Online Shopping: The Effects of Covid-19

It’s no surprise that online shopping became the norm in 2020. Social distancing and imposed restrictions meant people weren’t visiting bricks and mortar store fronts as often or at all.

Australia Post released its Online Shopping eCommerce report for 2020 which outlined the trends and growth online shopping experienced this year.

2020 saw a big boost in e-Commerce with more people shopping online than ever before. Australia Post forecasted that 12% of consumer spending would be conducted online by 2021 but Covid-19 saw online spending hit 12% in March 2020. Online spending in April was up 31% when compared to the 2019 average. Furthermore, spending was up 80% year on year in the eight weeks following WHO declaring Covid-19 a pandemic.

Here are some stats: 

-       5.2 million households shopped online in April 2020

-       More than 200,000 new shoppers ventured into online shopping, over a third of these new shoppers purchased online more than once

-       52.6% of regular online shoppers increased their shopping by three or more times

-       Ordinarily most online shopping takes place in the evening, since April online shopping has been occurring consistently throughout the day

-       Given people are commuting less, purchasing on smartphones has decreased and purchases on desktops or laptops has increased

-       The number of online purchases in August 2020 was higher than 2019’s pre-Christmas peak

Online Shopping Growth by State

Each state and territory experienced year on year growth. With strict restrictions in place from April through to early May and then even stricter lockdowns from July through to October, it’s no surprise that Victoria led the way in online shopping growth year on year.

This chart depicts each state’s growth. (Image courtesy of Australia Post.

What were people buying?

Initially, people were buying essential items given that uncertainty had led to panic buying of groceries, pharmaceuticals, hygiene items, toilet paper and alcohol. Once restriction guidelines became clearer and everyone began to understand what could and couldn’t be obtained easily, there was a more measured approach to buying essential items. 

Once things began to settle and everyone got used to being at home, online purchasing transitioned to entertainment, self-improvement, DIY, comfortable and casual clothing and gifts for loved ones.

It will be interesting to see if these online shopping growth trends continue as we move into a less restricted Covid normal. Have you increased your online shopping habits?

The Power of Branding

Branding can be a powerful tool. Everyone wants their brand to be top of mind in the eye of their audience but how do you achieve that? 

We all know that to get your brand out into the world you need to promote it whether through advertising, social media or any other channels your audience frequents but then what? What is the goal of your advertising and promotion? Do you have a call to action? Are you purely generating awareness?

Often, we talk about clever marketing. Clever marketing isn’t just about having a great ad that people remember but it’s branding your product or service so that your audience or potential customer feels a connection with it. 

There are many brands that have created great ad campaigns that have been a topic of conversation at dinner parties but is that the true intent of these ads? Yes, you want people talking about your brand but once they’ve spoken about it, you want them to go out and buy it and you need to give them a reason to do so. You want to create a sense of emotion that makes a person want to go out and try your product or service.

Recently, I wrote a profile piece on St Andrews Golf Links in Scotland for a client. While researching, I came across their new TV ads based on their ‘Write Your Own History’ campaign and can I say I was impressed. Not a golfer myself, I was moved by these ads and felt they encapsulated the spirit of St Andrews based on what I learnt through my research. After viewing these ads, I felt that St Andrews was a place I’d like to visit. I probably won’t play golf there, but I definitely want to visit the place known as the Home of Golf.

In my opinion, if a brand’s advertising and marketing can stir an emotional connection in an audience that has little knowledge or dare, I say interest in their industry then they must be doing something right.

 Other examples of clever marketing include:

We Love Our Lamb – How many people were inspired to eat lamb on Australia day after watching a series of ads featuring well-known Aussies?

Tourism Australia – Aimed at an international audience, these ads make locals want to explore our own backyard.

Slip Slop Slap – While these Cancer Council ads have been around for years, the catchy slogan and the important message has effectively flowed from generation to generation.

 Of course, we can’t forget the catchy slogans synonymous with certain brands. What’s so great about these slogans is the brand name doesn’t need to be mentioned to know who we’re talking about!

 Just Do It – Nike

Because You’re Worth It - L’Oréal  

I’m Loving It – McDonalds

The Burgers are Better – Hungry Jacks

Is there an ad campaign that you felt created a sense of emotion or made you feel good? 

Here's the link to the St Andrews ads if you would like to take a look. https://www.standrews.com/wyoh

Why You Need A Content Marketing Plan

With so many businesses being online today, content plays a key role in driving customers to your website. It’s the means to which you get people to your site and build trust. This is especially important in a time when there is so much competition.

