Are your biggest fans able to defend you?

We all get negative word of mouth sometimes.  A bad review, an angry blog post, a comment in a message board.

Most companies freak out and call out the PR army to defend their reputation.  Or they just freak out.

There is better way. 

You need to make sure your fans have the ability to respond to critics.  You need to empower your silent supporters.

Remember, you have a huge number of happy customers ... an army friends who buy your stuff and like your company.

Look around and you'll see this happens all the time.  Someone posts a negative review on Amazon.  Then a bunch of happy customers step up and rebut the negative and support the product.  Your customers like you, and they want to feel good about their purchases.

If you don't have a message board, blog, or reviews on your web site, there is no way for your fans to step up and defend your company. Instead of hiding from negative reviews, put them in-house, inside your own community, where your fans are waiting to defend you.

Trust me... nothing is more powerful than a customer responding to a complaint instead of an employee.

Lesson: You're not alone out there, but you need to make it easier for people to support you.