Marketing
STOP! – It May Cost You to Remove that Negative Review
David Balwin
CPA | Accountant | Business Advisor
Marketing 101 – publish testimonials and reviews to help create a positive view of your brand, to boost sales, to attract future customers/clients and to boost your website’s SEO.
It’s awesome to be loved by your customers/clients and for the love to be shared through testimonials and reviews shouted out on websites, social media and review sites. Clients/customers expect reviews to be independent and genuine. Problem is, the increase of review platforms has bought an increase in fake testimonials and reviews.
Enter the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) who have issued guidelines for managing online reviews to combat dishonest, misleading and shonky practices.
BE Warned – breaching the guidelines can result in hefty fines. The 2011, the ACCC fined a removalist business $6,600 for misleading online reviews. The business admitted to having made representations on its website that purported to be testimonials by genuine consumers when they were not.
So, generally speaking, what are the NoNos when it comes to testimonials and reviews. In a nutshell:
- You need to remove fake or misleading reviews. Testimonials/reviews may be considered fake or misleading if they are presented as impartial, but were written by:
- the reviewed business
- a competitor
- someone paid to write the review who has not used the product or service
- someone who has used the product or service but written an inflated review to receive a financial or non-financial benefit.
Reviews you know to be fake or misleading risk breeching the Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
- You should not:
- encourage family and friends to write reviews about your business without disclosing their personal connection with your business in that review
- write reviews when you have not experienced the product or service reviewed or which do not reflect a genuinely held position
- solicit others to write reviews about your business or a competitor’s business if they have not experienced the product or service.
- You should only offer incentives in exchange for reviews if:
- incentives are offered equally to consumers likely to be complimentary and consumers likely to be critical, and positive and negative reviews are treated the same
- the reviewer is expressly told that the incentive is available whether the review is positive or negative
- the incentive is prominently disclosed to users who rely on affected reviews.
- You should disclose commercial relationships between review platforms and your business to ensure the relationship does not influence the overall rating of a business on the site. For example, a review platform may allow a business that advertises on the site to select a review to appear at the top of the page or prevent negative reviews from being automatically uploaded.
- Ensure the consumer review platforms you rely on disclose the total number of reviews that the rating is based on next to the aggregated rating (eg, 3 stars, 24 reviews).
- Think twice before selectively removing or editing reviews, particularly negative/critical reviews. If the total body of reviews doesn’t reflect the opinions of consumers who have submitted the reviews consumers may be misled.
For more information about the ACCC’s guidelines, here’s the link.
Balanix Solutions – Accountant, Business Advisor, Bookkeeping.
Situated in Strathpine on Brisbane North, we partner with our clients to assist them in their accounting, business management and bookkeeping needs. Our clients vary in industries from professional services (such as law, vet and dentist) to the trades (mechanic, bricklaying, plasterer etc), hospitality and retail. Are clients are located in the Pine Rivers area (including Brendale, Lawnton, Albany Creek and Eatons Hill) through to Kallangur, Petrie, North Lakes and Caboolture, as well as Brisbane South, the Gold Coast and various other parts of Queensland.
Call us today … we can help (07 3264 4783)
It Got Me Thinking … Why Market?
Sally Balwin
Recruitment | HR | Business Development
With just over 3 months to the end of financial year, thoughts of planning are creeping into business owners’ minds and schedules everywhere (or should be any way). In order to plan for the next year, we need to look at performance from the existing year, the direction and goals for the next year and then the actions to achieve them.
Simple right?
Interestingly, as I discuss business with clients and colleagues, I hear lots and lots of discussion around the many marketing strategies available. What businesses must be doing, where they must be promoting, how they should be presenting etc … which got me thinking – do business owners know why they market?
It’s Wednesday, so I have available an opportunity to pose this question to the members of the Albany Creek Business Contacts. I started by asking, “who has a considered documented business plan for their business”. If this poling is considered a reliable sample size then we have trouble – 3 of the 19 business owners around the table said they did.
So I asked, “you all engage marketing strategies for your business, but why do you market?”
The 6 main reasons agreed upon were:
- increase business,
- brand awareness/presence,
- budgeting/cost allocation,
- establish as expert in your field,
- attract new clients, and
- retain existing clients.