 So, what is content marketing and how do you use it to get people to your site? 

Blogs, video, social media posts and anything else that tells a story, informs, educates or entertains is content. 

Why is content marketing important?

-       It builds trust and credibility by showing you know what you are talking about.

-       It enables people to engage and get to know you and your product before buying.

-       Fresh content with well-placed keywords is more likely to get picked up by Google.

-       It assists in driving more traffic to your website which can then be converted to sales.

 It’s well and good to have good quality content but how do you deliver it so that it plays it’s part in adding value to your brand and entices customers to purchase? The best way is to have a content marketing plan.

A content marketing plan outlines your topic streams and what sort of content you will produce. It may be blogs, video, social posts, live streams etc. It also outlines how and where you are going to publish and promote them.

 How do you go about creating a content marketing plan?

1.     Firstly, determine what is the right content for your business. Conduct a review of your current content to see what performed well and what didn’t perform so well. Understanding the performance of current content will help with planning future content. Try to structure content around key activities in your business. If you are launching a new product or service, create content that supports that. 

2.     Once, you have determined what you will be communicating about, work out what you want your content to do. Your content marketing needs to have a goal. Do you want your content to build brand awareness, generate leads or increase sales? Once you determine the goal then you can create content that aims to achieve that goal.

 3.     Now you need to decide how you will present your content. Content is now so much more than written content. Videos, infographics, podcasts and live streams etc all have a place in the content marketing plan. You need to decide how best to get your message across and how effective that medium is in getting your audience to respond.

 4.     You have your content sorted; how often will you post? Will it be daily, weekly or monthly?

 5.     Promotion is a key part of your content marketing. It’s great to have content available but how will you let your audience know it’s there to view? Social media posts, email, forums etc are effective ways to promote your content. Keep in mind your promotion methods should be based on you ideal customers preferences for consuming content.

Creating a content marketing plan doesn’t need to be hard. It’s all about working out what content is best suited to your business and your ideal customer and how best to promote it.

If you would like help in developing a content marketing plan, contact Absolute Marketing Communications.

Does My Business Need a Marketing Plan?

Every business needs a marketing plan. A marketing plan is a comprehensive document that outlines the strategic plan for your business. 

What is included in a marketing plan? 

A marketing plan should have the following elements:

-       A summary

o   This is a snapshot of your marketing plan

-       A background analysis of your business and your target market

o   Provide an overview of your business and your product or service. 

o   Identify your target market. Include any relevant statistics about the market and any key demographic information. You should also define your ideal customer, discussing their needs, buying patterns and motivation for buying. 

o   Include information about your competitors. Is there a product or service that directly competes with your offering? What are they doing to establish themselves in the market?

-       Your marketing objectives and strategy for your business

o   Outline your objectives, whether they are financial, about building awareness or engaging with customers. 

-       Your marketing mix

o   This section will outline your overall marketing strategy and how you plan to position yourself in the market to meet the needs of your customers. Include all activities and promotion you plan to use such as PR, digital marketing, advertising, blogs etc.

-       Your action plans and budgets

o   Once you have established your marketing mix, detail specific activities to achieve your objectives. E.g.: booking online advertising or producing a media release to announce your product or service.

o   Work out what your marketing activities will cost you. This is best broken down by activity, month by month.

-       Evaluation and monitoring strategies

o   It’s important to establish what works and what doesn’t. Review your marketing activities periodically to determine if they worked and whether you will implement them in future marketing plans.

 Keep in mind that your marketing plan is not a set and forget document. It’s important that you keep it up to date with any new opportunities that present themselves and tweak it to suit the needs of your business. A good quality, evolving marketing plan will make a useful reference document for your business.

If you would like help to develop a marketing plan, contact Absolute Marketing Communications. Contact Us.

How Many Plans Does My Business Need?

Planning is important to any business. Every business should have three key marketing plans; a marketing plan, a content marketing plan and a social media plan.

What is the difference between each?

Marketing Plan

A marketing plan is your strategic plan for marketing your business. It includes your brand and product strategies, who you are targeting and what you are going to do to achieve your goals (PR, content, advertising etc). 

 While it outlines your overall plan, it doesn’t go into detail about when and how you will implement these marketing activities which is why you need a content plan and a social media plan.

