have an adverse impact on sales.

Fortunately, there are ways you can fight back.

Should you respond to a false negative review?

Absolutely. You should do all you can to get a false review removed. However, your approach should be professional and not confrontational.

Different platforms have different policies when it comes to managing reviews. If your business is listed in a directory, it’s best to check how their review policy is managed.

Google has a reporting process to deal with fake reviews. But it can be a long process, and perseverance is required to get a fake review removed.

Other review sites have a more stringent policy when it comes to reviewing. Yell has a policy whereby they’ll contact the reviewer and request evidence that the review is true. If they don’t get a response, then they’ll remove that review.

Checkatrade is a platform that verifies reviews. Therefore, if a negative review is reported, they’ll give a business the chance to respond before publishing that review live. Many trade checker sites work in a similar way, so they can protect the rights of the businesses that list with them.

Replace negative reviews with positive ones

The most effective response to negative reviews is to replace or dilute them with as many positive reviews as possible. This will weaken the impact of any adverse comments.

If your business doesn’t have much history or previous reviews on a platform, then one option is to delete that profile and create a new one. If that’s not an option, and you’ve been unsuccessful in having a negative review removed, then you need to build up a portfolio of positive reviews.

At Whizz Marketing, we’re experts in boosting brand image and company messaging across the web. Our tactics can help you turn your business profile around and restore your reputation and credibility.

Reinforce your positive image

At Whizz, we offer personalised, dedicated, and cost-effective marketing support.

A Google ad campaign is a very effective way of gaining Google Page 1 visibility for the keywords that are most important to your business, driving highly targeted traffic to your website which will increase conversion rates.

A remarketing campaign is a great way to re-engage with people who have previously interacted with your business via your website or mobile app.  We can strategically position your ads to these potential customers as they browse online. Your ads are shown to a pre-defined audience across the Google Search and Display Networks and on social networking sites.

Both of these campaigns will help increase brand awareness, reinforcing a positive brand image, and will drive highly targeted new & existing customers to your website.

Enhance your local reputation

While the internet connects you with customers anywhere in the world, investing in a Local SEO & Marketing Strategy will help to get your business in front of people right on your doorstep.

With an optimised Google My Business profile and some location targeting applied to your website it won’t be long before you will see some local leads coming through.

As well as driving targeted local traffic to your website, there’s still a place for traditional marketing methods when targeting a local audience and a combined approach of Local SEO and local marketing is the most effective.

A good starting point is to connect with people in your local area. ‘On your doorstep’ marketing tactics such as repeated exposure of your brand through local advertising can be highly effective as well as supporting community and charity events in the local area.

Local marketing strategies may include advertising in local free papers and magazines, leaflet distribution as well as getting some brand exposure in high footfall areas such as shopping centres.  Depending on your sector, you could also consider getting some brand exposure in GP surgeries, dentists, hospitals and other public buildings.

Whizz can research your local area to find opportunities. Using this information, we’ll create a local targeted marketing strategy that will put you on the map.

Transform the image of your business

Whizz Marketing is a local SEO company in Hook Hampshire who can get your business back on track.

Call us on 01256 229073 to find out more.

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