Mar 13
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Mar 11
Websites can be brochures. A place to find information, an impression of `competence’ and professionalism, a way of checking a business out before contacting them.
But now everyone has a website. And a professional look tells you next to nothing about what the quality of the service is like. Even client testimonials are no longer enough to inspire total confidence thanks to the cynicism of the increasingly experienced web user.
In An introduction to user journeys by Jason Hobbs the writer tells us that: “Designing a website’s structure around customer needs creates trust—trust in the web as a valuable space to interact with a brand, product, or service. Such a website provides your customers with a valuable first point of contact.”
Yep, we know that. But what is it that a modern effective website really needs to do, if it wants to turn those browsers into paying clients?
The article goes onto talk about “Primary needs and need states” – which means?
“Answering customer needs is the end point of our journeys through the structure and the starting point of our thinking about the journey itself.
Successful commercial websites satisfy both business and customer needs. Each journey a user takes through a site should fulfil a need. If, at the end of a journey, you have a business need and a customer need sitting back to back, then the site endeavour will succeed.”
Fine words, but how do I apply this to my own website? How do I make coming to CertainShops a `journey’ for the visitor?
“Sit down and brainstorm content and functionality that will most effectively answer the customer’s needs. This can be anything from wizards to checklists, games, forums, or peer reviews.
In the case of a redesign, you want to assess how well the current content and functionality is answering and addressing the primary needs and need states.
Clients will usually have some existing content that can be evaluated on the grounds of relevance to and impact on the customer needs. Try to get your hands on an existing site map or draw one up by hand, and group that content under the various customer needs you have identified. The gaps will become clear. You can also rate the content in terms of how well it has been executed.
This exercise will reveal all the classic examples of brochure-ware present on the site and information that is actually superfluous to the customer. This can help in culling content.
With powerful and relevant content in place, you have the foundation to build effective journeys for your customers.”
So it’s getting your friends and colleagues together, plenty of paper and pens and blue tack, and physically creating a map of the journey of different types of customer, role playing their needs (hell, why not dress up and really go for it?) and understanding the different stages of their journey.
When walking in the mountains, sometimes you need to take a rest and look around, get your bearings, feel confident about where you are heading for. The journey through a website should be no different.
Currently, I feel that CertainShops has a great destination, but needs to make the journey towards those quality assured professionals more clearly defined for a wider range of visitors.
So if anyone looks through my windows over the next few weeks, they may see a group of people overdosing on caffeine, surrounded by large sheets of paper, and clad in an odd selection of clothes from my kids dressing up box. What they are unlikely to guess, is that we are creating a map, a journey where:
“People can drop into the online experience at any point and find answers and solutions to their needs. They may enter or exit this experience whenever it suits them and, at any point, this space, this website, is a reliable point of contact. This is the promise of user journeys: creating trust that allows this medium to take its place as a valuable channel for customers to experience a product, service, and brand.”
For the full article see: An introduction to user journeys by Jason Hobbs
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Mar 10
A brand is not a logo, or even a slick byline, but how you want your clients to feel about your business. With that in mind, I took the big step of getting together some bright and energetic people – some clients, some colleagues, all trusted and highly respected – to help me re-assess the brand of CertainShops – professionals online, “The certain way of doing business”.
There was food and plenty of coffee and sugar available throughout the afternoon, and some fun workshop activities – creating a mood board for example. This is basically cutting out images from magazines (the kind of advertising images that your clients will be responding to when they read those magazines) and using them to build the `personality’ of your brand. Not just what kind of people will want to use your product or service – but images that reflect the ethos and vision of your business, your own personal ethos and vision, most likely. You really have to stand in the shoes of the clients who will respond to the emotional selling points of your brand.
One surprising exercise was three groups of two people, each launching the same product – an orange! Three different interpretations for the same product, three different emotional selling points to customers. What that showed me was that the key to branding a product is not just about what it provides, but what your own emotional connection is with that product. For example, if sustainability and green issues matter to you, then the orange becomes a 100% recyclable drinks container that won’t spill in your pocket.
So if the key to branding your product is what you feel about it, then you have to explore that first before you can find ways of communicating that to others. I am enthusiastic about my business, I LOVE my business, but that enthusiasm and the reasons behind were not being strongly enough expressed via the website. CertainShops, like most businesses, needs the trust of it’s customers. People trust people who are authentic and genuine about the service they provide.
A branding workshop is a great process to go through and I recommend it. But to really get value from it, you need to get together a trusted team of bright minds to help you. It is a collaborative event, and hopefully, they will also go away with some knew ideas of how to apply the same processes to their own businesses.
