Facttactic
Corporate and technical writers
I came face to face with amazing customer service at 3am on the weekend.
Ok, you may be thinking, what sort of customer service does any person need in the wee small hours?
Well, to be accurate, the 3am was in Bulgaria. At my place, it was lunchtime Saturday, and I was struggling with a dead-to-the-world website.
[Read more…] about when great customer service becomes great PR
Just a quick post to let people know that we have a client testimonial page on the site now to give more details of the work we do and the results we get. You can find it here: http://www.facttactic.co.nz/testimonials.html
Here are some numbers: online advertising now accounts for around 10 percent of the total advertising spend in New Zealand; and the total online advertising spend for the first quarter of 2010 was $53.32m, up 12.31 per cent from the previous quarter.
It’s a not dissimilar level to the global online spend, with the Internet increasing its share of the global ad market from 10.5 per cent in 2008 to 12.6 per cent in 2009, (overtaking magazines for the first time) and expected to increase to more than 17 percent in 2012, according to communication firm ZenithOptimedia.
Put that alongside a trend visible mainly in the United States so far, where wealthy sponsors are starting to back online community newspapers to fill holes in local news coverage caused by shrinking newsrooms at traditional papers, and a pronounced swing to online communications is becoming clearly visible.
Or perhaps, more accurately, the value of online communication is being recognised and understood.
Do you get your news by picking up a paper from the dairy on the way to work, or is it easier to do some surfing at morning tea from your desk? Do you find products and services in magazines and newspapers or on TV; or do you turn to the net as your first port of call?
And, more importantly, where are your customers finding out about you? Online, online, online.
Last week, I received a text message from the man about to start building a retaining wall at the front of my house. (Yes, he’s building it now; a great wall and I would recommend him). This was the first time I had ever received a text message in a business context, and on top of that I had not received any communication from him before, so his text was his first response to my phone call asking him to do the job.
His message took me by surprise, as texting has — for me — been pretty much limited to two types of message: 1) Arranging social events (times and places). 2) Sending brief frivolous/humorous comments about random activities in my life to people in a small circle of friends who are understanding (if not always appreciative!) of the humour.
So now I’m wondering if texting is a legitimate new form of business communication (and if there are protocols for it); or if a text is simply the new email, which for me is my default mode of communication for all clients, including sending invoices and often making first contacts.
Emails can include links and attachments to make the communication richer. They can be formal or casual. The time it takes to type a text limits its length, context and overall value but they do reach people where-ever they happen to be at any given time, I guess.
They say that for kids email is already over the hill and texting is all that matters and, yes, true, the surprise of receiving a text message from my wall guy has now receded and texting has become our main way of sorting out working issues.
But whether I’ll now disregard texting as simply a way to arrange a beer or send a one-liner, I’m not so sure.
Have you ever noticed that a large number of Hollywood movie posters have blue and orange as their two main colours? Blue for tranquility and orange for action and energy.
It’s the best combination of colours to lure people into the cinema, they reckon. Think that sounds far fetched, check this page out!
I’ll never be able to look at another movie poster again … but it does shows the power of colour in communication.
You might also be interested to read an article on an NZ Trade and Enterprise website that looks at how businesses can use colours to guide customers to action, especially on websites.
A Chicago woman made derogatory comments on Twitter about her landlord and her rented property. The landlord reportedly went straight to court to sue the woman.
The citizens of cyberspace are Tweeting and blogging like crazy about it. Messages for and against both parties.
The woman may or may not have the best intentions. The landlord may or may not be the world’s best landlord. But who’s right? Who’s wrong?
It doesn’t really matter anymore. The lid has been lifted, the genie’s out. Damage control will be difficult to put in place. Take care how you project and protect your corporate reputation!