People like to say that any attention is better than no attention. The problem is, what happens when your negative PR lands you negative reviews.

When 90% of customers read online reviews before buying, you can’t afford to have a bad reputation. Are you wondering how companies with good reputations do it? Follow the nine tips below to do the same for your business.

1. Don’t Skimp on Product Quality

You can’t run a good business without a product people love. Before you think of working on your company’s reputation, you need to make sure you have no issues with your product quality.

Spend time asking customers about their experience using their purchases. Ask for both good and bad feedback. You can use this information to work on your product faults and give your customers more of what they love.

2. Be Transparent

Nobody likes a business that lies to them. If there are problems with your products or business and you try and cover it up, you’re going to lose the trust of your customers. There are only a few things that will ruin your reputation faster.

Whenever you face issues, make sure you are transparent with the world about what’s going on. If you’re upfront about the problems you’re having, the chances are people will be understanding. They will give you time to sort your problems out and return once you’re ready to hit the market again.

3. Get Your Branding Right

Nobody likes to connect with a business that stands for nothing. If you don’t get your branding right, then it’s going to be hard to convey what your company stands for.

If you don’t have the expertise in-house, then consider hiring a marketing expert to work with you on your branding strategy. You should use your time with them to develop your company story, vision, and mission for the future.

If you can convey a mission that appeals to people, they will have an easier time trusting you.

4. Give Back to the Community

Social responsibility has become a big issue in today’s world. Consumers are very conscious about the products they consume and how they’re produced. People are also willing to spend a little more money on products when they are made sustainably and some of the profits go to a good cause.

You can use this trend to gain more visibility and improve your local community at the same time. Look for a cause in your area that aligns with the business you’re in. If your company does some good in the world, people are going to take notice.

5. Be Good to Your Team

It was hard to spot a bad work environment in the past. But as internet use has increased, employees are starting to speak out about problems they encounter at work online. If you treat your team poorly, then the world is probably going to know.

You can increase your public image by creating a work environment that your team loves coming to. Your team is more likely to speak positively about your company instead of how much they hate their job.

6. Work With Other Businesses

It’s easy to be a lone-wolf in the business world. If you turn everyone into an enemy, then it isn’t as hard to figure out what you need to do.

It’s harder to figure out how you can work together with other companies.

The good news is that people will think more highly of you if you play fair in the marketplace. It’s not impossible to find a way to work together with the other businesses in your industry. Find a way for everyone to win instead of trying to drive everyone out of business.

7. Focus on Customer Experience

You can’t think of your customers as a cog in the wheel. You need to invest time in nurturing your relationship with them. When you do this, you create loyal customers that will tell other people about your products.

Make sure every part of your customer journey is covered. If you run a local store, make sure that you don’t have long lines, and your customer service staff is friendly. If you run a store online, then make sure you have a useful user interface, and customers know how to find every part of your site.

8. Respond Well to Criticism

You can’t avoid a customer having a bad experience now and again. The key is how you handle it when it happens.

Make sure you reach out to customers who talk about having a bad time with your company. You want to learn what part of your business failed them so you can investigate where the problem happened.

When you address their problem and offer a solution, you can create a happy customer from a poor customer experience.

9. Promote Online Reviews

The problem with online reviews is that people usually leave them when they have a terrible experience. A lot of people don’t bother leaving a review when they don’t have problems.

If you want to improve your online reputation, encourage your customers to go online to leave reviews. The best place to start with this is your Google business ratings.

You want to make sure that you don’t offer services for leaving a review. This practice can be seen as review manipulation. If someone catches you doing this, you could have a lot of your reviews removed and get negative PR in the process.

Companies With Good Reputations Don’t Happen Overnight

Now that you know how companies with good reputations do it, you can start applying their methods to your business. It won’t happen overnight, so make sure you get started as soon as you can. Once you get started, you’ll see the advantages that a good reputation brings.