Content Marketing Plan

A content marketing plan outlines your topics and the type of content you will produce (blogs, videos, live streams etc) and where and how you will publish and promote this content.

Social Media Plan

A social media plan outlines your strategy and specific objectives for each social media platform you have outlined in your marketing plan. It should detail how often you will post and how you will use that platform to support your broader business.

By having these three plans in place, you will have a good foundation for setting your business up for success.

If you would like assistance with developing any of these three plans, please contact Absolute Marketing Communications via email.

Working on My Business. What I've Learnt.

While taking my own advice from my last blog article and working on my business rather than solely in my business, I finally managed to set up my business LinkedIn page. I must say I learnt a lot.

While I know about LinkedIn and its power as a networking tool, until I created a company page, I wasn’t in a position to view the interactions between followers and the content posted.

 Since having my LinkedIn page, I can see exactly how many organic visitors view my posts. Why is this important? Organic visitors are visitors to your site or content that are unpaid, so they are not captured through paid advertising campaigns. They are captured through the quality of the content, SEO etc.

The number of organic visitors can help you gauge the type of content that works. Whether it be the topic or keywords. This is useful when it comes to planning your content as you will be able to focus on topics that are of interest to your audience and further enhance engagement.

Follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/absolute-marketing-communications

Living Vs Existing

Often in life, people talk about only existing and not actually living. It often takes a life-changing event for people to realise they’re not living life to it’s full potential.

The same can be said for small business. Often small business owners get caught up in the usual day to day activities without giving thought to the potential they can unlock to make their business prosper. It’s the whole philosophy of working in the business versus working on the business. Often it comes down to managing the work you have and not creating an unnecessary increase in workload.

While Covid-19 has had a negative impact on life in general, for some aspects of life there have been positives. The big positive is that families suddenly have more time to spend together. While there have been negative effects for a lot of business sectors, in some cases small business owners have had an opportunity to evaluate their businesses and implement some positive changes to help their businesses move forward.

 While no one has enjoyed the down-turn in business, this quiet time has provided small business owners with the time to actively promote their business and look at new ways to expand and grow. Time; that up until now wasn’t available.

What can you do to improve your business during this time?

-       Update websites (re-design, write new copy etc)

-       Update social media pages (re-vamp existing profiles or start new ones on other platforms you have not yet explored)

-       Research resources designed to help you promote your business (business directories, forums etc)

-       Database management (ensure your databases are current)

-       Work on content (blog articles, EDMs etc)

Working on these aspects of your business can give you a great sense of accomplishment and allow you to put processes in place that will ultimately help you to work smarter not harder.

If you would like assistance with any of your marketing communications activities, drop us a line. We’d be glad to help.

Clickbait. What is it?

How many times have you scrolled through your social media posts and come across a headline that sounds intriguing, if not possibly ridiculous? Chance are every time you visit your socials you will encounter one of these headlines and as ridiculous as the headline may sound, you will most likely click on it. 

Once you finish reading the article you may find it has nothing or very little to do with the headline you clicked on and in most cases you may think it’s the most silly or irrelevant story you have read. But you clicked on it and that’s what the poster wanted. That’s clickbait! 

Why is Clickbait used?

Clickbait is very common and used by brands to entice readers to click on the post and through to their website. You may come away thinking that was an interesting read or you may think it was a waste of time. Usually comments on the article will give an indication of what other readers thought. Over time you will come to recognise who the repeat offenders are and possibly just scroll past. 

 Needless to say, over the last few months, a lot of clickbait articles have centred around Covid-19. Articles related to this are nothing more than scare mongering and posters have been called out; not only for not disclosing all the facts but also for it not being relevant to Australian readers.

Do you encounter clickbait often? If so, what are some of the headlines or stories claiming to be about? Do you think clickbait is a fair way to entice audiences to read content?

Publicity Is Free, Isn't It?

I often have clients ask me to develop press releases with the sole objective of getting free publicity for their product or service. While generally that is the purpose of a press release, it’s not always the result. Often my clients are left disappointed because they haven’t been mentioned in the latest industry magazine or website. After all, there are countless posts on social media proclaiming that journalists want your story and its up to you to provide the media with news. There is a little truth to this but the bigger truth is: nothing is free and you’re not the only one with a news story out there.

