Evidently the infections are unsightly, destroy a nail(s), are contagious and take ages to rectify – at least two months. Doctors and pharmacists advise no nail polish for the duration of the treatment which can cost up to two hundred dollars plus. Treatment includes nail paint and tablets.

Aren’t these places rather cutting off their noses to spite their face? They are there to add value and provide fast, easy access to what used to be a luxury service, and yet are actually putting customers (and their families) at risk of their health. I feel pretty angry at such a lack of safety and hygiene. I spoke to my pharmacist this morning and she said they often have requests for treatment for fungal infections from these type of places, at her chemist and at the branch she worked at in other areas.

In terms of product marketing and brand reputation management, what is your call? Price and convenience versus cheap and quick? Pay full price at a reputable beauty parlour or risk walk-in nails? Any experiences out there to share? And will you share your experiences – if so, these nail bars are up for a slamming in terms of brand.

We work our personal branding offering with TaurusProfile and our social media online risk management with TaurusEngage – so we monitor and strategise on these topics for a living. But what are you doing with your product or service in terms of online risk management, brand maintenance, price and service offering – and quality control? It’s a set of skills that come under the marketing umbrella and that deserve some real attention as we emerge post GFC.

Personally, I’m sticking to my lovely ladies at Spabar! And because I get good service, made to feel special and get a good result – unashamedly will promote their brand to my girlfriends!

Before you get too caught up in the hysteria of good times booming, get too busy with prospective clients, or start your round of Christmas festivities – we think it’s a good time to blow away the cobwebs of the GFC by getting back to basics with an operational spring clean.

At Taurus, we decided to create a summer pre-Christmas ‘business sieve’ into a team effort, pulling every member to organise a small part of their day within their week and get motivated as corporate clean-up bees; and what a difference it has made. We are certainly going to hit the ground running in 2010.

An operational overhaul is similar to doing an audit. We pulled out our marketing, advertising, sales and communication material and reviewed what needs updating, what can be compressed, archived and what you can give the old ‘heave hoe.’ We have sorted customer files, removed templates we can use again, identified new processes and cleaned behind things. We started the exercise thinking we needed new storage and now have more room than we can poke a stick at.

Here is my checklist for a festive operational business spring clean (feather duster and Santa hat optional) that will make you, your employees, workplace and visitors feel fresh and rejuvenated to hit the ground running in the New Year.

My top 10 operational tips are:

1.     Filing /organise old client files – the most dreaded and draining part of doing an operational overhaul, but most probably the most essential, is to free up filing space and get rid of dead wood.

2.     Tidy up – organisation is your best friend; kitchens, bathrooms and reception areas can be put back into order. The areas represent your brand image and will negatively reflect upon your company’s professionalism if not kept tidy.

3.     Make sure all contacts are up to date – your contacts of customers, suppliers and prospects is the essence of your business, without these you have very little. Make sure you have correct lists, phone directories and folders created. Create processes so these are updated on a regular basis.

4.     Throw out everything you don’t need – yes those three year old printed emails are not all necessary and need to go. Everything that you do need keep labelled and in a particular place so it can be found when it is most needed.

5.     Finances – leaving accounts, invoices, and receipts in a mess is a business sin, so get your act together now. It doesn’t take long. You will thank me for this when the tax man comes knocking on your door.

6.     Computer – folders folders folders; is the name of the game. Get those works in progress in order, and keep your computer well protected with up-to-date software, virus protection and regular system back ups.

7.     Website – when was the last time you looked at your own website? In today’s online society people create an instant perception of your business from a Google search. If press news are not up to date, and the site is not visually appealing it will reflect badly upon you. Also try to add recent testimonials whenever you can.

8.     Admin – fix up the simple stuff, stationary, desks, and office draws. Every little bit counts.

9.   Templates –these are a time saving heaven as you will not have to reinvent the wheel. They will increase efficiency ten fold and reduce workplace headaches.

10.  Portfolio updates – is your best and brightest work on display? Well it should be. Find creative ways to display your work. Try using large display folders and leave them in a client waiting area for them to flick through.

All in all, it’s about seamlessly working out a system which will de-clutter, reorganise and freshen up your work environment to increase productivity and business performance in the New Year. Happy cleaning everyone!

Top tip: If you feel you are time poor hiring or outsourcing to professionals who can help with cleaning and organising your workplace can be a valuable investment.

