Steven Hourston
London
- 24 comments
- 14 likes given
- 17 likes received
Business and marketing consultant. Offers online marketing training at BusinessSparks.com Visit and sample 4 short, sharp videos
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Hi Ripley, I think a combination is best. Be clever and go for the lizard brain. Be true to yourself and experiment until you're happy with the response you get.
My latest conversation: google018b395a78ca519e.html
Thanks David. Most people don’t realise how easy it is to control their personal brand on Google. It pretty quick and easy to do.
Thanks Lucy, setting up Google authorship is so powerful and it means that Google recognises your content as yours. It can’t be pinched by someone else. Anyone with a blog should do this.
It doesn't matter that I've heard it before too - I could read it every week. Instead of the beer I'd love a glass of punchy red wine.
My latest conversation: Which Emotions Are Triggered By Your Service Or Product?
@Danny Brown @Steven Hourston Thanks Danny.
@Danny Brown Damn it is a long sentence :-)
You gave some great examples of brands getting it right with their social media interactions in this post http://dannybrown.me/2012/06/10/sunday-shorts-businesses-doing-it-right-edition/
In your experience which brands are the best in building influence?
Thought provoking post as usual Danny.
Do you believe that social media concentrates the influence of the few who can provide brands with:
These shortcuts mean quicker access to the many; identification of who can spread a message; and more cost-effective approaches to outreach programs and brand advocate partnerships.
And/or does social media give brands the opportunity to build their influence with more personal interactions directly with customers and potential customers? And in so doing build more influence by having a relationship with someone whose word of mouth recommendation will carry more weight with family, friends and colleagues?
In effect they would be building a relationship with people whose influence may be more effective and timely because of their personal relationship with the brands target customer.
Hi Danny,
Firstly thanks for sharing your Thesis expertise with Craig - I'll check out the responsive design too.
Secondly, I'm dreaming of the day I can firmly reject the mail service approach. At the moment I'm a blogging worm on the ground being inspired by some of the eagle's soaring above. I'm doing the hard yards honing my voice, writing the best posts I can and attempting to build my audience.
Thanks for setting such a high benchmark.
Thanks Judy for the first time in my commenting life the big old commenting box has mocked me as I froze!
I agree with @samarowais that reading the comment stream is important, otherwise you can miss the evolving discussion. You soon learn to skip the ones who are guilty of your 10 reasons. The "crowd" point is very relevant too and can make some blogs feel like there's an insiders club.
My latest conversation: Inspired to Excellence
My eldest son Callum is learning to write and it's brilliant to see his pride and sense of achievement as he gets better and better. You also see the concentration and obvious connection between hand and brain.
How special was your daughter's handwritten note to her grandma - it's a million times more valuable than an email.
I've like to mind map ideas with pen and paper, write a draft on the computer and then sleep on it. My unconscious mind is a much better editor than my busy, multitasking conscious brain.
My latest conversation: The Queen's 9 Royal Nuggets For Your Business
Thanks for another excellent post Judy. I had the same experience as you with iStockphoto. Now I use Fotolia. I used their 1 month subscription which costs $249 and let's you download 25 photos a day. In total I downloaded 750 images which gives me a fantastic library. Unfortunately I couldn't download them in one visit - I was restricted to 25 a day. I 'd suggest building up a wish list before using this option.
My latest conversation: Yoga Breakdance
@Vicky Hi Vicky and thanks for sharing your thoughts. Her storytelling is so memorable isn't it. You're so right, the vulnerability insight will apply to a lot of businesses.
My latest conversation: Are You A Demented Dung Beetle?
@Oliver Hi Oliver. Isn't the Pareto curve a revelation. I first saw it when I was working at Boots. We had shelves and shelves of stock, most of which sold pretty slowly. But the winners flew off the shelves - we made sure we never ran out of those.
My latest conversation: Are You A Demented Dung Beetle?
@Phil Hi Phil and welcome. Doesn't the speed of change seem to get faster and faster. We all need to pause sometimes and look at the bigger picture, or we could find ourselves racing towards a smaller and smaller business. Think of some of the giants who stumble, Kodak being the most recent. Thanks for your comment Phil, drop by again.
My latest conversation: Are You A Demented Dung Beetle?
@ClayMorgan Excellent point Clay. It's amazing how quickly the actions of a CEO, good and bad sweep through an organisation. Their actions speak so much louder than words. I worked for a retailer in the UK. One customer -focused CEO left to be replaced by a deal maker. Service scores dropped pretty quickly - they just didn't seem to be important any more.
Hi Danny, thanks for writing about a subject dear to my heart.
I used to work as a "drug-dealer" in Boots the Chemist's, a large Pharmacy retailer in the UK. Swinging off on a tangent, retailing also offers brilliant lessons for websites. Retailers win more sales when they:
- give customers a reason to enter the shop (website headline and images)
- promote their best offers with high impact displays (above the fold banners and promotions)
- make it easy for customers to shop the store (links and navigation)
- offer the informed, enthusiastic service that Danny mentions that helps customers to make an informed choice (videos, live-chat, bullets)
- make it easy and quick to pay (ditto on a website)
- quickly respond to customer feedback (check your analytics)
Best of all, retailers can quickly test a promotion, check the sales and then test another and keep the winner. We can do the same with our website split tests. I reckon my years in busy retailing was the best possible training ground for working online.
Value is always in the eye of the beholder.
We all have ingrained, strongly held views about value. Unfortunately we often apply those views to our own business. Many people tend to think that no one would ever pay more than the lowest possible price for their goods and services. So they charge low prices and doom themselves to the depressing world of price wars, hard selling tactics, endless offers and hype.
We must resist imposing our pricing prejudices on our customers.
Last week I checked out the cost of return flights from London to New York. I could spend £247 for economy on BA, or I could blow £4559 for a different experience on the same plane. And there are other options in between. I could even spend 26x more than BA's cheapest option and indulge myself with a £6312 Upper Class Flexible experience on Virgin.
All Virgin and BA have done is to discover what their customers value and then give them a range of options at prices they’re willing to pay. And they make much more money because of the choices they offer and their skilful pricing.
My latest conversation: Do You Earn What You're Worth?
Thanks Jane,
I keep these 2 points in mind whenever I'm in a pricing discussion. The other point is that it's usually so easy to test prices and find the value sweet spots. More business should test a little.
@DannyBrown @FrankDickinson Gentlemen, you are both responsible for giving me the best possible start to my day in sunny London. You should also know that reading both posts while tackling a combination of bran flakes, shreddies and rice krispies was a messy tactical blunder on my part.
I'm going to give up on this blog unless you stop sitting on the fence and start sharing some opinions. Maybe then you'll have some "klout". Disclaimer: Irony alert.