I wonder if it would have worked as well if we were doing the process remotely, online? Maybe in Second Life?
Special thanks to the stars of the show: Nik Butler (@Loudmouthman), Andy White, Andy Downing, Alan Williamson, Scott Collier and Paul David (Brand Adventure). Extra thanks to Scott for providing the photographic images for the day, and of the day.
Click here to see slide show of a branding session workshop with captions….
Click here to see the photo-only animoto musical version……
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Mar 10
Coming off the sea at the end of Brighton Pier, and blasting its way through the air conditioning system of the Horatio Bar, a gale was blowing down the back of my neck.
Despite this, sitting wrapped in my coat as if about to leave, I listened with great interest to the ‘ethical’ businesses who bravely gave their websites up for scrutiny at the ‘Striding Out – Ethical marketing and branding event’ held in Brighton, UK, at the end of February. It was a great event, but I do have a general gripe about these kind of sessions.
As an entrepreneur, I am frustrated by the lack of goody bags at these kind of events. Yes, we get the information and inspiration, but what exactly am I supposed to DO now? What can I take away that allows me to put this newfound knowledge straight into action?
I believe one thing is to create an ethical sustainability policy for my business, but what I really want is to walk away from these kind of events with a template for creating my own, with links to appropriate help if I need it (even if that means paying for that help).
I was inspired by Sam Wilson of EcoEvents who has done so much homework in creating ways for events to be more ethically run, but also (and just as importantly) defined systems and mechanisms for measuring the successes and failures, and making the organisers of the events accountable.
And if businesses want to not just be part of the `Green Wash’, they should be accountable, at least to themselves.
What is the point of me creating a sustainability policy if my vision is not balanced by my commitment to achieving deadlines? And buffeted by the realities of every day life, will I not need to make constant revisions for my ethical goals to still be attainable?
I spoke recently with Vania Phitidis, an elected member of the Green Party, who is working with Wealden District Council on awards for `green’ businesses. Vania is keen to give advice and encouragement. Businesses should not be shy to make use of their local green MPs to get feedback and advice.
I shall be asking for plenty of help to not only get my first ethical sustainability policy for my business into good shape, but I then want to encourage other businesses to do the same, hopefully providing a basic `template’ that they can use as a starting point. Maybe I need to begin a section on the blog part of the site called “Starter Packs” – self help guides for SMEs who want to make the first steps themselves into creating ethical policies for their businesses? Perhaps even have a ‘an ethical PR starter pack’ – or ‘Create your own branding workshop’ (which would incorporate your ethical values into how you present your business)?
Getting expert guidance would be even better, but that costs money, and sometimes I think it is good to make the first steps on your own, since it is your own passion and commitment that will lie at the heart of any ‘policy’, and that may need some uninhibited development first.
One of the companies at the Brighton event were Green Rocket (who also trade as Blue Rocket, but their principles don’t change with the colour). Their genuine ethical agenda is refreshing to see in the marketing industry. They have created a succession of articles on how to be an ethical business , and try to set an example for the values they hold dear.
Kim Stoddart, Managing Director and Founder of Hove based ethical media relations consultancy and social enterprise, Green Rocket, was concerned about the environmental impact of her business from day one. As a community interest company with an authentic environmental purpose(75% of the company’s profits are reinvested in green initiatives), Kim felt that the company really had to be green to the core and that meant the first place to start had to be the office.
Prior to launch, an environmental charter was put in place which was designed to reduce the environmental impact of the business’ everyday operations. This looked at every area of the business and just some of the broad range of initiatives put in place included: recycling everything recyclable, including paper, cardboard and plastic waste as well as old computer equipment, mobile phones and furniture.
Choosing suppliers for their green and ethical credentials; such as Good Energy for electricity, Magpie for recycling, the Co-Op for banking and Green Your Office for office supplies and office cleaning. Offices were chosen in a central location, to make it easier for staff to walk, or get public transport to work and to travel to client meetings.
Being an ‘ethical’ business is about more than leaving a reduced carbon footprint. Green Rocket is a social enterprise, but what exactly IS a social enterprise, and how can my business take on some of the same values and practices?
I asked this question of Martin Murphy, who along with Tom Howat runs Network 2012, a website dedicated to promoting the values of social enterprises.
Martin’s explanation was as follows:
“When thinking about this question I suppose the natural place to start is my own motivation. Late in 2006 Tom Howat, my now business partner came to me with an idea he wanted me to get involved with. That idea became Network 2012 an online business and social networking website and events company and we have been up and running now for just over 8 months with nearly 400 members signed up.