The contentious hot air balloon boy mystery dominated global news last week and dominated the weekend. It would seem the entire world was glued to the screens over the fate of a cute young boy whose family feared he had been launched into space in a hot air balloon.

The seemingly frantic parents – the Heenes – raised the alarm mobilising cameras, police and the airforce and hours of unpaid air time.  This mobilised army of people frantically followed the balloon as it floated across the skies of Colorado – only to find the balloon empty when it finally landed. The young boy Falcon was then astonishingly discovered in the attic of his home, where his Mum and Dad claimed he hid without them knowing. It turns out the family had concocted the whole fiasco as a publicity stunt to better market themselves for the possibilities of a TV reality show.

As the final hot air leaks from this story, it turns out the family definitely got what they wanted – lots of free publicity! However has the publicity stunt worked in their favour or did they step over the line? And what will this child think, in later years, when reflecting on the integrity of his family? The family are now under police investigation and face potential charges for conspiracy and wasting police time – perhaps even a jail sentence – which will really and very physically separate parents and child.

Publicity stunts have always been used as staged events designed to attract public attention to a brand or a particular campaign. As with all publicity, stunts can sometimes hit the mark such as the great Nando’s Peri Peri Sauce hijacking of the Bruno premier earlier this year, or they can fail with the public not paying any attention to the stunt at all.

Clothing chain Witchery generated publicity for its new men’s range with a fake viral video of a girl looking for the owner of a jacket earlier this year – which actually ended up damaging the brand. Mainly because the girl in question and the brand did not fess up to the stunt which prompted the media and public to grow weary of the story and lose faith in the brand. In the case of the hot air balloon the police did get involved, moving the story away from a publicity stunt into fabricated news. The Heenes, while raising their profile, have damaged their brand and will be seen as irresponsible time wasters, dishonest and quite frankly, in my opinion pretty poor role models as parents. Time will tell if the stunt finishes as a long lasting bad decision for all of them.

For a stunt to work it has to be ‘out of the ordinary’, mostly shocking but not dangerous, tap into the public psyche and catch the imagination. Successful publicity stunts have news value, offer photo, video and broadcast opportunities and cause a laugh. So if you are thinking of your next stunt (??!) there is no point in trying to stage it if you can’t see it catching the public’s imagination and create a buzz around your cause. The media receive hundreds of  stories a day so your story has to stand out and do something different to catch their eye.

As the County Sheriff Jim Alderden, investigating the balloon boy case, said: “The Heenes put on a very good show for us, and we bought it!”

Top tip: Sometimes it’s the simplest that ideas work best.

I’ve had some fun customer experiences and some difficult ones, but none as complex or contentious as being the agency chosen – 5 weeks before launch date – to engage in the Jesus. All About Life campaign. A campaign, that for the first time, uses modern media eg TV ads, outdoor ads and social media with the aim to initiate conversation about Jesus, the person. Some of you might have seen the advertisements promoting Jesus and www.allaboutlife.com.au that have sprung up around Sydney and NSW this last week. Many of my customers have noticed them.

As the company tasked with organising comms around the campaign, I think we have, by now, heard every argument for and against, every endorsement, every attack, every opinion, all the reasons the campaign will work and all the reasons why it won’t. It is rare in the world of PR and marketing that a team gets to work on a campaign that inspires such vigorous debate, interest and contention. The campaign and the experience has taught us a number of things – how to unite in the face of our differences, how to work best as a team when we thought we were pretty good already, and how to keep going when the going gets tough. Oh and how to laugh when in doubt! Throw faith and passion into the pot – in terms of what we believe are good comms strategies, and passion for doing good work and you have a potent mix. This campaign has taught and is still teaching us many things.

When I told my business advisors we had started work with the Bible Society to publicise the Jesus. All About Life campaign, they made me laugh. They said people had been trying to promote Jesus for 2000 years and how did I think I was going to make a difference? Which brings me to perhaps the most interesting element of this campaign from a business and marketing perspective – how do you promote a 2000 year old intangible? A guy that died 2000 years ago! We can’t see him, I can’t present him for interview, I can’t media train him and arguably I have no real proof of his existence. How do you go about promoting a ‘product’ that inspires such definite opinions, heated arguments and sometimes ridicule? Where do you begin, when there is no compelling event or launch or product and the opportunity to offend someone stands on every corner.

