From Jane’s Desk – BBB: What’s In It for Me?

A couple of months ago, we found out that JP Marketing was nominated for the Better Business Bureau’s Ethics Award. The first thing I thought was, “Cool, I think we’re ethical people so maybe we have a shot at this.” The second thing I thought was, “What exactly is the BBB up to lately besides logging customer complaints and grading businesses accordingly?”

Since Blair Looney became the CEO, I’ve been hearing a little more buzz around the BBB, but still couldn’t really tell you what they are doing to be relevant in today’s competitive environment and online world. Well, if you give Blair and his staff 30 minutes of your time, you’ll learn a lot about what they are up to:

  • Personalized Business Reviews – you can now customize your BBB listing to an enhanced online directory listing, along the lines of Yelp.com. You can add a photo, logo, hot link to your website, hours of operation, your service area and a detailed description of your business. You can also add multiple photos and videos for FREE. All this, as we know, enhances SEO for your website.
  • Google Partnership – the BBB has partnered with Google so when someone searches for your product or service in your area, a small fee means that your BBB accredited business will appear at or near the top of the first page in that category. This is just another form of valuable SEM.
  • QR Codes – you can generate a custom QR code that will lead potential customers directly to your BBB Business Review. QR codes aren’t yet extremely popular, but might have some valuable application for things such as trade show booth displays.
  • Mediation Services – if you need to resolve a dispute with a business, landlord, small claims or family law situation, try BBB’s Mediation Services <hyperlink: www.bbbmediation.org> for free. This is really, truly free, no catch.
  • Scam Stopper – The BBB’s online resource provides advice on popular scams across North America. So many scams and so little time to filter; it’s nice to have a trusted source.

Just this week we were informed that we were a finalist for the BBB’s Ethics Award and will find out the results on April17. Meanwhile, we’re going to start taking advantage of the opportunities and resources available to us as accredited BBB members – well, except for the Mediation Services. Fingers crossed we don’t need it any time soon.

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