“Our aim is to charge a small monthly or annual membership fee, which will contribute towards providing bursaries for those individuals, or groups who wish to start their own social enterprise but would otherwise struggle for start up finance.
“In a small way we are working towards a more inclusive society and a fairer distribution of wealth and that is the driving force behind Network 2012. Working towards a social goal as well as a business goal is in my view what makes a social enterprise. In essence we want a fairer world and see business as the method of providing that fairer world. In our case an online networking business.
“Though in business people see things differently and there are many different methods of working. For example some want to maximise profits and use those profits for a good cause while others wish to provide supported employment for those who would struggle to gain employment through the normal channels, and are not necessarily profit focused. Break even focused, sustainability focused maybe but not necessarily profit focused.
“But then what does profit mean anyway? We live in a world today where I would argue for the most part profit is almost seen as another word for greed. We hear of “fat cat bonuses”, we see utility companies making what some might call obscene profit while the average person struggles to pay their bills and get by.
“The world I want to see would entail those same utility companies run as social enterprises and the profits reinvested in the community instead of going who knows where! What if the profit were used to ensure that no one dies of exposure in winter instead of high bills being a reason people wont turn their heating on and do die of exposure? One day this is how it will be and I’m convinced that when that day comes we will look back at the way we generally do business now and see it as almost barbaric!
“At the moment we have people who we describe as social entrepreneurs out there running social enterprises and working towards a better world. They are not people who take the attitude that we’ll never make a fairer world it’s too big a job they are people with a can do attitude who believe we have to start somewhere. They are heroes who work not just for their own benefit but also for the benefit of others. They do this often by working all the hour’s god sends with very few resources and the usual struggle for start up funding and most would say they love it!
“I admire every single one of them. They are tired of living in an unfair and out of balance world where we see daily worldwide inequality, extreme poverty alongside fantastic wealth and children dying for lack of food, clean water or medicine and are doing something about it.
“It is the doing something about it through business that makes a social enterprise and if current trends are anything to go by in the future we will be much more of a force to be reckoned with. By all accounts the social economy is growing 10 times faster than the normal economy. Being aware of this fact could be the make or break of any business! “
I agreed wholeheartedly with Martin, but had to admit:
“Martin, I want to develop a more `ethical’ business, but don’t know what I can do to `make a difference’ right now, whilst struggling to run my small business. I know that with making good `profits’ will come the opportunity to reinvest it and do good, but what can I do now while my business is still growing?”
“I take your point completely. I appreciate that starting and running a small business is difficult I think there are definitely things small businesses can do.
“Check out their suppliers for example. Can they use a business that is a social enterprise/fair trade? Hopefully one that is competitive. Can they employ someone with disabilities, a single parent or long term unemployed?
“The overall advantage and this is something that shouldn’t be lost is that in the long run this kind of thinking may give that company a competitive edge.
“I attended a round table discussion last week with some representatives from large corporations all talking about Corporate Social Responsibility and whereas before the job of leading CSR was one given to someone an employer didn’t really know what to do with now they all have experience in the marketing arms of their respective companies.
“A lot of it is about brand recognition and appealing to a consumer who is becoming more conscious about what products they buy. I also think that in future perhaps the rate of corporation tax may be lower for companies that do something for their communities.
“As I’ve said earlier though Suzy I do think it may be hard to convince someone struggling to get their business off the ground that they can do anything but I’m sure with a bit of thought that they can.”
Suzy Miller currently owns her own company www.certainshops.com, an interactive online directory of vetted professional service providers recently voted by the Independent newspaper as one of the “101 most useful websites that will change your life”. Suzy has also created a blog to help the technically nervous join in with social networking online at www.bloggingforblondes.com
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Mar 09
Last week, a friend told me she and her partner were splitting up and they were going to tell the two children that evening. She told me this through the window of my car as I was dropping my kids off at school. On the way home I popped into the local organic bakery. No hot cross buns ready that morning. They were a bit behind. Someone had broken in the night before and stolen the petty cash.
I live in a community. A village. A place where sad and bad things happen but people can share the news face to face. People talk about communities ‘breaking down’ and often site family break ups and robberies as part of that process. But I think that these are events that happen everywhere, and when they do, it is being part of a community that makes those that suffer feel supported and listened to.
Online social networking cannot mimic that face to face contact. Yet the the relative anonimity of places like Twitter can allow that same kind of sharing. Not just what someone ate for breakfast, but what they are feeling at that time. And with those tweets showing up on Facebook, Facebook friends browsing through can catch a glimpse of others’ lives and feel connected.
There is a bypass threatening to carve up our village. With that would come larger stores, perhaps the death of the small local shops, and something precious will be lost. Will online communities soon be the only ones left where people can share the pain and pleasures of their real lives?