We decided that the best way to approach this was by looking at what we did have, rather than what we didn’t – a good place to start. Just as in business, it is the norm to establish the key selling points of your proposition or to define your offer up front, i.e. what will people be most interested in. Define the interests of your stakeholder or target groups and establish how your offering relates to those interests. Then communication is fairly straight forward. We chose the Christian media and the marketing media to kick off our campaign. We then moved to an issues and research based communications strategy. If we can get results on an arguably invisible, 2000 yr old intangible – I reckon you have every chance of making history with your next promotion! Take heart.

Top Tip:  Even faced with the most intangible proposition, you must find the unique selling point of your product/service or offering. Start by asking your customers what impact it will have on them.

Be sure of this, your database is the one single, most important asset you have in your business. It is your  corporations very own personalised intellectual property and should be protected at all costs. After all, if all goes belly up in your business you can open up tomorrow and transact with all those who already know and trust you. If I get an incorrectly addressed letter it goes in the bin – the trust is destroyed.

At the moment, when times are tough  – and it’s more timely than ever to focus on communicating  – it makes one big difference if you know for sure you are communicating to the right person and that they will actually receive your message.

I learned through hard earned experience building my own business, that accurate knowledge is, indeed, power. At Taurus, we make maintaining the database an accountable and KPI’d function – something we even celebrate as a business objective when we hit new numerical and quality milestones.

Using database software, which doesn’t have to cost you the earth, means you can simply and regularly update your database. This will also enable you to communicate with hundreds of contacts at a flick of a switch. You should also be able to get detailed contact statistics and reports, which will give you vital information about your client and contact base.  And make sure your database is divided up to represent different groups of people. You can then use your database system for direct marketing to engage with your various customer segments – prospects, influencers, suppliers, highest earners –  and bring in new leads. Once you are up and running you can easily send through promotions, newsletters, invitations and any other updates.

I urge you that as the weather gets warmer you spring clean your database and if you haven’t got a computerised system – start one and use it to improve your business!

Top tip: If you do not have the time to update your database, hire a database administrator, a graduate or a part time mum or even someone willing to do work experience. You don’t necessarily need them full time – a few hours a week will ensure your database is kept up to date.

In listening to a PRIA webinar with Eric Beecher, senior journalist and co-founder of Crikey.com recently, he discussed the increasing rise of ’Churnalism’ or the constant turnover or regurgitation of news. As a business owner or decision maker, it is important that you are aware of this ongoing media trend as it affects all businesses large and small that want to communicate with the media.Beecher discussed that because journalists are so time constrained due to a lack of editorial resources and a tightening of budgets, they are often increasingly being forced to rely on being fed content and news. Beecher believes that churnalism is driven by the convergence of media on the internet and the effects of the GFC.

From a PR perspective, it is great when journalists publish almost the exact copy of a press release that we have distributed as it means you successfully convey a client’s key messages. However, as a reader of news this is not what I want and I am pretty sure it isn’t what you want. Quality journalism reports and analyses news. The keys factors to a journalist’s role lie in quality and trust. When I pick up the paper or read an article online I want the published news to have been fully analysed, researched and to reflect the author’s (an unbiased third party) perspective. When news is ‘churned’ out, the news simply holds less value for the audience.

Our job as PRs is not an easy one of simply churning out stories, our reputations are reliant on providing solid, quality and well researched information. In today’s world, PR’s are more accountable than ever before and it has never been more important to be impartial in our communication as today’s audience can see through any spin, check facts and go to the source direct. As a PR I welcome critique and analysis from journalists, they make our roles more challenging and engaging and improve our dissemination of news.

It has never been more important for businesses to be open and honest as consumers want to know the story behind the story, they want to be communicated to and they want transparency and impartial opinion.

Top Tip: Do not be disappointed if a story that you release does not achieve instant coverage. A key objective of  distributing news is to build relationships through regular and relevant communication. ]]> http://www.dynamicbusiness.com/articles/articles-blogs/churn-and-burn4020.html/feed 0 http://www.dynamicbusiness.com/articles/articles-blogs/the-new-unfair-work-act3929.html http://www.dynamicbusiness.com/articles/articles-blogs/the-new-unfair-work-act3929.html#comments Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:22:12 +0000 Sharon Williams http://www.dynamicbusiness.com/?p=9288 The Fair Work Act, introduced last week is yet another challenge for us to deal with and promises to change the way we work and pave the way for a fairer and more balanced work ethic between employer and employee. I am always the first to stand up and support any Act that improves work relations,  however, being a small business owner, I do have some grave concerns.

