Life in the Fast Lane

The 21st century will probably go down in history as the century where technology took flight at a pace that left us all breathless.  No longer limited to the world of geeks, technology has permeated every level of society and just about every human interactive experience.

The biggest problem for those of us caught up in this headlong flight is how to keep up.  From a business point of view, every business, however small, needs to embrace technology, at least to a limited degree.  For most of us that means email communication with customers and suppliers, online banking and ordering systems and, of course, a website.  Mobile technology and social networking are the current top areas of development - Facebook have, for example, just announced a new product that is expected to rival the big online email and messaging systems like Hotmail and Googlemail.  The new product will, apparently, bring all the user's email and instant messaging services into one service offered on the Facebook platform accessed either any one of your technological devices - phones, computers, tablets etc. 

Checking out a potential supplier or customer online has become second nature to most of us.  Controlling how we are seen online is not so easy.  Your website may well come up first if someone Googles your name, as will your LinkedIn profile, if you have one.  If you haven't secured your Facebook profile to be seen by your friends only, that might come up too.  Beyond that there may appear any number of cases where you are mentioned online - press stories, club memberships etc.  Check out your online profile by Googling both your name and the name of your business.

Small Businesses not so bad on IT Security

A recent article in the IT Security Press reports that SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) are becoming much more aware of the threats to their IT security (InfoSecurity Magazine, September/October 2010).

The article quotes a survey carried out early this year by PwC which found that a staggering 74% of smaller companies had suffered an information security attack sometime in the past.  It’s not surprising, therefore, that small business leaders have had to wise up.

However, it’s not all good news.  Whilst most small businesses have locked down their systems to prevent attack from external threats such as viruses and spyware, they are perhaps less organised when it comes to preventing loss of data from the inside.  Data loss or corruption is a real threat to the operation of even the smallest business these days and it takes just one disgruntled employee with the right access levels to do untold damage – or one misguided employee to reveal system access details (username and password) to a clever hacker using social engineering techniques.

The answer lies in not just setting good policies, but in ensuring that your team members both understand and implement them.  Limit access to sensitive data to those who really need to know, control the use of portable media devices such as laptops and USB datasticks, train staff on the safe use of the internet.

Your business information is one of your most valuable assets.  You wouldn’t leave your office door open, so make sure you’ve closed off access to your data!

Cost Cutting for the Country – and for the rest of us

I’ve just been listening to the Chancellor as he delivers his Spending Review.

Whatever our political or economic beliefs, I think we all accept that the UK needs to tighten its belt.  Mr Osbourne has been facing a dilemma that every business in the UK is having to address:  how to keep costs as low as possible without strangling all potential growth.

Marketing is often one of the first areas where businesses feel they can cut costs and, frankly, it can be a prime waster of resources.  However, good, focused marketing that reaches the right customer with the right message may make all the difference between future survival or collapse. 

My tip for every business is to monitor your marketing spend and its results – any marketing activity that doesn’t pay for itself is a waste of time and money!  Wherever possible, find out from your customers why they chose to buy from you and keep a simple list – on a spreadsheet perhaps – so that you can analyse it over time.  If a particular activity is not delivering the goods, drop it and try something else!

Having said that, not all marketing gain can be measured in direct financial terms – brand awareness and customer retention are less tangible benefits, but are important ones nonetheless.  Maintain a dialogue with your existing customers so that you understand how marketing works in terms of their relationship with you – for example, does the newsletter you send them just get put in the bin, or does it help to reinforce their impression of the quality of what you’re offering? 

All Power to PowerPoint

Being asked to give a presentation can strike fear into the heart of many a businessman or woman, however inspired and passionate he or she may be about the subject.  The lucky few take speaking in public in their stride - they speak fluently and eloquently, adding a touch of humour here and there.  Many more of us just about get away with it...  Using PowerPoint slides to aid your presentation will normally help in three critical ways.  Firstly, it gives your audience a focus - they'll be looking at the screen rather than you.  Secondly, your message is reinforced by the words on screen and your audience is therefore more likely to remember what you say.  Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, the act of preparing slides will help you structure your presentation, making your message more coherent and logical.

Here are my top tips for delivering a successful PowerPoint presentation:

• Keep the slides short and sweet.  Go for simple bullet points rather than long sentences, and don't have more than 4 or 5 points per slide.  Better to have more slides!
• Never read your presentation to your audience either from a script or from what's on the slide.  A presentation should be a conversation between you and the audience.  Keep it natural.
• Make sure your slides are readable.  Take particular care with images in the background or light coloured text - these can often make the words unreadable.  Be careful too not to use italics for more than the odd word for emphasis as onscreen italics are notoriously difficult to read.
• Look at your audience, not your slides!  A quick glance to refresh your mind about what's on the slide is OK, but your voice and your message will project much more successfully if you look at your audience (and smile!).
• Rehearse your presentation - ideally with an audience even if it's only the kids and the dog.  This will not only help with timing, it will also make you much more relaxed on the day.
• Stick to your allotted time.  If you've been asked to speak for 20 minutes, don't go on for an hour, just because you can!  Leave time for questions at the end.

Facebook - so good and yet so bad

I read today in an Information Security e-newsletter (http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/) that Interpol's chief has been the victim of identity theft through his Facebook account and that the criminals involved have used the fake account to get information about a global Interpol-led operation...

