Reputation management shapes how people view your business. It’s essential for building trust, attracting customers and gaining a competitive edge.
However, building the reputation you want takes strategy and consistency across multiple platforms.
In this article, you’ll learn five practical steps to take control of your brand reputation. Find out how to monitor feedback, respond confidently and use the right tools to build long-term loyalty with your audience.
What is reputation management?
Reputation management involves monitoring, shaping and improving how people perceive your business. When done well, it builds trust, strengthens loyalty and creates a consistent and positive brand image.
The process happens both online and offline:
Online reputation management (ORM) means shaping how people see your brand on digital platforms, through actions like replying to customer reviews, managing social media or maintaining a strong website
Offline reputation management focuses on real-world impressions through in-person activities like customer service, public speaking or community involvement
Here’s a breakdown of how brand reputation management applies to different stakeholders:
Stakeholder | Impact of reputation management |
Customers and end users | End users whose opinions directly influence your brand’s credibility and word-of-mouth reach. For this group, reputation management includes responding to online reviews, addressing complaints and encouraging satisfied clients to share positive content and feedback. |
Partners and business collaborators | Business collaborators whose relationship with your company impacts operations and long-term growth. Maintaining a good reputation with this group involves ensuring transparency in business dealings. It also means sharing case studies and expert content that show your business is reliable. |
Employees | Current and potential employees who influence your company’s brand and culture. Managing your company’s reputation with employees includes maintaining a positive presence on platforms like Glassdoor, fostering a supportive workplace and promoting employee success stories. |
The general public | The wider public whose opinions impact your business’s reputation and ability to operate. Reputation efforts include handling public relations (PR) crisis management, participating in community initiatives and ensuring a consistent brand image across all public channels. |
Reputation management is an ongoing process. It requires coordination across digital marketing, customer service, HR and leadership to ensure every stakeholder’s experience reinforces your brand values.
Why is reputation management essential for SMB success?
Reputation management helps smaller businesses stand out in competitive landscapes, attract new customers and build resilience in changing markets.
Research shows that a product’s reputation is the leading factor in whether it makes it onto a buyer’s initial list of options:
Here’s a closer look at why reputation management in business is critical for SMBs:
Builds trust
A strong reputation signals reliability, making customers, partners and employees more likely to have confidence in your business. When people trust you, they’re more likely to buy from you, recommend you to others and stay loyal over time.
Online reviews are a great example of reputation management in action. According to Statista, 42% of people find them very helpful when making a purchase, and 33% always read them before choosing a local business.
Scrum.org, an online training platform, showed how a good reputation directly impacts sales. By collecting more reviews via Trustpilot, the company grew website conversions by 27%.
Drives customer loyalty and referrals
Reputation drives repeat business and referrals, which SMBs need for organic growth. Word-of-mouth marketing is also cost-effective for SMBs with limited resources – and is one of the most common ways customers discover new brands.
Look at Rosetta Roastery as an example. The specialty coffee roaster emphasizes quality and transparency in its coffee sourcing and preparation processes. Its website and social media channels share educational content, positioning it as an expert.
Customers who see the care and expertise behind the coffee are more likely to connect with the brand and return for future purchases.
Protect your business
Reputation management helps businesses address negative content before it becomes a bigger problem. With 34% of consumers expecting companies to respond to negative reviews within 24 hours, fast action is essential.
When a dissatisfied customer left a one-star review on the website of one of Sector45’s clients, the web marketing platform flagged the feedback within 30 minutes.
The client then promptly contacted the reviewer, apologized and scheduled a follow-up appointment for the next day. After the issue was resolved, the customer updated the review to reflect their positive experience.
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Gain a competitive advantage
A great reputation helps smaller businesses stand out in crowded markets, making attracting and retaining loyal customers easier.
Farmgirl Flowers shows how a strong reputation can set a business apart.
The business is a woman-owned online flower delivery company. Highlighting this unique identity helps the company stand out from bigger competitors and attract customers who want to support diverse, mission-driven brands.
5 ways to improve your SMB reputation management
To build a strong foundation for long-term growth, you need to stay ahead of potential issues and actively shape customers’ perceptions of your brand.
Here are five ways to strengthen and manage your SMB’s reputation:
1. Create a reputation management strategy
Start with a plan to define how you want people to perceive your business and outline the steps to get there. This plan helps you stay consistent across channels, respond proactively to feedback and align your reputation goals with your overall business objectives.