The new regulations have come at a difficult time when small business is particularly focused on staying afloat and trying to keep their staff employed – let alone anything else. In a period when flexibility is key to surviving in this market, the new Act instills tight regulations that increase the pressure on us, as business owners and takes away the nimble aspects of the previous Workplace Relations Act.

It is worrying that the Fair Work Act could have an adverse effect on small business and their opportunities to do business with flexibility, as this could be detrimental to businesses.

Reflecting the concern from COSBOA, I feel the Fair Work Education and Information program should have been implemented earlier to allow us to be fully prepared for what are significant changes. Julia Gillard, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations only announced the new program a day before the Fair Work Act came in to force. Small businesses do not have resources, including in-house lawyers or human resource departments, to help us navigate major workplace relations programs. It is another distraction and as a small business owner something else that I have to find out about and prepare for.

The reality for me and many others is that we just don’t have the time. This new program should have been discussed and implemented months ago so all businesses were prepared for the new legislation.

Top tip: Seek out a good business advisor you can call on to help you with your industrial know-how so that you are not left open to disputes.

We have enjoyed an unprecedented boom, so as all things go up, they must come down.  Chris explained that the Government’s action, that was hard, fast and a ’stomp on the accelerator’, by delivering a large and fast stimulus package, has to date shown effective results – the average family is spending 6.3 percent more now than a year ago. The Government has to spend more in the short term to help us for now but will have to caution spending in enough time to aid recovery – a difficult balancing act.

Although some argue that the GFC is yet to reach its full climax and the larger downturn will come in approximately 12 months, I don’t believe we should plan for doom and gloom. It’s being brave enough to claim your space and making the most of opportunities.  Be sure to protect your required skillsets for the long term – it may not seem there is a skills shortage with the many redundancies and retrenchments that we are experiencing, but a skills shortage is still predicted globally so be conservative and cautious in your planning. My guess is that once the global crisis is over, the climate crisis will re-emerge again – and ‘green’ and ’sustainability’ will be very much back on the agenda. Your thoughts?

Top tip: Take a poll from your customer base to find out where their sentiment is from an economically and a climate control perspective.

With the rise of social media and the pressures around the global economy, it has never been more important to develop and promote your personal brand so that you stand out from the crowd.

If you are a leader – or an expert in your field, whether you like it or not, you are the captain of your brand. Developing your personal brand is the most effective way to stay ahead of the game – while your competition is worrying about issues now. Not that you shouldn’t be mindful of issues and pressures, but the smart companies will plan for the future. It is a tough climate, but history has shown us that in a recession brands that took the leap to innovate and promote themselves generally reaped the rewards. Look at the case of cereal brands Post and Kellogg’s in the 1930’s US recession – Post took shelter and Kellogg’s…well we all know the end to that story.

The moral is that there are opportunities out there and things will get better. Just today, a Consumer Confidence Survey from the Westpac-Melbourne Institute, revealed that a substantial majority now expect their finances to improve over the next year, while the number of people pessimistic about the economy over the next year is falling sharply. You just have to be brave enough to position yourself ahead of your competitors and developing a personal brand is an effective way of grabbing the bull by the horns so you are in a strong position beyond the GFC.

Only the most confident and resilient will survive.

Tip of the week:

Difficult times see the strong and the weak divide – so focus now and take advantage of the green shoots of recovery – it is just around the corner. And remember the stronger a CEO leadership brand, the closer the link with stronger corporate performance.

However, the truth is whether we are part of it or not, the conversation is happening. It will go on regardless, so my instinct is to be part of it.  As far as I’m concerned, I will engage, share views and experiences and involve myself in the debate. In recent weeks, mass media has given a lot of attention to social media – it is undoubtedly a powerful tool. Just look at average punters such as the Chk Chk Boom Girl and Susan Boyle who have been elevated to global celebrity status – plus the 1000’s of instant Twitter updates this week on the missing Air France plane.  Social media tools are gaining popularity and instantly engage an audience. They work in real time and gain new users who choose to get their updates direct from these platforms rather than RSS or news websites.

There is an argument that social media such as Twitter is just a phase – in a sense this could be right as media is constantly evolving with increasingly dynamic technology – I started on a telex machine! People may abandon certain forms of social media in a few years, but emerging technologies mean another platform or tool will replace them and the conversations will still go on. So engage. And tell me what would be useful in a marketing blog for you?

Top tip: If you want to engage in social media but haven’t got time to – direct and delegate it – just do it.