Back in the 1980s, when a couple of Chinese restaurants in Los Angeles were being cited for violating the state’s safety and health codes, it was a group of customers who objected strongly to the crackdown despite the fact that it was being done for the purpose of their health. Their claim – the restaurants practised a method of cooking that had been followed for more than 4,000 years and which had helped to foster a nation into one having the largest population in the world.
This is the power of being authentic. Even though it is an example that specifies the downside of a business, you may want to set it down as a case study to understand how powerful the word ‘authentic’ is if a business wants to survive the market in today’s time.
Brand Evolution – The Necessary Shift To Less Propaganda And More Authenticity
Authentic businesses are always the first to make a bold statement and hence can inspire and prosper the most when it comes to surviving the market trends. With the growing nuisance of fake reviews, customers tend to grow an affection for products and services with reviews that are ‘authentic’ and hence score a value higher than the rest. That is why majority of the enterprises now invest more on bringing out authentic consumer reviews that would make sure their visitors don’t lose trust on their brand value.
Why authenticity works for a business?
Being authentic helps to –
- Elevate one’s business ranking higher than the rest
- Build influential brand image and identity
- Provide substance to business products and services
- Enable viewers to relate better to one’s business
- Get a better idea of how your service would help customers find a better solution
- Places you as one who is reliable and trustworthy
- Encourages better communication by turning satisfied customers into loyal advocates
The digital world is screaming with millions of brands telling you to look at them for better brand value. How do you place your digital marketing strategy amidst all these screams and shouts to make your way out? One of the fastest possible ways is to go for online business directory listings.
Registering on an online business directory gives you a chance to find relevant customers who match up to your target audience. Every online submission of your business name gives you a chance to be possibly found easily. But there are certain directories that would provide you the opportunity to build up for yourself, an image that customers can trust.
Take a look at these top 10 online business directories, which recognize the power of authentic customer reviews, to help your business grow –
#1. Google My Business
Approximately 6 million searches are made on Google everyday. It is free and easy to register and the business listings appear on Google Maps. What’s more? Google even welcomes customers to leave behind a review on the Google+ page.
#2. Yahoo Small Business
Yahoo brings you a local business directory where you can register for free. You can add information like company description and photos for free. However, if you have some more to speak about, then you might need to pay a minimal fee to avail the service.
#3. Bing Places for Business
This is the second most used search engine after Google. One can easily register at Bing quickly and free of cost. Bing allows you to add multiple number of business locations, immediately at once. Users can even add contents like videos, photos, reviews here.
#4. Vintelli
Vintelli offers you a specialized business target listing. It has a proper search engine placement that pinpoints potential features and services your customers might be interested in, authentic client reviews to help visitors get a general brand review and social media integrations to enable customers recommend or place reviews about your products. It is an online business directory that makes use of innovative strategies to help businesses get a strong web presence.
#5. Yelp
Yelp is an online business directory that offers customers quality reviews to look into. Users can use their accounts to enable customers look for deals, reviews, send public and private customer messages, find trending reports and more.
#6. Merchant Circle
Merchant circle is mainly for local businesses and customers. Registered users can target audiences based on geographical locations, advertise and host business blogs directly on their site.
#7. Yellow Pages
This is an online business directory that provides a well organized and efficient user interface, offers services like advertising, ad performance tracking data and options for making online payment.
#8. White Pages
With White Pages, you can list your business among other 30 million registered businesses. Users can get services like premium mobile text messages and sponsored advertisements.
#9. Manta
Manta’s business directory provides a fantastic way to grow your business fast. You can avail their paid service packages to increase your traffic inflow. Registering your business here is easy and quick to set up. You can use your business profile to highlight your brand products and other services.
#10. Yellow Bot
With Yellow Bot, users can sign in with social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Google, etc. There is also a premium listing opportunity that provides facility to easily manage their account and even add searchable tag links to their business listing. Other than this, users can include basic contact and business location information, and customer reviews.
Getting your business listed in the right place can boost up your visibility. A lot of online business directories might offer you the same service, but choosing the right one is the strategy to maximize your online visibility.
Images: “Two directory books with names in A-L and M-Z./Shutterstock.com“
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