Three tips for establishing a good online reputation

Two out of three New Zealanders will Google a person before meeting with them for the first time. Which begs the question, what are your potential clients and business associates finding when they Google your name?

If you are not actively managing your online reputation, it will be developing organically which, it goes without saying, is a dangerous state to find yourself in. Image by jannoon028

Intellectual Property, Auckland, New Zealand: Securing a trademark in countries like Australia, the United States, China and the United Kingdom will in future be exponentially cheaper and easier for New Zealand companies, following the Government’s decision to adopt the Madrid Protocol in September.

Intellectual property expert, Theodore Doucas of Zone IP (an intellectual property management consultancy in Wellington), said that the Trademarks Amendment Act is a major coup for the export industry.

As a signatory to the Madrid Protocol, New Zealand companies will only have to file one trademark application to secure trademark protection in more than 80 countries.

"It's not what you know, it's what you know about who you know."

According to a report in ScienceDaily, "a study of the biotech industry has revealed that opportunities which arise, and whether or not they are exploited by biotechnology entrepreneurs, depends to a large extent on how well connected is an individual business person and how well they mobilise their social network. Photo by Ambro

Tobacco companies aren’t allowed to advertise, but they say that any publicity is good publicity (I beg to differ). In the case of tobacco companies and a recent New Zealand Herald article, it may actually be true.

Did tobacco companies trick the media? The use of the headline and sexy photo send a strong commercial message...

I had somebody ask me recently what he could do to establish how his business was performing – lead conversion, how inquiries  were being handled, customer service etc. – because he was so involved in the operational side of the business he had lost track of what was happening in the sales and service areas.

If you are more involved in operational matters and you’re worried you’re not keeping your fingers on the pulse of the customer sales and service, it is incredibly important to first make sure that you have put in place processes and procedures for staff to follow.

If they’re clueless and dropping the ball, you have only yourself to blame.

That’s a given. If you’re too busy, outsource it.

Read on for some tips on how to find out what's really going on in your business...

Photo by Ambro

By Laetitia Smith

Can’t see the wood for the trees? Lucky you! Especially, as it turns out, if you’re trying to get your new product or concept accepted by a sluggish market.

When the going gets tough, it’s human nature for many of us to clam up a little while clinging desperately to the familiar. In light of the recent economic downturn then, how do you effectively market a new product or concept without being hit by a brick wall of negativity and resistance?

ScienceDaily — Companies that use the popular social-media site Facebook and its fan page module to market themselves to customers can increase sales, word-of-mouth marketing and customer loyalty significantly among a subset of their customers, according to new research from Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business. The study is featured in the March issue of the Harvard Business Review.
Research for the article, "How Effective is Facebook Marketing?," was conducted by Utpal Dholakia, associate professor of management at Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business, and Emily Durham, a Jones School alumna and founder of Restaurant Connections, a Houston‐based restaurant consultancy.

Photo by: Graur Codrin

We’re always looking for that unique idea. That something that has never been done before – the one thing that will differentiate us from our competitors and catapult our business into the stratosphere. But is a new idea, such a good idea?

I’m not sure introducing unique or different products or services is actually the holy grail many of us think it is (although I concede it depends on the service or product).

Sometimes sticking with the traditional fish and chips is a surer way to business success. Let me explain…

Photo by: Franceso Marino

I wrote this for my clients at http://www.gopher.co.nz/ - a good bunch of people with the best online directory in the country...

Feel like David going out to confront Goliath? Living in the shadow of big competitors? Heck, are other competitors plaguing you like a swarm of gnats?

No longer. The Internet is the great leveller. The ultimate equaliser. Any business can punch above – way above -- its own weight… provided they understand some secrets – little known things that can propel your business into the stratosphere!

The secret is this: If you try to compete on brand names with the bigger companies, you’re in for a hiding to nothing.

But, if you compete on benefits, well then… whose top dog now??

Photo by Luigi Diamanti

Is this story compelling proof that what you say is even more important than what you do?

By Colin Kennedy

In a time when all beer was marketed as ‘pure’, copywriter Claude Hopkins created a campaign that told the story of how Schlitz Beer was actually made. It rocketed Schlitz Beer to number One!

By Colin Kennedy

“90% of consumers online trust recommendations from people they know; 70% trust opinions of unknown users.” -- (Econsultancy, July 2009)

The most significant point of this statistic is that your prospects and customers trust the recommendations of people they have never met.