If you want your brand to be known for great customer service, map out how you’ll train your team, track reviews and create personal responses that deliver on that promise.
Here are the steps for creating a reputation management strategy:
Identify key channels. Find channels where your reputation matters most, such as search engines like Google or social channels like Facebook. Customers often research before making decisions, so focus on these areas when building your strategy.
Assign ownership. Decide who will monitor, respond to and escalate feedback to avoid confusion and ensure timely responses. For instance, your marketing team might manage social media interactions, while operations handles product-related reviews.
Develop communication guidelines. Outline the tone, messaging and response times for your team to follow. For example, you might aim to respond to all reviews within 24 hours using a helpful, respectful tone.
Set measurable goals for benchmarking success. Define what success looks like for your reputation efforts. Your goal could be to improve your Google rating from 4.2 to 4.5 or increase positive social mentions by 20% over three months. Review these metrics regularly and adjust as needed.
To set clear and measurable goals, consider using the SMART goals framework:
This framework helps you stay focused, track progress effectively and continuously improve your reputation management efforts.
How Pipedrive helps manage your reputation strategy
As a sales CRM platform, Pipedrive offers a visual overview that keeps everyone accountable and your reputation strategy moving forward.
Use customizable pipelines to support this process by tracking reputation-related tasks and assigning ownership to team members:
You can customize sales pipeline stages to align with your reputation management efforts and monitor progress toward your goals.
2. Use reputation management software
Reputation management systems centralize brand-related activities into a single location. This consolidation makes staying on top of your brand’s public perception easier.
For example, a centralized dashboard in online reputation management software tracks reviews across channels, sends real-time alerts and automates review requests. These features make it easier to:
Respond quickly to feedback
Maintain consistent customer engagement
Showcase positive reviews to influence potential buyers
This type of software also helps SMBs save time and money. It prevents minor issues from becoming costly problems, reducing the risk of PR crises, lost sales or the long process of regaining customer trust.
For example, if the system detects a drop in positive feedback or a surge in complaints, it sends immediate alerts so you can quickly address the issue before it escalates.
When choosing a reputation management tool, look for the following features:
Feature | How it helps |
Multi-platform review management | Track customer reviews from sites like Google, Trustpilot, Yelp and Facebook in one dashboard. Centralizing this information keeps you up to speed with what people are saying across the platforms that matter most to your ideal audience. |
Automated review requests | Prompt customers to leave feedback after making a purchase or using your services. Automating this process makes it easy to consistently collect reviews, helping you grow your online presence faster. |
Use built-in analytics to identify positive or negative trends in customer feedback. These insights help you spot potential issues early and understand what customers value about your product or service. | |
Response management | Manage and reply to reviews directly from the platform. This feature enables faster, more consistent communication. It also shows customers you take feedback seriously, boosting trust and credibility. |
Reporting and insights | Measure review volume, average star ratings, response time and sentiment trends. Use these insights to identify areas of improvement and track the impact of your reputation efforts on business outcomes. |
Cloud-based access | Let users log in from anywhere, making it easier for teams to monitor and respond to feedback. Online reputation management tools support better collaboration, faster decision-making and uninterrupted oversight, whether in the office or on the move. |
A tool with the right features helps turn customer feedback into a competitive asset that actively supports your growth and decision-making.
With Pipedrive’s integrations, for example, you can use reputation and review tools like Get More 5-Star Reviews to send automatic review invites to customers. This automation helps you collect feedback at scale without adding manual work.
3. Encourage customer reviews and feedback
Customer reviews boost credibility, improve search rankings and influence purchase decisions. Studies show that 75.5% of consumers trust feedback left by other users.
By actively requesting these testimonials from customers, you increase both volume and quality, making prospects more likely to trust and choose your business.
Here’s how to encourage more customer reviews:
Send follow-up emails after purchases. Reach out while the experience is fresh, thanking customers and politely asking for a review. This timing increases the chance of getting a thoughtful and detailed response.
Offer incentives. Discounts, freebies or loyalty points can motivate customers to leave feedback. For example, a SaaS platform could offer a 10% discount for users who complete a quick feedback form.
