Starting a business is an exciting but challenging venture. Post pandemic, the UK’s start-up economy is booming with opportunity, innovation, and potential. However, it’s also fraught with all sorts of risks. While it can be daunting to take that initial leap of faith, jumping into the deep end of the start-up swimming pool can be less unnerving once you fully understand and comprehend the risks.
Although you may understand the importance of adequate funding and the primary financial backing, what you should also be asking yourself is ‘how do I successfully engage my target audience and get my message out there?’
Developing an effective reputation takes time and detailed planning, but once those wheels are in motion, they drive the business towards success, regardless of what that business may be.
Let’s look at the facts. Currently, there are about 543,000 start-ups launched each month. Approximately 70% of these do not survive more than two years, half do not exceed five years, while one-third fail to pass the ten-year milestone. Only 25% of these survive beyond 15 years. These figures are not intended to deter you from launching your startup, but to rather evoke thought about how you can innovate your operations to not become ‘just another statistic’.
When you first start your business, the reputation of your brand lies as a blank canvas. There will be no negative Yelp, Yahoo!, or Google reviews, no pushbacks from disgruntled customers on social media, nor any measurable traffic on your site.
This neutral period is not designed to last, nor should you want it to, as the sooner you receive positive customer feedback, the harder it will be for any negative reviews to trickle in and weigh down your star ratings.
From LegUP’s experience of working with start-ups, nothing majorly adverse is going to hit you in the beginning stages, so this is the optimum time to direct your focus to achieve your main objectives — brand reputation building and establishing as many positive associations as possible.
To do this you need to be asking yourself —
What is it you want to be best known for?
What are your business objectives? What kind of a brand do you want to build?
How do you want to be perceived by the public? How can I ensure I am successful in fulfilling these motives?
It’s simple, look to LegUP to help you find the answers and implement the necessary actions.
What are your thoughts on optimising your website?
Potential customers need to be able to find you; therefore, your site must be optimised with SEO-friendly tags that allow you to rank highly in search engine results. Little or no attention paid to online ranking could be the nail in the coffin of your brand. New and relevant content should also be published on your website regularly and with LegUP’s vast network, it is possible to absorb the limelight from postings on other third-party sites too.
How are you going to use social media?
Using every social media platform out there is simply not necessary, nor is it time or resource-efficient. LegUP can advise you on which are the most effective and relevant platforms to utilise in order to reach your target consumers and can recommend related domains that could aid in broadening your consumer base. Choosing specific and correct platforms allows you to see how your audience responds to your brand and enables you to make necessary adaptions to fit your target consumers, thus building a more robust reputation.
Have you considered blogging?
Blogs are a great way for start-ups to manoeuvre the right information and messages into the view of their target consumers. LegUP’s blogging specialists can help you share new content and the latest news about your business and brand, encouraging your readers to make use of the comment sections and engage with your business.
How are you going to remain responsive?
Customer response strategies are crucial to maintaining and growing a consumer base. Professional and prompt responses to emails, reviews, or social media engagement can be the difference between making a sale and losing a customer. Whether the customer comment is positive or negative, adequate response strategies are a fantastic form of direct and personal customer care, and our team at LegUP can help you to design strategies that nurture your customers and offer opportunities for consumer base growth.
Do you have a reviews management strategy?
Review management strategies that incentivise followers and consumers to provide feedback are the most effective, especially when they are put in motion early in the launching stages. Well-structured review management enables your consumers to actively market your brand on your behalf, acting as a proactive part of your sales funnel and in turn boosts revenue. An accumulation of consistent and positive reviews has the potential to combat the odd piece of negative feedback that is bound to crop up once in a while. At LegUP we offer customised strategies designed for early-stage startups to kick start this cycle. Think of it this way, how can you look to start growing your reputation when you haven’t planted the initial seed? Don’t leave your company’s progress to chance.
Are you really in control?
It may sound repetitive, but it cannot be stressed enough that if you want to build a positive online presence, you must put yourself in the driving seat and direct your business towards success. Your reputation is currently a blank sheet of paper, take advantage of the newness of the situation and start designing exactly how you would like your brand to be perceived. LegUP can provide you with the map and materials to start cultivating a strategy to successfully manage your reputation and set you on your way to becoming a ‘biz wiz’.
Should you be trusted?
Brands succeed because they offer quality — and customers, in turn, trust them. The calibre of services you deliver, the authenticity of your message, and how you conduct customer care, impact whether your customers will remain loyal to your brand. Even in the most difficult times, LegUP can aid you in maintaining an open wave of communication with your customers, winning their trust, and gaining their respect. Transparency, even in times of turmoil is essential for developing and sustaining a dependable brand.
Is your PR up to scratch?
The press release only in times of company change or crisis is not sufficient to keep your brand relevant within your respective market. It is important to be present within ongoing industry discussions between your competitors, consumers, and influencers. LegUP can help you become a leader within this conversation to not only disclosure hot press, but to stay relevant and on-trend. By capitalising on even the smallest PR opportunities you remain in the spotlight, accelerating your company’s growth and exposure. Who knows more about that than entrepreneur Richard Branson who started the world-renowned conglomerate Virgin Records from a public telephone box in SOHO. In his words: “Publicity is absolutely critical. A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front-page ad.” Fancy following in his successful footsteps?
Do you have SEO and SERP management strategies?
Search engine result performance has a huge impact on your business, especially while your start-up is attempting to climb the ranks within your market. SEO techniques help build a strong reputation for your business that can overshadow slanderous content or search results that compromise your brands’ progression. SEO and SERP services are at the core of LegUP’s operations. We continuously work on clients’ SERP management to ensure search results that promote the company, its founders or related entities are accessible at the top of the search engine results pages.
Can you handle the heat of criticism?
As the saying goes, ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’. Don’t run away from negative comments or online criticism. Negative feedback can make your business stronger if you respond to it in the right way. Instead of becoming disheartened by criticism, find a way to provide thoughtful and proactive responses that show your company taking an active interest in the customers’ feedback. Ignoring them will not help the situation — in fact, things could get worse. By responding promptly and professionally, you are putting an end to the matter with a promise to do better for the benefit of your clients.
Can you ride the wave?
Brand reputation management is for all businesses, not just start-ups. Your reputation may seem indestructible today, but tomorrow could bring a few cracks and tumbles, are you ready to combat that? At LegUP we’re fully equipped to handle these unexpected twists and turns to ensure your reputation makes it out in one piece. Results pages, algorithms, and customer expectations are constantly in a state of flux, therefore, it is important to be able to ride the wave and not wait for it to drown you. This, however, is a complex and intricate balancing act of implementing maintenance and development strategies, and is by no means is a feat that should be handled alone. Let us give you a LegUP in handling these matters to capitalise on all the opportunities the wave can offer.
Remember the veteran American magnate, investor, and philanthropist Warren Buffett? A mantra he lives by to sustain his success is: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”
As I’m sure you can agree, Mr. Buffet is right and with this mindset, it is no wonder his endeavours have been such a roaring success spanning over multiple years. Investing in bespoke reputation management services is not just insurance for your future, but a necessary launching tool to kickstart your brands’ life cycle. If you’re ready to give your brand the limelight it deserves, contact us today on 020812 33133 or email us at info@leg-up.uk and let’s start building your reputation together.
Sebastian Paradis