Fatrank Podcast

James Dooley:
Okay so if I have a reputation management business and I want a consistent flow of inquiries every single month, what do you recommend? How would you grow a reputation management business.

Kasra Dash:
So first and foremost, an ORM company for online reputation management is a huge growing market. People now want reputation management for personal branding as well as the business brand. So it's definitely an area I would start off with with regards to networking events. I would be wanting to rub shoulders with the biggest entrepreneurs and business owners that I want to be working with, to then say look, have you as an individual or a business owner got your knowledge panel in Google. Do you have all the links in the knowledge panel linking to your social media platforms. Is there a story about you as an individual, who's behind your website and what you do.

That's the first thing I would be doing. If I run an online reputation management company and I'm looking to grow, I would start with networking events and then also dealing with SEO agencies and anybody else where organic growth and branding online comes in. I'd start off with networking events and try to get people referring in via word of mouth.

A lot of people don't know they need online reputation management until someone points it out to them. They don’t realise that people Google their name or their brand. And at the 11th hour, if you're up against a competitor, they will Google your business or your name. You want to make certain you have lots of five star reviews, strong testimonials, strong case studies and a positive sentiment around what you do.

What else would you be looking at with regards to growing an online reputation management company.

James Dooley:
This is probably twofold. What you've mentioned is really good. I would also be doing SEO and I'd also be getting a lead generation company to partner up with. From the SEO point of view, a lot of reputation management companies avoid SEO because it's competitive. But if you can generate your own leads from your website there is asset value in that.

If you want to sell your reputation management business in a few years, generating your own inbound leads through SEO or Facebook ads adds value. So I would pick keywords, maybe reputation management for automotive, property management, healthcare, lawyers. Some sectors spend huge money on reputation because they really care about it.

Pick a niche and rank your website for it. And once you have a reputable brand and a strong website, I would partner up with FatRank for lead generation.

Kasra Dash:
So over at FatRank we work with a lot of ORM businesses. We generate a lot of leads for individuals and businesses wanting to improve their online branding and we pass those over to reputation management companies.

We do a no win no fee lead generation service. I don't think there's anyone else on the market that offers no win no fee lead generation for ORM companies. There is an onboarding process and we check your own online reputation. We need to make certain you look good online, because if we refer someone to you and they search the business owner, you need to have a strong online brand. If you're an ORM company and your own brand has negative sentiment, you're not a company we want to work with.

You need a professional email, a professional website and all the services clearly displayed. But also don't throw all your eggs into one basket. Use clutch, Top3Rated and Bark to get more leads. Track your KPIs and make sure you get ROI. If FatRank accepts you we guarantee ROI, but you should still have one or two others to spread risk. The lifetime value of a reputation management client is huge.

What about the SEO side as well. We also own searcher.com, a link building agency. We have a service called PowerPosts. These are third party articles written about clients in a positive sentiment, linking back with strong testimonials, awards or stories. These help control page one for brand queries. It is a must-have upsell for ORM companies. You can control the narrative with PowerPosts.

What’s your thoughts on traditional marketing.

James Dooley:
Probably not. Unless it's offline reputation management. For online reputation management I wouldn’t bother. You can't track KPIs on a billboard or radio ad. Everything we’ve mentioned is trackable. If you're running Facebook ads or SEO you know exactly what you got back. With a billboard you don’t.

Could traditional marketing work? Maybe. Is it the best ROI? Probably not.

Kasra Dash:
I agree. I'm a stats man. I want ROI and trackable KPIs. Traditional marketing doesn’t deliver that. Facebook ads could work. You could target business owners and CEOs with ads asking if they're happy with what appears when they search their name. YouTube ads could work too.

For me, the main three plays are FatRank lead generation, SEO for inbound leads and social media ads.

Another strategy is doing exactly what we're doing now. Both of us have strong knowledge panels and strong online branding. If you are confident in front of a camera, talk about ORM. Give away the strategies. Business owners who don’t have the time will hire you.

James Dooley:
If you're an online reputation management owner, reach out to me at jamesdooley.com or Kasra at kasradash.com and come on our podcast. We can help you grow and share it across our social channels. That’s part of the networking we’re talking about.

If you're looking to grow an ORM company, we hope you liked the tips in this video. Leave a comment with anything else you would do to grow a reputation management company.