Use in-store and on-receipt reminders. Attention-grabbing prompts – whether physical signs or printed messages – keep the request top of mind. For example, a B2B company might add a message on a sales invoice that reads, “Share your experience on Trustpilot and receive a 5% discount on your next bulk order”.
Consistently collecting and showcasing authentic reviews strengthens your brand’s credibility and creates a steady stream of social proof that drives long-term growth.
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How Pipedrive helps collect customer reviews
With Pipedrive’s email automation, you can set up post-sale campaigns that automatically follow up with customers and request testimonials at the right time.
For example, once a deal is marked as “won”, you can trigger a personalized email directing the customer to a review site.
Use the AI email writer to generate personalized, relevant messages based on customer data and the stage of the sales journey.
Here’s an example of an AI-generated email in Pipedrive, including the prompt:
The AI considers your tone of voice, ensuring emails are consistent with your brand’s communication style.
4. Respond promptly
Responding quickly to customer feedback shows that you value your customers’ input and are committed to continuous improvement.
It also helps to mitigate any negative sentiment before it escalates.
If a customer leaves a negative review about a delayed delivery, a quick, empathetic response can de-escalate the situation:
“We’re sorry your order arrived late, [customer name]. We understand how frustrating that can be! We’re already looking into it and will ensure it doesn’t happen again. Please reach out to us directly at [contact information] if you need further assistance.”
A lack of response can also negatively influence potential customers. They might assume you don’t care about the negative feedback, or take the review at face value – even if there’s a legitimate reason for the issue.
Here are some of the ways to ensure prompt responses:
Set up alerts. Enable notifications on review platforms to help monitor and respond to reviews regularly. Notifications ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
Use templates to standardize responses. Create customizable response templates for common scenarios. Your team can adapt the responses as necessary without needing to reply from scratch, saving time and allowing faster replies.
You might want to get creative with your tone and language when responding to reviews. For example, a tongue-in-cheek response to a negative review can defuse tension in certain situations – especially if the review is slightly unreasonable.
Suppose someone ordered a takeout pizza and complained that the cheese was too melted. The pizza place might respond by saying:
“We’re devastated to hear our pizza didn’t meet your Michelin-star expectations! We’ll be sure to undercook the cheese next time, especially for you. If you’re in the mood for a humble (but delicious) slice, we’d love a second chance to wow you.”
However, this type of response only works if it aligns with your brand and audience.
For example, a B2B law firm or financial services provider needs to maintain a more formal, professional tone. Humor in these contexts could come across as dismissive or unprofessional.
5. Monitor social media and mentions
Staying on top of social media mentions helps you manage your business reputation in real time. People are also more likely to share honest, unfiltered feedback on their social channels, so it’s important to monitor them.
For example, a buyer might share their customer experience on social media without tagging your brand. Although not a formal review, it’s still valuable feedback that you can engage with.
Here’s an example from Sprout Social. A customer posted about a support issue on X, and Sprout Social replied, demonstrating their commitment to customer care:
Research also shows that 90% of buyers say social proof (like customer testimonials or product reviews) influences their buying decisions.
Here are some of the most effective ways to monitor social mentions:
Set up Google Alerts. Track mentions of your brand, products or key terms related to your business. These alerts show when people mention your brand online and how algorithms rank your content across the web.
Use social listening tools. Tools like Brandwatch let you monitor real-time conversations across social media platforms. These tools can track brand mentions, hashtags and keywords related to your business.
Search hashtags and keywords. Look for your brand name, popular hashtags or industry-related keywords on social platforms. Searching for these phrases means you can catch mentions that reflect customer sentiment.
Tracking social mentions provides insight into customer perceptions. As a result, you can uncover new opportunities for engagement to drive sales.
Note: Use a social CRM to centralize social data with sales performance. Consolidating this information helps you measure the effectiveness of your reputation management efforts. For example, you can track whether engaging with mentions leads to higher sales.
Final thoughts
Every interaction shapes your reputation. By actively managing how others perceive your brand, you create lasting customer relationships and reduce the risk of reputational damage. With the right tools and a proactive approach, your small business can build trust, drive loyalty and stand out in a crowded market.
Pipedrive makes it easy to put your reputation strategy into action. With customizable workflows and smart automations, you can seamlessly integrate reputation management into your day-to-day sales process.
Start your 14-day free trial to monitor customer feedback, automate review requests and build a strong brand reputation for long-term growth.
