Archive for January, 2007

The internet spreads bad publicity about your business

Monday, January 29th, 2007

Sites like This is Broken are proof that right now – and more so in the future – you’re not going to be able to get away with not taking action when your customers speak. The site points out simple things that are ‘broken’ – whether it’s a picture that isn’t large enough on Amazon’s website, or a sign that doesn’t make sense in a small convenience store. Many of the examples are American, with a few British ones. But the general concept is brilliant and simple.

This kind of stuff is bad publicity, that can easily be turned to good publicity. How? It’s obvious; if one of your customers has taken the time to post something about your business, then fix it, and let that person know!

No-one expects businesses to be perfect 100% of the time. But with sites like this, they increasingly expect businesses to listen to their customers, and then take action. The most important thing is action.

Piggyback this good dog news

Monday, January 22nd, 2007

This morning’s news reports that having a dog is good for your health. If your business is involved in dogs or fitness in any way, there are opportunities here. Pet shops could organise ‘fitness nights’ where a load of customers take their dogs for a walk together. Or sell ‘thank you’ snacks, for grateful owners to thank their dogs for keeping them healthy.

If you own a gym, you could have “bring your dog to the gym” night.

You only have to do something like this once, but make it fun and easy for the media to cover, and you should get some good publicity from it.

Grab the domain name before announcing the news

Monday, January 15th, 2007

Fair play to these people for getting these domain names as soon as Becks announced his move to LA (Guardian story, so needs free registration).

Your business might not attract the attention Becks does, but it’s a good reminder to buy domain names before you launch any new product, not as you’re launching it.

For the sake of a few quid, it removes a lot of potential future hassle.

Is this a publicity stunt too far?

Monday, January 8th, 2007

How far is too far in a publicity stunt for your business? What about getting a woman to tattoo your website address on her forehead?

This is an old, but famous story. Karolyne Smith was paid $10,000 in 2005 to get the tattoo done. She said she needed the cash for her son’s education.

Other stunts Golden Palace has done include naming a monkey, putting temporary tattoos on boxers during fights, and buying the Pope’s old car.

Some of these are pretty far out stunts, but GoldenPalace almost can’t put a foot wrong. By doing these kind of stunts on a regular basis, they are creating a reputation for doing crazy attention-seeking stunts. And, I imagine, attracting a load of web traffic too.

Your business is unlikely to have that kind of stunt resistance, and you should pick your publicity stunts more carefully. Stunts don’t have to be crazy or expensive to be effective.

Ugly Betty stood out in Times Square

Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007

Happy New Year! I mentioned in December that I was off to New York for Christmas, and how getting your business featured in Times Square was a good way to get publicity round the globe. Wow, was that evident when they were there. The marketing “noise” in Times Square was apparently huge.

However, as is often the case, it was the simplest (and probably cheapest) methods that stood out the most. Like the TV channel that was promoting its new programme Ugly Betty (which coincidentally happens to start in Channel 4 on Friday).

They dressed a load of their staff up like the main character, and ensured there was a message and website address on their clothing. When they stayed together, they were a pretty effective head-turning marketing message.

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