Arsenii Katkov: «Reputation America — is not a magic eraser. We solve the problems between a business and negative authors»

Reputation Earth
Nov 8 · 6 min read

Reputation.America removes information from the internet using a proprietary service called Removing. We learned from the founder and C.E.O. Arsenii Katkov how the company removes negative online content and why it’s cheaper and more effective to negotiate directly with the author rather than contesting.

Arsenii Katkov

Arsenii Katkov. Founder and C.E.O.

Reputation.Earth and Reputation.America were both started in Europe, and were developed by an international team, mostly based in Russia. Reputation management isn’t all that well developed there. However, the companies grew and expanded into the global market.

How did it all begin?

It all started with SDAA design studio. They were on Russia’s Forbes list and had a client “S.O.J. Sintez,” and for Phillips, we designed an office in Kazan city. We continued to take any tasks, which came our way, and a project after project, we discovered the niche market of online reputation management.

One of the clients asked if it was possible to remove negative messages from a forum.

The client had a franchise for auto chemical manufacturing and ran into competitors. They wrote online that the price was way too high and the commenters didn’t consider the fact that the franchise put in 10 years of work, and buyers were paying for established product chains and advertisement at the federal level. To sum it up, haters tried to ruin decent people’s hard work.

The company didn’t know who to turn to, so we decided to help out. We got in touch with the forum independently and persuaded them to get rid of the false and harmful messages. It turned out that it is possible to work this way too. Afterward, we dug into the situation a bit more and discovered that negative online content is prevalent.

Did solutions exist already or did you need to come up and search for your own?

Someone else’s ideas simply didn’t work. People were used to the fact that negative content could either be solved in court or by hiring third-party hackers. The first option is expensive and usually ends up being unsuccessful with no result, and the last one is illegal and makes an author even angrier. It was somewhat unconventional to talk about removal within the legal field.

We went against the grain by establishing a specialized Digital Sharks company and started offering services publically. We gave a lifetime guarantee to our clients and explained what we did and how we did it.

Every workday brought new lessons for us. Gradually our methods evolved. For example, removing engineers dealt with information removals. The combined competencies of negotiators, psychologists, conflictologists, and lawyers helped to grow and train ourselves.

I have to ask, who is Arsenii Katkov? And what is the internal organizational structure of the company?

I identify myself as a process catalyst and not just the sole leader. For instance, the entire group of companies, including Reputation.America, aims towards holacracy. We have decentralized authority; each team member can influence the overall decision making. It can be rough, but it’s compelling. Everyone in the team is interested in its growth, but you still need to discover ways to take into account everyone’s interests.

This democratic structure is flexible, where the responsibility is divided amongst the teams. It helps us to move forward and share victories. We need to remain flexible and be prepared for changes.

Our team

How information removal works

Please tell us about the leading service Reputation.America offers.

Our leading service is Removing. It is a method used to remove negative information without consequences for a business. We believe that it’s possible to negotiate with anybody, to solve any problem. There hasn’t been a single unsatisfied client throughout our business history. We have reached our goals ethically, without the use of threats, reprisals, or hacking. Only negotiations.

Let’s imagine a company X. A year ago, it faced problems, which affected one of their products. Negative reviews appeared on Google and Yelp, and it showed up on the first page in search results.The business handled the challenges, but the negativity stayed where it was. Someone reads it and refuses to make a purchase. The company X misses out on this revenue but doesn’t understand why it happened.

At the office

Reputation.America helps to get rid of past mistakes, which, in turn, allows businesses to grow and look forward to the future. At the same time, no one leaves with hurt feelings about being taken advantage of. This is our primary goal.

But this isn’t the only way to remove information, is it?

Removal isn’t the only method. The goal is to prevent information from causing issues. We can deindex search results. If negativity is on the third page, no one will read it. Also, our specialists can correct the content of the review by taking away any mention of the company.

We offer several solutions to the problem for the client. The client can determine which method he/she prefers.

What value does Reputation.America offer to its clients?

There are three significant advantages: safety, convenience, and price. We apply a lot of effort to gain clients in the American market. We have been very successful in automatization and service development cases, which are oriented for user-friendliness. We transferred these strengths and are ready to use them 100%.

In communication with our clients, our main goal is to build relationships based on confidentiality, trust, and service delivery at the highest level.

Could you tell us more about convenience? What do you mean by that?

It’s a solution to a problem without the headache. When someone is in the middle of dealing with negativity, a business person or a public figure does not want to dive into the deep end of reputation management. To clear one’s good name with Reputation.America is simple and intuitive, just like ordering online.

The most important thing for us is simplicity. So that the person doesn’t fret about it, but feels comfortable with high quality and affordable pricing. We won’t make it in the American market if we don’t give our clients the best deal.

Reputation.America is another milestone but not the finish line

Reputation.Earth works in the U.K., the U.A.E., and Spain. How does the U.S. play into your strategy?

To make it short, it is an enormous challenge for our team. The U.S. is an extremely competitive market, where anti-crisis communication originated; this is a place of leading experts and scientists in the P.R. field. We admit that there are excellent specialists in the States, but we don’t idolize them.

If we can compete in the States, we’ll be able to do so with the rest of the world. The expansion to the U.S. market isn’t our last stop, but a milestone.

By conquering it, we will gain success to other countries around the world.

We have made a significant leap in establishing a productive dialogue with our American communication and crisis management experts. Because we are expanding, we are in search of potential partners in the States and Canada. We are looking for product managers and experts in anti-crisis communication.

What is your strategy in regards to other continents?

It’s exciting for us to build such a company, over which the sun never sets. We are currently negotiating with regions in Asia, such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan. With a team all over the globe, working at all times, we’ll be able to accomplish way more than others. As our efficiency scales, our service prices can decrease.

If there is an opportunity to build a global holding group, why not give it a try?

Reputation Earth

Written by

Our job is to help businesses, celebrities, and other people in the spotlight save their name and reputation.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade