I was driving down the street the other day when I saw a sod farm advertising their “high quality sod” at great prices. I thought that it was nice enough - until I realized that all of the lawn in front of their business was completely dead! This wasn’t the middle of winter, either - this was summertime when the lawn should have been looking good.

Even with any type of water restrictions, just watering once a week should prevent this from happening. I guess the sod people didn’t care enough about the appearance of their business to water their lawn.

If I was in the market for sod, I have to say, I would shy away from a company that couldn’t even keep their own product alive in front of their store. I couldn’t trust that the sod would grow. Whether this is a true reflection of the quality of their product is beside the point - they may grow the best sod this side of the Mississippi, however, I don’t want to risk it because their image tells me the product may be low-quality.

The same goes for having an online image. If you have a great product, but your competitor is trashing you online, you’re going to look like you have a bad brand - whether this is true or not. Companies need to do brand management and make sure that they have good pr about their company, and that they own their company and/or product name online. You don’t want people to wrongly think your product is inferior just because your competition is doing well with SEO, or trashing your reputation in forums. Always stay on top of your reputation online. People turn to the internet for information, and if all they’re seeing is bad press (whether it’s true or not), that’s what they’re going to believe.