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Mar 07
Clever things to do if you are putting on an event. I attended the birthday party of an event company in London the other week which had some fab ways of making their guests relax and interact with one another.
After rushing over there on a Thursday evening, to be offered a free acupuncture massage was just heaven. Not wanting to miss out on anything, I then plonked my self down for a manicure as well and got chatting with a very attractive women who looked like a model, but who in fact works with the Secretary of State.
Eating delicious canapes (Red Snapper Events are renowned for the yummyness of their food) we relaxed and discussed the possibilities of Boris running London, and all the stiffness of `meeting a new person’ evaporated, making this a great way to enjoy a corporate event.
But best of all – was the photo booth. Taking us all back to our teenage years, as we queued to squeeze in with friends and have some fun memorable pics of the evening. What was so clever though, was that the photos were in black and white, so we all looked ok (!), and they had the event company branding on the top and bottom of the photo set of four prints.
A neat way to remember the evening by, and a good association to have with the company that put on the event.
What other cool event ideas have you encountered?
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Mar 06
I enjoyed the ‘Striding Out – Ethical marketing and branding event’ held in Brighton this week, apart from the gale blowing down the back of my neck that came in off the sea at the end of Brighton Pier and blasted its way through the air condition system of the Horatio bar.
Wrapped in my coat as if about to leave, I listened with great interest to the ‘ethical’ businesses who bravely gave their websites up for scrutiny. As I have recently discovered with my own site, the passion and integrity of the business owners was not coming across via their websites as clearly as it did when they spoke in person. This is not the first of these kind of events I have been to, and great as this one was, I do have a general gripe about these kind of sessions.
As an entrepreneur, I am frustrated by the lack of goody bags at these kind of events. Yes, we get the information and inspiration, but what exactly am I supposed to DO now? What can I take away that allows me to put this newfound knowledge straight into action?
I believe one thing is to create an ethical sustainability policy for my business, but what I really want is to walk away from these kind of events with a template for creating my own, with links to appropriate help if I need it (even if that means paying for that help).
I was inspired by Sam Wilson of EcoEvents who has done so much homework in creating ways for events to be more ethically run, but also (and just as importantly) defined systems and mechanisms for measuring the successes and failures, and making the organisers of the events accountable.
And if businesses want to not just be part of the `Green Wash’, they should be accountable, at least to themselves.
What is the point of me creating a sustainability policy if my vision is not balanced by my commitment to achieving deadlines? And buffeted by the realities of every day life, will I not need to make constant revisions for my ethical goals to still be attainable?
I spoke today with Vania Phitidis, an elected member of the Green Party, who is working with Wealden District Council on awards for `green’ businesses. Vania is keen to give advice and encouragement. Businesses should not be shy to make use of their local green MPs to get feedback and advice.
I shall be asking for plenty of help to not only get my first ethical sustainability policy for my business into good shape, but I then want to encourage other businesses to do the same, hopefully providing a basic `template’ that they can use as a starting point. Maybe I need to begin a section on the blog part of the site called “Starter Packs” – self help guides for SMEs who want to make the first steps themselves into creating ethical policies for their businesses. Perhaps even have a ‘an ethical PR starter pack’ – or ‘Create your own branding workshop’ (which would incorporate your ethical values into how you present your business).
Getting expert guidance would be even better, but that costs money, and sometimes I think it is good to make the first steps on your own, since it is your own passion and comitment that will lie at the heart of any ‘policy’, and that may need some uninhibited development first.
If anyone wants help with ethical PR, then the people to talk to are Green Rocket (who also trade as Blue Rocket, but their principles don’t change with the colour).
They were also at the talk last night, and their genuine ethical agenda is refreshing to see in the marketing industry. They have kindly allowed me to reprint some of their articles on how to be an ethical business at: Ethical Business – what can you do?
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Mar 05
So many of us have a home `office’, yet we are never there. Take last week. My business took me to Tunbridge Wells, Hammersmith, Peveseney Bay, and Piccadilly respectively. Ahh, that left Friday free to `work at home’. No it didn’t. I work at my kids school on a Friday as part of a parent/school partnership so my `office’ is grabbing emails off my phone in between teaching French to lively little people who may grow up into a world where the `office’ is more of an abstract concept, like existentialism.
With free wireless starting to be available on some overland train routes, the phone replaces the laptop, and with wind up phones coming onto the market, the lack of a recharging socket on the way to St Pancras will no longer be an issue.