Up until a few years ago I was employed by a high end consumer electronics brand. Every time I sent out a press release, whether it was to announce the release of a new product or to announce changes within our organisation I always got some form of media exposure. This sounds contradictory to what I mentioned earlier but it’s not. What I didn’t mention previously is that my team and I had formed strong relationships with editors, journalists and reviewers in our field for years. We supported their publications and websites with advertising so there was no question that we would get some form of support from them when we needed it. There were publications that we didn’t advertise with but still managed to get publicity out of. Again, it comes back to relationships and that we had a product they wanted to talk about. 

Publications have now dramatically downsized since the evolution of digital content. The information usually sought out in magazines can now be found in a publication's online version. This being the case, magazines are smaller. To make a magazine smaller they have to cut back on editorial content. What editorial space there is available is reserved for clients that support the publication with advertising. You can’t argue with the logic.

Now I’m not saying that press releases are a waste of time. They’re not. They play an important role in a business’ media strategy. They serve the purpose of informing relevant media that you’re out there and that you have a great product or service. If your product or service is innovative, fills a gap in the market or is just a great product you will get exposure.

If you truly believe that your product or service deserves to be exposed to the public there are some ways you can assist in the process.

• Call publications and have a chat to the relevant journalist or reviewer to talk about your product. You may not get anything on the first call but keep in contact with them, build the relationship.

• If you are approaching local newspapers, they want the product or service to be relevant to their readers. Make mention of how your product or service is available to the people of a particular suburb.

• Consider doing some small scale advertising in a publication you want to be featured in. While advertising can be expensive, most publications will have an online presence, you may be able to advertise online for a fraction of the print price. You can then negotiate some added value such as guaranteed editorial.

These are just a few things you can do to assist in gaining media exposure, there is so much you can do for your business, product or service to get the publicity and exposure you need.

If you would like help in putting together a press release or a media strategy you can email me at hello@absolutmarketingcomms.com.au

Integrity: Better than Money or Power

What happens when one half of one of the world’s greatest rivalry’s has the chance to bring its competitor to its knees?

I recently read an article where Pepsi was offered private documents and trade secrets belonging to Coke as well as a vial of their secret formula.

It all started when a disgruntled Coke employee wanting to get back at Coke for what she believed was poor treatment met an ex-con who needed a job who knew an embezzler. It sounds like the makings of a highly anticipated motion picture, doesn’t it? 

A senior executive at Pepsi was contacted by the embezzler stating that he had top secret documents from Coke and he would be willing to hand them over to Pepsi for a large sum of money that would presumably set the three con artists up for life.

What these three didn’t know, was that while in their minds Pepsi would have been crazy not to pay up for the secrets, Pepsi had actually contacted Coke to tell them what was happening. Coke promptly called the FBI and the trio had unknowingly been dealing with an FBI agent from then on. Needless to say the three were arrested and charged with various crimes. 

While this is a really interesting story and it has a bit more to it than what I outlined, it brings up the topic of integrity, whether within your own company or when dealing with competitors and the broader business world.

It would have been really easy for the Pepsi exec to take the trade secrets and build an empire to equal that of Coke’s but would it be real? While we are talking about two business power houses, if you apply this scenario to any local small business, I think you’ll find that the outcome is the same. Very little satisfaction can be found riding on someone else’s shirt tales.

As a small business owner, would you be able to work in your business everyday knowing you didn’t get where you are on your own merit? Or would it be fair to engage in underhanded business dealings just to have an edge over your competitor? Would you feel the same satisfaction gained when you work hard for something?

I think its more important to be known as a fair operator with a great product or service rather than the business owner whose known as a shady character. Reputation stays with a person for life and while we all want to succeed in business it’s important that we treat our competitors, clients, suppliers and anyone we deal with, with integrity. That integrity may be the thing that will have others helping you out of a bind one day and prove to be more important than money or power. It's something to think about.

If you would like to read the full article, here’s the link: https://thehustle.co/coca-cola-stolen-recipe?utm_source=sunday&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=coke&utm_content=coca-cola-stolen-recipe

What's It Worth?

Not long ago I received a phone call from a consultant doing some work for another company wanting to know if I provided my services on a pay per performance basis. She went on to tell me that she wanted to get publicity for her client and while she was happy with any type of publicity she really wanted to get them a spot on one of the morning shows.

She essentially wanted me to create a media release, submit it to the press and do enough follow up to get a spot on TV. If they didn’t get any publicity, especially on TV, I wouldn’t get paid. I was really surprised by this request.

