Paul Wallbank – Brilliant Communications

Category: business advice

  • The 360º brand

    “How do I advertise on LinkedIn? Asked a business owner at a recent workshop.

    While I answered that LinkedIn advertising probably isn’t the right path for many small businesses, one of my fellow presenters, Lara Solomon, disagreed and made the point LinkedIn is an important marketing tool.

    There’s no doubt about that as a marketing, rather than an advertising tool, all online channels — including LinkedIn pages — are important to businesses as customers, suppliers and potential staff check the web before doing business with an organisation.

    A good illustration of this was over the weekend when digital marketer, Raz Chorev, called out chicken chain Oporto’s for not training their staff on honouring Foursquare deals. Raz also made a point about censoring web comments which might be the topic of a future post, but really isn’t the issue here.

    Raz’s comments appeared on Twitter, Facebook and on web searches. To their credit, Oporto responded quickly by isolating the damage, explaining their position and learning a lesson on letting their staff know about all the offers they post.

    It isn’t just cranky customers posting on their own sites or any one of the thousands of review services such as Eatablity or Tripadvisor, we’re being judged on the comments of ex-employees, suppliers and even the quality and content of our own online utterings.

    our brand is out there, on line, all the time.

    A surly call centre, missed deliveries or billing mistakes all add up and damage our brands. Eventually, the massed weight of negative comments can overwhelm even the best, most expensive advertising campaign.

    Our brands, both as individuals and our businesses are bigger than just marketing, we have to make sure we are consistently doing the right thing by our customers, suppliers and staff.

    We’re in an era of accountablity which forces us to deliver on our promises. This is not a bad thing.

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  • A time for fresh ideas

    Stale old thinking doesn’t cut it anymore. In an age when plagiarism and rip offs can be uncovered with a few minutes searching on the web, simply copying someone else’s work has ceased to be an option.

    The same can be said for just recycling past ideas; the days of money for old rope are over.

    It’s time for new, innovative ideas and work. The opportunities for getting fresh thinking into society and business have never been greater.

    We can all do better than just leeching of other people’s work.

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  • Eight online tips for franchising

    The world wide reach of the web has always been a problem for territory based franchises. As a consequence, many franchise networks have a token web presence which they use mainly as a recruitment tool for new franchisees.

    An aversion to the web presents a difficulty for these franchisees as most customers are now online. By not actively using the net, those locally based franchise chains are finding themselves at a disadvantage to their non-franchised competitors.

    The franchising industry’s problem was illustrated last week by Ben who called into to my ABC radio spot last week on Internet business trends to ask about how a territory based lawn mowing franchisee can use the web.

    Ben’s question raised some important points that franchise holders — and anyone considering entering a franchise — should check to make sure that business is competing in today’s marketplace.

    Does the franchise have an individual page for each territory?

    Each franchise area should it’s own page within the chain’s site. While the contact details can redirect back to the central phone or form, the territory page should include some local testimonials and few other localised features.

    Is the home page regularly updated?

    A static index page that rarely changes isn’t attractive to search engines or customers. A vibrant business should be updating their page regularly. This is particularly true if there is a substantial network of franchisees.

    How does the site rank?

    When searching for the product or service the franchise sells, how high does the franchise’s page come up. If it doesn’t appear in the first page, then the franchise isn’t working.

    Does local search work?

    Type in a search for the franchise’s product and an established territory such as “lawn mowing Footscray”. If the Footscray franchise doesn’t appear in the local listings then the franchisor hasn’t listed their sites in the local search listings.

    What does the site sell?

    In researching this article, I found the biggest franchised lawn mowing chain appears in paid ads for “buy a lawn mowing franchise” but not for a actual lawn mowing. A site or digital strategy designed to sell franchises is good for the franchisor but doesn’t do much for the franchisee looking for customers.

    Is the franchise engaging with social media?

    Whether you trust social media or not, the market is talking about you on forums, blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other channels. A great example of this was Oporto last weekend. A franchise needs to be engaging with customers, critics and fans.

    Where are the franchisees?

    Are the franchisees listing themselves? This is always a worrying sign that a franchise isn’t controlling its marketing properly. On the other hand, if their personal profiles aren’t appearing on sites like LinkedIn, it can indicate too tight a control on franchises.

    What is their media strategy?

    The whole point of buying a franchise is to have a ready made brand and marketing strategy. If a franchise is locked into a print mindset with only at best a token online presence then they aren’t going where the customers are. Have a look at the online versus print effort before signing up.

    Many franchisors are playing by 1990s rules. Which was great for the last twenty years, but the old models are evolved as customers and potential franchisees have changed the way they shop and do business.

    The web and social media are more than just a passing fad or a blunt advertising and marketing tool. They are a key part of your business identity and are being used by suppliers, recruiters, job seekers and commercial partners to figure out whether you are worth doing business with.

    A franchise that doesn’t use today’s media tools is stuck in yesterday’s market.

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  • ABC Nightlife October 15 2010

    Update: You can download the show from the ABC Nightlife homepage included in the program are some ideas on how kids use the net, the challenges for franchises and the importance of search engine optimisation.

    The Internet is changing how businesses are working online. Join Tony Delroy, Paul Wallbank and Chistena Singh from Sensis to discuss some of the ways customers and businesses are changing the way the buy and sell on the Internet.

    Business has changing for last fifteen years as customers move online to check the deals and products available. With most people now on broadband and more using their mobiles, the game is changing again.

    We’ll be looking at the e-business report which is a free download available from the Sensis website.

    Tune in on your local ABC radio station or listen online at www.abc.net.au/nightlife.

    If you’d like to join the conversation with your questions or comments phone 1300 800 222 within Australia or +61 2 8333 1000 from outside Australia.

    You can SMS Nightlife’s talkback on 19922702 or twitter @paulwallbank using the #abcnightlife hashtag

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  • On being a price taker

    As Australia’s dollar reaches parity with the US dollar for the first time in thirty years, the nation’s newspapers and politicians are awakening to the reality that this is not a good thing for most Australian exporters, particularly for those mineral industries which are cited as being responsible for the Goldilocks economy.

    Those concerns are real, as this affects the employment of millions of Australia in the agriculture, mining and tourism industries.

    Selling a price dependent commodity product locks a country or business into cycles they can’t control; currency movements, trade wars and cheaper competitors.

    Adding value and creating products that can withstand the commodity cycles is the future for advanced economies. It’s as true for the businesses within these countries as it is for the entire nation.

    If your business sells on price, then you’ll need to think on how you can change your customer’s perception about your product before they see it as a commodity which can be bought cheaper from someone else.

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