The idea that one should sit calmly and just `work’ in a familiar place, could become as quaint and old fashioned as having to stand still whilst on the phone tethered by a telephone wire. Being able to multitask whilst on a cordless phone is great for getting lots of things done at once, but sometimes the `yeh, I know what you mean’ really should be `I have no idea what you are talking about because I have just put the potatoes away in the dishwasher and set fire the frying pan.”
I wonder what the consequences of our mobile offices will be to our businesses?
(PS. This was all conceived and typed on the train between East Grinstead to Victoria)
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Mar 04
PROFESSIONAL SPOTLIGHTS
Val and Don Rush – TR Resolutions, Matrimonial Financial Mediators
Divorce Fairs and why Financial Mediators can save you thousands
A common misconception is that Financial Mediators helping divorcing couples are hoping to get the couple back together again. A more accurate way to think of these skilled professionals is that they advise on your exit strategy from a relationship fraught with financial complications.
It is a sad fact that around 40% of marriages end in divorce, and the Government has been aware of the expense and misery that beset many divorcing couples for some time, and the Family Law Act 1996 was brought in to steer more people into mediation to resolve the problems of divorce and separation.
In 1999, Lord Woolf produced his report called “Access to Justice”. It set out a number of shortcomings he found in the current legal system. Amongst other things, he found it to be:- · Too expensive · Too complicated · Too adversarial · Too slow
Lord Woolf suggested mediation in appropriate cases as a way to overcome these shortcomings.
So what do Financial Mediators actually do? How do they make a difference?
- the reduction of animosity and fighting therefore much easier on the children who really hate to see Mum and Dad at loggerheads
- they allow clients to go at a pace that is comfortable to them. Having made the decision to split it still takes a while to accept and adapt to the inevitable changes and cope with the official paperwork – some people find this quite scary. It’s a big big step and mediators like Val and Don are sensitive to this- although they focus on the financial and children issues there is invariably psychological turmoil, and whilst mediators may not be counsellors, they are ready to empathise and give what emotional support they can- they have seen clients rekindle a workable friendship at the end of the process – really satisfying!- high profile cases like Paul and Linda M are so unusual. Often they have cases where funds are really really tight and it just doesn’t make any sense at all to pay competing solicitors unnecessarilyVal is adamant: “we do not in any way try to mend broken relationships. We make sure before we start that there is absolutely no chance of restoration and then work to make the inevitable split as painless as possible.”
Rather like marriage fairs which help you plan your wedding, there is a divorce fair in Holland which aims to give all you need to plan the perfect split.
The very first ever divorce or `break up’ fair was held in Austria last year. The fair gave advice on how to organise a post-married life, and to help couples to untie the knot as painlessly as possible.
The two-day fair was held under the motto “New beginning”. The event allowed would-be divorcees to consult lawyers about their rights and seek advice. The divorce rate in Austria hit an all time high of 50% in 2006, with 66% of marriages in Vienna ending in divorce.
The Saturday was reserved for men, and Sunday for women, so couples could avoid awkward encounters and retain a degree of anonymity. There was also a series of lectures on subjects like how divorce affects children and coping as a single parent.
This move towards accepting that the break up of marriages, and also civil partnerships, provoke complex emotional dilemmas and a great deal of fear, shows how the role of financial divorce mediators will become increasingly a necessary part of a healthy break up.
Mar 04
Chris Brogan discussed in his blog today about shuffling adds around and he brings out some interesting thoughts from the original article that had caught his attention. John Hagel writes in his blog Edge Perspective about how advertising is and will respond to the internet, and Chris highlights a key part of the article:
Why will the Internet ultimately undermine advertising? A number of factors come into play:
The Internet proliferates resources, all competing for the attention of people. Even the most targeted and relevant ads over time will have a harder and harder time rising above the noise.
The Internet creates powerful options for people in terms of how they become aware of new products and services and how they obtain information about the products and services that are relevant to them.
The Internet offers increasingly powerful tools to filter and block advertisements (and, yes, product placements will be an interesting alternative for a while, until even that space becomes so cluttered that people will mentally filter out the products)
Which brings me to www.theopenbrand.resource.com since with the world changing so fast for advertisers, how those products are branded in a way that works well on the internet will be integral to how successfully advertisers can market them. I don’t see how branding your company if you are sending out physical brochures is going to neatly transplant to making the impression you want on a shifting internet audience. A different approach is required.
Your core values and vision for your business or product will become even more important to understand if it is to be communicated across so many variable and shifting worlds – the physical and the virtual (if you choose to head into Second Life.)
Or will advertisements online just become something else we have to mentally block out (like the ones on Facebook), and what value will the advertising companies be able to provide their customers then?
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