Most people know that generally consultants get paid quite well for their services and any consultant worth their title should know that the work I was asked to do was time consuming. I believe everyone’s time is valuable and that no one should be expected to work for nothing. I was further taken aback by her surprise when I told her that no one would probably take her up on her offer to be paid solely on performance. I don’t know if it was arrogance on her part or she truly felt her request wasn’t unreasonable.

In all professions, there is so much work that goes on behind the scenes that may not seem significant to outsiders but is important and time consuming. I just hope there aren’t professionals, especially those just starting out that feel they have to comply with such a request just to get work. No one should be asked to work for nothing. I’m sure that consultant would not have considered being paid per performance for the work she was doing!

Freelancing Websites: How Do They Affect a Future Workforce?

As a small business owner I appreciate the service that freelance sites such as Upwork, Freelancer and Airtasker provide. But a recent email from Airtasker had me wondering if they are doing more harm than good to a future workforce.

The email I received from Airtasker was a job alert from someone needing marketing assistance. When I looked at the job description, the poster actually wanted someone to complete their marketing assessment for them. I found this really disturbing as I wondered did this person really hope to pass someone else’s work off as their own and possibly pass a subject not on their own merit? Is this person going to obtain top marks which may lead to a great job but not know at least the fundamentals of marketing? Do we suddenly have an unfair playing field among students? Does a student who completes their own work and usually performs well suddenly see themselves struggling to keep up with students that have had experienced professionals complete their work?

These freelancing websites are great especially for small businesses that don't need an office full of staff but at times could use help on particular projects but I can’t help but wonder if they are inadvertently destroying a future work force.

Woolworths Rewards: The Verdict

So the new Woolworths Rewards program has been active for almost two months now and I must say I think Woolworths may have got it right. There are product categories that give shoppers the opportunity to earn bonus points and including BWS and Woolworths petrol stores in the mix has helped shoppers earn a substantial amount of points.

There are also promotions that enable customers to earn additional points by spending specified amounts of money each week for a certain amount of time if they wish. But even at 1 point per dollar spent, I think Woolworths has gone a long way to try and win back some of the customers they lost to Flybuys.

I personally think that it is now one of the better loyalty schemes out there at the moment. What are your thoughts?

What Makes a Good Loyalty Program?

In my last post I spoke about the Woolworths Rewards loyalty program and where it missed the mark as far as loyalty programs go. I thought I would continue on with that theme and look at what makes a good loyalty program

Almost all retailers have a loyalty program, you could say it acts as a guarantee of future purchases by customers. But what makes us want to join a loyalty program? Is it that we love the brand and want to be kept updated with product information and sales? Do we want to earn cash back or earn points that can be redeemed for products. Whatever the reason we are a population that loves a reward. 

In 2013 the Australian Marketing Institute conducted a study of loyalty programs. They found that 88% of consumers over the age of 16 were part of a loyalty program and 11% of consumers were members of more than 10 programs. 

That is a lot of customer data being made available for marketing purposes. So what makes us join and remain loyal to these programs? With so many programs out there how do you choose? Do you want membership to be free or are you happy to pay a membership fee knowing that the rewards will far outweigh any investment?

A common opinion is that a loyalty program that offers the opportunity to move up membership tiers is quite successful. A perfect example of this is the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. When you join you are on the bronze membership level. Now while you accumulate points whenever you fly or spend money at an affiliate, the real value is in accumulating status credits. Status credits can only be obtained by flying and depending on your destination that will determine how many status credits you earn. Once you have earned 300 status credits you go up to the Silver membership. This is where Qantas is smart. In addition to seating privileges and 50% bonus on your points,  as a gift for achieving Silver status, they give you two passes to the Qantas club. To maintain Silver status you need to accumulate 250 status credits but as you’ve had a taste of the Qantas Club, you now want to earn enough status credits to obtain a Gold membership which entitles you to access to the Global Lounges. So now you only fly Qantas so you can earn those coveted status credits regardless of how much more you are spending flying with Qantas rather than one of their competitors. Pretty smart!

So what will you be looking for when you join your next loyalty program?

Where Does Your Loyalty Lie?

Loyalty programs can play a big part in our behaviour as shoppers. They are also a valuable tool for retailers when it comes to collecting market research data. A good loyalty program can determine whether or not we shop with a particular retailer. Recently the Woolworths Rewards program has come under fire by shoppers and media.