This is yet another proof of the huge holes in Facebook security - it seems that not a day goes past without a report about hackers, viruses and phishing campaigns connected to the social networking site.  If the head of Interpol can't protect himself, what hope do we have?

Don't get me wrong; I love Facebook.  It's a brilliant way of keeping in touch and of sharing news and views.  However, I never forget that I'm surfing in a non-regulated and insecure web environment.  It's like walking down a dark street at night - it's a vulnerable place to be. 

Keeping completely safe in Facebook may not be possible - but there are a number of basic sensible things you can do to protect yourself from most of the threats.  My top four are:

1. Make sure you've set up the right privacy levels in your Facebook profile.  Only my friends can see my details, and I don't reveal much even to them! 
2. Never accept someone as a friend if you don't know them.  Sounds obvious, but it's all too easy to accept an invitation thinking that you must know the person, surely?  Also, be selective in your friends.  My rule of thumb is that I only accept those with whom I would hold a conversation if I met them in the street, rather than just say "hello"!
3. Never click on anything unless you're absolutely confident it's the genuine article.  This includes games and quizzes - the Infosecurity site also tells of a phishing campaign aimed at users of the popular FarmVille Facebook game.
4. Make sure your Facebook password is different from all the other passwords you use, and that none of your passwords are related to names or places that appear within your Facebook page.  It would seem that cracking a Facebook account is relatively easy, and if you use the same password for your bank, you could be in trouble.

There are apparently 26 million of us in the UK now on Facebook and it's become as integral part of our lives as email and mobile phones.  A very small minority of those users will be criminals, but they could be after you!

Who and where still matter

These days we buy many of our goods and services online – so why do we feel the need to know more about the business supplying our needs?

Most websites provide an About Us page – and with good reason.  I’m sure I’m not alone in needing to feel the existence of a real person at a real location before embarking on an online relationship.  If I come across a website that doesn’t provide me with a physical address, I click away at once.  Crazy, isn’t it?  I’m never going to visit their premises and, unless it’s a local one, the address is likely to mean nothing to me.  But it has to be there.

The same is true of the people, particularly if I’m looking for a service.  I really want to see names and, ideally, pictures of the people I’m dealing with.  Maybe not on big household name sites (except on the corporate pages so I can see who’s in charge) where the brand already has significance to me but if I’m looking for an adviser, for example an IFA, an accountant or a solicitor, the faces will make all the difference.

So, make sure your website gives me your who and where, and I’ll start to build trust in your business. 

Flag Waving in the Dark?

Launching a brand new website can be a bit like waving a flag in the dark.  It's all very well, but at the point of launch no-one can actually see it!

Today is the day I'm doing just that.  My new website, lovingly written and painstakingly developed, tweaked and tested, is now ready for the world to see.  You can find it at http://www.brendagostling.co.uk/ - but if you're reading this blog, you may well have already visited it.

So, how do I make sure everyone can see me waving my flag?  I need to put my website into the spotlight.  To do that, I'll be taking every opportunity to tell all my clients and contacts about the site - I'll use emails, networking sites (are you on LinkedIn yet?) and (something we tend to underestimate in these days of electronic communication) I'll be talking about it! 

Talking is still one of the most effective ways of communicating ideas.  The human voice has the power to deliver your message with just the right emotion that's needed to get it across.  It's hard to be persuasive and enthusastic in any other medium, so when you get the chance to use your voice and put your message into the spotlight, sieze the moment.

The Personal Touch

Listening to breakfast TV today, I heard that many people are turned off by self-service tills such as are increasingly seen in supermarkets. This doesn’t surprise me – I don’t like them much either. But why don’t we like them? I think there are two marketing issues to look at here...


Firstly, people generally like to deal with people. There’s a dialogue – a two-way process. Automation may be technically clever, but you just don’t get the feedback. It’s like those telephone answer services that make you press buttons to take you through a process – at the end of the day you are left feeling dissatisfied and unsure that someone out there somewhere will act on your call. The same can be true when you buy online when the only feedback you get is an auto-reply. You have the sense of being in a vacuum. The key for those who provide goods or services via either telephone and online automated services is to add a level of contact that suggests (and ideally really does incorporate) a personal contact. This could be a call-back or a further personal email to confirm that someone really has listened and will act. The supplier reaps benefits in building customer confidence and trust – vital for establishing enduring customer relationships.



The other core issue is one of service. Having someone to cater for your needs – in the supermarket that translates into someone to check your purchases out for you – is a critical component of the buyer/seller relationship. The buyer wants to feel important to the seller. Asking buyers to do the checking out themselves suggests that the seller just doesn’t care. It’s the difference between a cafeteria and a waiter-served restaurant – both have their place but the customer will always feel more special at the latter. If your business is based on customers returning again and again, you’ll need to make them feel special. Service is the key.

Practise What You Preach

It's been a whole year since I finished my degree course and began my consultancy business in earnest, and yet, here I am, still working on my own website...  Well, the good news is that it is nearing completion, and I am hoping to get it published within the next month!

Marketing is about getting the right message in front of the right people, and in today's world of super-technical communications, a website - however basic - is a must for most of us.  It's a new shop window that your potential customers can browse at their leisure - and anything that showcases your products or services has to be worth doing.  For the small business, cost and control are key to the feasibility of runing a website, as most small businesses will have neither endless funds or a resident web developer.  But don't let that put you off!  It doesn't have to cost the earth, and if you use the right people or tools, you can retain control.