Online Reputation Management for New Brands

Your Reputation Is Your Brand

In the digital age, your reputation is whatever Google says it is. Before a customer visits your website, they search your brand name. What they find — reviews, articles, social posts, forum discussions — determines whether they engage or bounce.

New brands have a unique advantage: you can shape your reputation from scratch instead of repairing a damaged one.

Setting Up Reputation Monitoring

Google Alerts (Free)

Set up alerts for:

• Your brand name
• Your brand name + "review"
• Your brand name + "scam" (catch problems early)
• Your founder's name
• Common misspellings of your brand name

Social Listening

Monitor mentions across social platforms:

• Free: Search your brand name on each platform regularly
• Affordable: Brand24, Mention ($49-99/month)
• Comprehensive: Sprout Social, Hootsuite (enterprise pricing)

Review Monitoring

Set up notifications for new reviews on:

• Google Business Profile
• Yelp
• Trustpilot
• Industry-specific review platforms
• App stores (if applicable)

Building a Positive Reputation

Proactive Reputation Building

Don't wait for reputation to happen to you. Create it deliberately:

Create owned content. Your website, blog, and social profiles are the content you fully control. Make them excellent, informative, and representative of your brand values.

Earn positive reviews. After every successful customer interaction, ask for a review. Make it easy — provide a direct link. Most happy customers don't leave reviews unless prompted.

Publish on authoritative platforms. Guest posts on established blogs, podcast appearances, and media features all create positive search results associated with your brand name.

Build a strong social presence. Active, engaging social media profiles rank well in brand name searches and demonstrate a thriving business.

The First Page of Google

When someone Googles your brand name, the first page of results shapes their perception. Aim to control as many of these results as possible:

1. Your website (homepage)
2. Your website (about page or blog)
3. LinkedIn company page
4. Twitter/X profile
5. Instagram profile
6. YouTube channel
7. Industry directory listing
8. Press coverage or guest post
9. Review platform profile
10. Crunchbase or similar business profile

The more of these slots you fill with your own content, the less room there is for negative results.

Handling Negative Reviews

The Response Framework

Step 1: Pause. Don't respond emotionally. Wait at least an hour.

Step 2: Assess. Is the complaint legitimate? If so, own it.

Step 3: Respond publicly.

• Acknowledge the issue
• Apologize sincerely
• Explain what you're doing to fix it
• Offer to continue the conversation privately

Step 4: Follow up privately. Resolve the specific issue. Go above and beyond.

Step 5: Ask for update. Once resolved, politely ask if they'd consider updating their review.

What Never to Do

• Never argue publicly with a reviewer
• Never offer compensation in exchange for removing a review
• Never create fake positive reviews to bury negative ones
• Never ignore negative reviews — silence is interpreted as guilt

When to Seek Removal

Request removal only when a review violates platform policies:

• Fake review (not a real customer)
• Contains hate speech or threats
• Relates to a different business
• Is from a competitor (with evidence)

Crisis Management

Prepare Before You Need It

Create a basic crisis communication plan:

• Who is authorized to respond publicly?
• What's the escalation process?
• What are the approved messaging templates?
• How quickly must you respond? (Aim for under two hours)

During a Crisis

1. Acknowledge the issue immediately
2. State what you know and what you don't
3. Explain what you're doing about it
4. Provide regular updates
5. Follow up after resolution

Silence during a crisis is the worst possible response. Even "We're aware of the issue and investigating" is better than nothing.

Reputation and Your Brand Name

Your brand name directly affects reputation management:

• Unique names are easier to monitor — fewer false positives in alerts
• Generic names make monitoring difficult — your brand gets lost in noise
• Short, memorable names mean customers find you first when searching
• Consistent names across platforms create a unified reputation

Choose a distinctive name that you can own in search results from day one.

Search for a distinctive, ownable brand name with BrandScout — because reputation management starts with a name that's yours and yours alone.