Back in October of 2017 owner Ben Polzin signed up his Down To Earth Garden Center for OPTIMA™ with one mission in mind – to manage his online reputation. With a ranking in the top 3 for his local category search, a 4.5 star rating and 52 reviews, many business owners might have believed that there was nothing more to do. Ben knew how much hard work went into getting Down to Earth to this point and he could not afford to lose momentum. Savvy business owners like Ben understand that the online ecosystem changes rapidly — reviews, competition, and search ranking — and the luxury of a set it and forget it mentality does not exist when it comes to a well-managed online presence. With OPTIMA™ we provided easy-to-use tools — a reputation landing page, a set of custom designed Recommendation Cards, and review monitoring, as well as a dedicated Account Manager — that put Ben in the driver’s seat of his online reputation. Best of all Ben, realized that OPTIMA™ made budgeting easy since all these reputation management tools and dedicated account management came with his program at one affordable, annual cost.
As we work with thousands of business owners, we occasionally hear the idea that reputation management can be ignored or avoided. Unfortunately, the reality couldn’t be more different. As many business owners have found out the hard way, if you don’t actively manage your reviews by eliciting honest feedback online from your best customers, a single negative review holds much more power to tell your story or shape the narrative of your business. Occasional negative reviews will happen to most businesses, but by proactively managing your reputation using the OPTIMA™ tools, your business will be ready to quickly and easily manage through and not take a hit in your overall rating or ranking. Ben enjoys using the OPTIMA™ real time review monitoring system which allows him to respond to both positive and negative reviews from customers quickly and easily, with expert coaching from his dedicated OPTIMA™ Account Manager. Still an active customer nearly five years later, Down To Earth now boasts a 4.6 star rating and over 331 Google reviews, proving that a proactively managed online reputation is a positive one.
