Decoding the new economy

A time for fresh ideas

To stand out from the crowd we need to be original and creative

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.

Eight online tips for franchising

Is your franchise network part of the online economy, or becoming a relic of the past?

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.

ABC Nightlife October 15 2010

The new business web trends

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

The Smartphone wars

Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 7 system means there’s much more competition in the smartphone market.

The mobile phone market has become a lot more competitive this morning with Microsoft’s launch of their new mobile phone system, Windows Phone 7, which will be appearing on new phones in the shops over the next few weeks.

For the Australian market Vodafone have announced they will make Window 7 available on the new HTC 7 Trophy model while Telstra are offering it on the HTC 7 Mozart and LG Optimus 7Q.

Interestingly, Optus haven’t announced what handsets they will be selling Window Phone 7on while parent company Singtel are offering the same handsets as Telstra in Singapore which, depending on exclusivity agreements, might mean Optus will have some suprises at today’s Australian launch of the product.

Should you be looking at buying a phone, you’ll find there will be a big push on the Windows 7 models as the telcos and phone sellers are desperate to have another smartphone alternative to the iPhone alongside the Google Android models.

Last week before the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce Telstra chief executive David Thodey described some of the challenges his organisation has with Apple and that frustration is shared by all the telcos and retailers who hate seeing the bulk of the profits going back to Steve Jobs.

So if you do set foot into your local phone shop before Christmas expect the hard sell on the Windows and Google Android phones as the dealers will be seeing better commissions from those devices.

As well the obvious incentives to salespeople, Microsoft’s always impressive PR machine has been rumbling away on this for several months after Windows 7 was launched at the Barcelona World Mobile Congress last February showing off early versions of the phones so we’ve had a chance to play with the devices and they certainly behave nicely.

It may be that the Windows 7 phones may well be the right thing for you. A play with them finds them fast and responsive with built in support for standard Microsoft features such as Exchange and Office applications along with consumer attractions such as XBox Live.

Where the Windows phone sits in the market is going to be interesting — we’ll almost certainly see the Microsoft and Google phones selling at cheaper price points than the Apple iPhone — however Apple tend not to respond to price wars so the battle is going to come down to features.

The real battle ground will be in the applications space as we now demand more from our phones. For most smartphone users, actually speaking on the thing is a small part of what they use the device for. US technology writer Robert Scoble points out Google’s Android system has over 100,000 apps available while Apple has 270,000. That’s a lot of catching up for Microsoft.

Although if any organisation can do this, it’s Microsoft as they have a well established culture of supporting developers for Windows applications alongside a massive army of resellers and support companies which all have an interest in the success of Microsoft’s latest product.

The biggest player, Nokia, isn’t taking this lying down with at least one new product launch coming up in the next few weeks. So the run up to Christmas is going to be fun for mobile phone resellers.

If you are shopping for a new phone, it might be worthwhile nursing the old one along for a little while, let the early adopters deal with the teething problems and seeing which product meets your needs and budget when the hype settles down.

On being a price taker

does your business rely on being cheap?

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.

ABC Nightlife Digital, 12 October 2010

Your say on the National Broadband Network

There’s been a lot of talk about the National Broadband Network, join Rod Quinn and Paul Wallbank to discuss what the NBN means to you.

We’ll be taking listeners’ calls to debate, explain and discuss the issues, costs and technology questions surrounding this massive project.

Please note that this segment will be going out on the ABC Local Digital Network in capital cities as the Commonwealth games will go out on the analogue network.

If you are outside of the capital cities, you can stream the program through the ABC Nightlife website. 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

Author: Paul Wallbank

A time for fresh ideas

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