Philadelphia, PA - - With the recession lasting longer than anyone expected, local business owners are looking to spend their advertising dollars with great care. Many business owners looking to develop their brand are turning to the newest trend in advertising, online reputation marketing.

One local marketing company has noticed a recent trend with business owners and where their advertising money is getting earmarked. This company is Best 5 Star Reputation and they have been providing reputation marketing services for Philadelphia businesses. The service is designed to help businesses develop, market and maintain an industry leading 5 star reputation

Russ Royal, owner of Best 5 Star Reputation said “ We are seeing a change in the marketing industry. The prevalence of social media review sites like Yelp, Yellow Pages and Google Plus, have created a situation where businesses are forced to build their sales the way it was done years ago: by word of mouth. And, with all of the business reviews that are appearing online, business owners must pay attention to what’s being said about them in their online reviews.

Russ also commented “any Google search that includes a specific market: plumbers, electricians or just about anything in Philadelphia, will produce a list of business that have reviews attached. And, the whole world gets to see them! Would you choose the business with poor reviews or the business with a 5 star reputation? You would go with the business with the stellar reputation.”

An Opinion Research Corporation survey proves the point made by Russ. 84% of Americans say online reviews influence their purchasing decisions. Additionally the study finds that 70% of consumers will change their minds if bad reviews are present. Further 58% of consumers trust business with good reviews.

Russ went on to say, “Many business owners have no idea of what their online profile looks like so I offer a free online reputation report and guide on what action can be taken if there are poor reviews.”

Given the data, one can only conclude that as more businesses recognize the value of reputation marketing, they will budget more advertising dollars to developing their brand. Spending money for advertising and SEO that places a business on the first page of Google may be misplaced if 70% of them go somewhere else due to poor reviews.

Russ Royal can be reached in his office at (215) 690-1629
www.best5starreputation.com