Best 5 Star Reputation, a marketing firm, specializing in reputation marketing in Philadelphia, is offering a complimentary guide that outlines what business owners should do when a negative review about them appears on Google, Yelp or any other social media site where patrons are posting reviews.

Owner Russ Royal, recently named the “Coolest Reputation Marketing Expert in Philadelphia” explains: “that it’s not a matter of if you will receive a poor review, it’s a matter of when. In today’s marketplace, consumers have immediate access to many social networking sites and if they have a bad experience with a business, boom! Up it goes on the internet. The business owner is then left to deal with it.”

Further, he adds, “Best 5 Star Reputation wants to provide business owners with the tools that will help them in dealing with the 21st century version of word-of-mouth. Building your brand is back to the way it was 40 years ago, by word of mouth. The only difference is that its happening digitally, and the pace and reach of those recommendations has increased thanks to social media.”

A recent Opinion Research Poll found that over 84 percent of consumers are influenced after reading online reviews. They trust them as much as they trust a personal recommendation. The study goes on to say that 70% of consumers will change their minds about a company or product if there are negative reviews present. Those numbers are hard to ignore and should signal to the business owner that having a stellar reputation might be something to consider.

Given the importance of having a solid reputation, business owners should do all they can to develop their brand and the best way to do that is by protecting that which they have built, their all-important name.

Lastly, Russ Royal added: “Reputation marketing in Philadelphia is my passion. It’s unfortunate today that one unhappy customer or client can post a negative review that will end up costing the small business owner unknown amounts of money if the business owner does nothing about it. And worse yet, there is nothing to stop a nefarious competitor from posting a negative review. That’s why we’re offering the free report.“