Reach150 Adds Mobile Authenticity to Online Referrals

Reach150 has gone mobile with a new app that adds a social, as-it-happens twist to the referral management platform.

The new Reach150 Mobile App for both iOS (currently available) and Android (coming soon), helps real estate agents, lawyers, and practically all “people in relationship businesses” validate their expertise and bolster their professional reputations on a continual basis, said Ken Sims, CEO of Reach150. It also helps entrepreneurs to convey the one trait that everyone admires but so few possess: authenticity.

Enhance Your Small Business Reputation

Reach150 Mobile serves as a “single place to capture evidence of your authentic self,” Sims told Small Business Computing. The app builds on the company’s online hub, which simplifies the process of gathering and curating feedback from clients. “Initially, we started with an online service that would help people enhance their online recommendations,” said Sims.

You create a branded profile page, complete with a profile picture. It differs from Yelp and other review sites in that it provides a frictionless way to solicit endorsements. Past clients receive an email that leads them to an online form.

No sign-up process or apps to download; respondents simply type their feedback and submit it. The approach works, according to Sims. Response rates typically land in the 50 percent to 60 percent range, “way higher” than most feedback-gathering systems.

mobile app: reputation mangement

After a client submits a recommendation, you can accept or reject it. If approved, the virtual kudos appears on your profile and you can post it on Facebook and other social media networks. In addition to offering an eye-pleasing online home for your professional identity, Reach150 profile pages get search engines to notice.

A steady stream of recommendations continually updates means a landscaper’s, plumber’s or financial advisor’s profile. “Google likes it when the content changes a lot,” Sims reminded, and it typically ranks a Reach150 profile higher than static websites that are rarely updated.

Now with the new mobile app, Reach150 users can add a dash of spontaneity and an in-the-trenches authenticity to their dealing with the local community.

The Authentic Small Business Professional

Social media has helped rewrite the rules of promoting small businesses online. Awkwardly staged photo opportunities are increasingly giving way to authentic slices of life that better capture the joy of closing on a house or the exhilaration of an expertly completed project.

Reach150 Mobile allows professionals to capture those moments, along with everyday interactions and other examples of community involvement. With a couple of taps, you can take your smartphone photos and caption them to post updates to your profiles, which only displayed testimonials previously, and to Facebook accounts.

No longer tethered to your PC, you can project a more accurate sense of your impact to the community, your professional reach, and your expertise. “We empower people to capture and show off their unique persona,” said Sims.

The app also serves as a stepping stone to online advertising, particularly for the busy professional whose workdays preclude a side career as a part-time marketer.

The platform can automatically create online expert-quality online ads based on the content in a Reach150 Mobile update. You can then target he ads at local Internet users according to various criteria, including demographic factors and a history of seeking out related services.

“You don’t do any of it,” said Sims of his company’s low-maintenance advertising strategy. “We’re buying the ads from Google and the ad networks.” It not only helps drum up new business, but it also drives repeat business by retargeting past visitors. “We stay in front of people that provide you with referrals,” he said.

Pricing starts at $25 per month for the Basic plan. The Professional, plan with online advertising support, costs $99 per month.

Pedro Hernandez is a contributing editor at Small Business Computing. Follow him on Twitter @ecoINSITE.

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