Did You Know?
Polish My Past are veracious in investigating our client’s circumstances, but the more factual you are with us the more realistic and targeted we can be about desired results. Please note the complexity and overall volume of the content is a direct driver of removal time, response strategy, cost, and ongoing monitoring. Why?
87% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase. (BrightLocal)
95% of consumers say that online reviews influence their buying decisions. (Spiegel Research)
3 out of 4 people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. (BrightLocal)
70% of employers check candidates’ social media and online presence before hiring. (CareerBuilder)
90% of consumers avoid businesses with negative online reputations. (ReviewTrackers)
48% of businesses have experienced a reputation crisis due to social media. (PR News)
60% of brand crises originate on social media. (Brandwatch)
Businesses risk losing 30 customers for every 1 negative review remaining unaddressed. (Forbes)
According to Google’s latest transparency report, the platform has more than 8.8 billion removal requests per annum. News can last forever, meaning the potential for reincarnation negative content without remediation, a public relations crisis can too.
The global outline reputation management (ORM) services market size was estimated to be US$ 0.259 billion in 2023 and the market is projected to touch US$ 0.852 billion by 2032. With the ORM software market being valued at US$230 billion in 2023, is expected to almost double to US$440 billion by 2030.
A report by Grayling (strategic communications specialist) found that negative content on page one of Google search results was losing FTSE 100 Companies up to 15 million leads every month. Its findings also estimated each company was losing an average of 16% of website visitors due to “first-page” negative online content. More importantly, 64% of people trust online search engines the most when conducting research on a business. And 90% of people only look at the first page of search engine results to form a lasting impression.
In Australia and many other parts of the world, it’s far cheaper (with better results) to use the right Online Reputation Management firm with proven rescue and recovery than to gamble on the legal system process and go to court.
It’s very common for successful defamation proceedings compensation to equal what the legal costs are, with a strong possibility of a negative financial outcome despite judicial success. If you follow this path as part of the process you must seek the relevant court orders as part of the defined compensation process.
Polish My Past has extensive senior contacts at all major newspapers in Australia meaning we can deal with them directly. Newspapers are renowned for publishing negative content and when the story changes (for the better) they almost always never publish the following positive content correction. Let alone withdraw the incorrect negative content. Say when a conviction is quashed on appeal.
Australia has no legal equivalent of the right to be forgotten laws. Nor is there any general right of an individual to privacy regarding implied defamation. The right to be forgotten is the right to have private information about a person to be removed from Internet searches and other directories in some circumstances. This issue has arisen from desires of individuals to "determine the development of their life in an autonomous way, without being perpetually or periodically stigmatized as a consequence of a specific action performed in the past". The right entitles a person or company to have data about them deleted so that it can no longer be discovered by third parties, particularly through search engines. This law can apply to international clients in the right jurisdiction.
Polish My Past often inherits client’s from other online reputation companies because they will attempt to gamble on what is known in the industry as unsubstantiated “take-down” notices alleging defamatory content, which has never been tested in an Australian court. Suffice too say this technique almost always fails leading to the client requesting a full or partial refund, assuming ORM company even respond, this is not a random technique we use at Polish My Past.