Dan Milgate, Fit 4 Life Personal Training shared, “the purposes of marketing are forward thinking in relation to the strategies.” “By setting marketing goals you can then identify what medium/s and strategy/s to use.”
Businesses market to capture customers through communicating your business’s value proposition. Once goals are set it is then the task to identify and engage the appropriate strategies to achieve these goals. Not all strategies work for every business and those that work for one may not work for another. This is where measuring return and results of the strategies are important so businesses gain the best bang for the buck and are not wasting time and money on strategies that don’t achieve the purpose/s for which they are being employed to achieve.
I think Scott Deaves, David Deane Real Estate should have the last word on this subject as, I believe, he answered beautifully the question why businesses market – “to be in customers shopping baskets”, he said.
Corporate Gift Etiquette
Sally Balwin
Recruitment | HR | Business Development
Whether you own and/or run a small, medium or large business, at some time, more than likely, you will have to buy business related gifts. If timely and appropriate, the right corporate gift can strengthen relationships with clients/customers and show appreciation for their business, strengthen relationships with suppliers and establish goodwill and create further opportunities for networking. However, ill-advised or ill-timed gifts can have the opposite effect. Therefore, it is important to establish standards and practices when considering the giving of gifts.
Firstly, consider the purpose of the gifts. Corporate gifts are usually considered in relation to a thank you for business referrals, congratulations, “courting” a prospective client or contact, advertising; ensuring long term clients/customers know their business is appreciated and/or for rewarding an employee for a job well done.
It is important to keep the type of gift appropriate in size, price and content for its purpose.
Possibly, more important than the purpose of the gift is who the gift is intended for. So your intentions are not misinterpreted, caution needs to be exercised when purchasing/giving gifts for members of the opposite sex, for international clients/customers/contacts and for individuals who may not be able to accept the gift due to company policy (eg, government officers). Before giving a gift, check out policies, cultures and traditions to determine appropriateness of the giving of the gift, the gift itself and the manner in which to give the gift.
The timing of the gift is also important. It is best to correspond the giving of the gift with the relevant occasion. For example, if the gift is a thank you and appreciation for work provided by a client, ensure it coincides with the completion of a particular activity or the anniversary of the relationship. Further, if the gift is to “court” a new client, have it at the first meeting with the client and not send it two weeks later as an after thought. Remember, to capitalise on the impact of the giving of the gift and not just the gift itself.
Having said this, if an occasion has been genuinely missed, it is better to give the gift late than not at all … just make sure it is seen as a genuine gesture!
When giving gifts, where appropriate and possible, accompany the gift with a hand written card/note. Even if attaching your business card, its nice to add a personal message (for example, “best wishes” or “looking forward to a long and prosperous relationship”).
Finally, how much should be spent on a gift? Unfortunately there is no one answer to this question. The “how much” factor is tied up with the “purpose of the gift” and the “who the gift is for”. Consideration also needs to be given to how much is available to spend in the budget!
If all this is sounding very daunting, talk with a professional corporate gift supplier or consultant for help.
One Easy Way to Harm Your Brand
Recruitment | HR | Business Development
I received a phone call the other day from a person wishing to speak with my Business Partner, David. “I’m sorry, he is in a meeting” I said. “Can I help?” The person advised me they were a HR consultancy business and had spoken to my Partner a month or so ago who discussed with them the fact that we were experiencing recruitment and retention difficulties in our business. The person on the other end of the phone suggested they could help and was following up to arrange assistance. After I obtained their name, business name and a contact number, they asked if in fact we were experiencing difficulties.
“No” I said. “In fact, we are an Accounting and Business Advisory business which has a HR and Recruitment arm”. “Oh” they laughed,” then you probably don’t need our services”.
Clearly this person had not researched who they were cold calling and also chose to, dare I say, fabricate information in an attempt to establish familiarity and progress things with us. This strategy and encounter has not left me with a good impression of this business.
Cold calling has its place in the world of marketing strategies. But like everything we business owners and managers do, we need to make sure it is enhancing our brand and not harming it.