I have to wonder what the Woolworths marketing department were thinking when they developed this program. In theory they had a good idea but when executed it fell short. If you’re not familiar with the program Woolworths offer a dollar amount cash back on products displaying their reward dollar ticket. Once you’ve accumulated $10, this comes off your next shop. 

There were a couple of problems with this. Firstly, they had a good loyalty program whereby you earned Qantas Frequent Flyer points when you spent over $30 in one transaction. This proved valuable to a lot of shoppers. When they introduced the reward dollars program they abolished their affiliation with Qantas. The other issue is there aren’t many products that are relevant to most shoppers that carry a reward, so to achieve a $10 cash back is no easy feat.

For months now social media has been inundated with shoppers complaining about the lack of reward products on offer therefore resulting in thousands of dollars being spent with no reward. A lot of these customers mentioned they no longer scan their card when they shop there, meaning that Woolworths doesn't get the valuable market research data. Quite a few customers mentioned going back to Coles for their Flybuys program.

While the Woolies marketing department may have got it wrong when it came to the new rewards program, they are at least listening. At the end of the month they will launch their new loyalty program.

They have once again reinstated their affiliation with Qantas and now shoppers will earn 1 point for every dollar they spend in Woolworths, BWS and Caltex. Once a total of 2,000 points has been accumulated, shoppers will get $10 off their shop. My question is: how long will it take to accumulate 2,000 points? It seems they’ve been paying attention to Coles and their Flybuys program. You can redeem 2,000 Flybuys points for $10 off your shop but its not at all hard to get to 2,000 points if you shop at all the Flybuys partners and take advantage of their bonus points offers. 

If Woolworths will be offering bonus points at any given time it may not take long at all to hit 2,000 points but if you base it on an average of $100 - $120 a week between groceries and fuel it will take approximately four to five months to get a reward. Will this be enough for shoppers? Time will tell.

Sponsorship: Show Respect

In the lead up to the Olympic Games there has been much talk in the media about Telstra’s clever advertising that implies they are an official sponsor when in fact they are not. 

If you’re not familiar with the campaign, Telstra launched a ‘Go To Rio’ marketing campaign which promotes the ‘Olympics on Seven’ app and features the famous Peter Allen song ‘I Go To Rio’ playing throughout. 

The AOC commenced legal action against Telstra wanting them to pull the ads because they felt the ads mislead the public into believing they were an official sponsor of the Olympics when they are not. They have made it clear that Telstra is in no way associated with the Olympics, the Olympic athletes or the Olympic Committees. Unfortunately the AOC lost its federal court case against Telstra so Telstra is now free to run the ads with the AOC having to pay their legal costs. Telstra has since amended their ads to stipulate they are not an official Olympic sponsor.

So why is Telstra trying to jump on the Olympics bandwagon? The story goes that Telstra was the one to sever ties with the AOC last year. Is it a way of gaining favourable exposure without the financial outlay? Is this clever advertising or a slap in the face to the actual sponsors of the event. As it happens, Optus is an official sponsor. Is this fair to Optus? 

In the public eye its probably a case of ‘they’re two big companies, they'll sort it out’ and ‘who cares about the sponsors any way, we just want to watch the Olympics.’ What a lot of people don’t realise is in a lot of cases the sponsors make things happen. They may play a part in getting the athletes to Rio, for providing uniforms, funds for accommodation and the list goes on. If this were a tale of two small businesses battling it out would we be more sympathetic to the business that was in Optus’ shoes? I think regardless of whether you are a small business or a large corporation, the same rules apply. 

I mentioned in a previous post that sponsorship dollars are extremely hard to come by and as such the terms of the sponsorship should be respected. This is no different. If Telstra wanted to be seen as affiliated with the Olympics then they should have continued they’re relationship with the AOC. The Olympics is a time of setting aside differences and all nations coming together to compete for their countries so shouldn’t businesses take a leaf out of this book and show each other respect when it comes to fair business practice?

Is it Ok to Turn Away Customers to Save Your Reputation?

I recently heard a story from a mother that was at her wits end because her 1 yr old child wasn’t sleeping at all. After trying everything, she enrolled in a very well known sleep school. Unfortunately her child wasn’t receptive to the sleep school’s methods so she was advised to wait six months to see if his sleep patterns changed, if not then she should try another stint in this sleep school. 

Six months passed and still sleep deprived this poor mother called the sleep school to re-enrol. The sleep school remembered her child, which could be considered good customer service but then they told her they would call her back and never did. You see this sleep school has a very high success rate and if they let this child attend again and they still can’t get him sleeping then their success rate drops. 

Is this fair? I don’t think so. While it’s important for a company to have a good reputation and to be able to boast a high success rate, is it not more important to offer the services you advertise? What’s the point in being the best in your field if you’re turning customers away because they may harm your reputation. If you persevere maybe you and the customer will have the desired outcome. Wouldn’t it be great to boast that you had to try a few times but in the end you achieved the impossible?

I guess my point is, don’t look at the black and white of the situation, look at the grey area. A not so perfect customer or situation maybe a real boon for your business or reputation.

Speak Our Language

Often we forget that we are not the target audience when it comes to what we communicate. While our target audience may require our services, we need to remember that we may be providing them with a service because they do not have the expertise to carry out the function that they hire us to provide. 

When we correspond with our clients we need to remember that we are possibly talking to a lay person when it comes to our field. I am guilty of making marketing and consumer behaviour references that my clients don’t understand. It’s great we know what we are talking about but if your client doesn't know A from B then we need to be mindful and give them the main points in easy to understand terms.

Don’t ever treat your client like an idiot but keep in mind that they may not know what an AB demographic is or what a HDMI cable is. They just need to know that you are developing a campaign targeted at white collar, high income earners or that there is a cable that will give you a great quality image on your TV.

Using easy to understand language can eliminate a multitude of problems down the track. How many times have you thought you were getting one thing but ended up with another simply because you didn’t understand what you were being told. 

So before talking to a client think about what you need to tell them and whether you are using technical terms or if you using terminology that is easy to understand.

To Social Network or Not To Social Network?

Social Media is such an integral part of everyday life and business. Most businesses now have a social media presence whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram or a combination of any of these. But its not uncommon for a lot of business owners, in particular small business owners to shy away from promoting their business on social media. The main reason for this is they fear that they are open to negative feedback and for a small business negative feedback can have a big impact.

Businesses survived many years without the internet and social media but we now live in an age where people rely heavily on websites and social media to make decisions when it comes to purchasing goods and services. It’s safe to say that if a business doesn't have an internet presence then it needs to rely on its reputation and word of mouth but unfortunately it doesn't always have the desired results. 

So how can small business have a social media presence and minimise negative feedback where its not warranted? By exploring the options of your desired social media you can tailor your page to ensure you are able to monitor any content that is made public. 

In the case of Facebook, you can set up your page to not display posts on your time line unless they have been approved by you. This allows you to police what is made public. If you do this bear in mind its not an excuse to bury your head in the sand if you don’t like a comment that has been made. 

One of the golden rules of social media is to address all comments whether they are positive or negative. Someone may comment that they left you a voicemail message but you didn’t reply to the message in what they believed was a timely many. Rather than ignore the comment, offer an explanation. You may have been in a meeting with a client or some other legitimate excuse. People need to understand that you are running a business so there may be times when you can’t answer the phone. Of course if you feel that a comment is detrimental to your business and unfounded you are within your rights to not publish it but I would still reply to the person directly.

Social media is such an effective marketing tool that I believe it’s important to have a presence. Consider it a passive form of word of mouth.

If you would like assistance in setting up your social media profile you can email Absolute Marketing Communications at arizzo77@tpg.com.au

What Am I Watching?

I was recently watching an episode of My Kitchen Rules and was really taken aback by the aggressive product endorsement. Like most people, I know that reality TV shows rely on the support and contribution of leading brands to be able to produce their shows but I was really surprised by the in-your-face promotion of the Holden cars used in this episode of the show. 

In the past we have seen the brand of car and the model but on this particular night we not only were informed of what car was being driven but we were told by the contestants of how wonderful the GPS was and how great the functions of the radio were. Had I just flicked over from another program I would have been forgiven for thinking I was watching a Holden ad.

This has never been the case in the past when Hyundai was the car of choice for MKR so I have to wonder if Holden made these demands. As a sponsor they are entitled to negotiate what they believe to be fair sponsorship terms but did MKR sell out? Were they that desperate for a car manufacturer to come on board that they gave their contestants part-time sales gigs? Are they alienating their public? We all know these shows need advertisers and sponsors but is this more aggressive approach actually annoying the viewer?

I know sponsorship is an integral part of MKR but is this going too far? I just want to watch the contestants cook. If I wanted a demo on the car I would visit my Holden dealership on the weekend.