How to fight back when you’re trashed on the web

“The burgeoning social media landscape has brought with it frightening new possibilities for brand-trashing on a global scale – people using Twitter or blogs to spread derogatory remarks about your company; a disgruntled employee posting an “insiders” video on YouTube. You have no idea how it all started, and even less of an idea about how to stop it. So what are the rules for handling crises in the age of social media? How can companies resurrect their reputations in the face of malicious postings? What do you do if someone posts a negative comment in Twitter? Here are some steps to consider.” Read on

Graham White The Punch

Building your reputation online

“Paragraph upon paragraph of text, large picture files, heavy-handed Flash animations, generic stock-photo images and static content. These are some of the common mistakes businesses make when establishing an online presence. The web is known for fast-paced change, so it’s absolutely crucial that your business website meets a customer’s expectations.” Read on

Julia Talevski The Sydney Morning Herald, Executive Style

How to look bigger than you are

“Sometimes — and perhaps especially in tough times — professional designers are faced with going it alone, hanging out their shingle and hoping to attract the most interesting clients (and projects) possible. And in an age when “You are your own brand,” there is great temptation to, um, make yourself appear a little bigger than you are. Now, I’m not saying you should actively misrepresent yourself out there, but if you really are convinced that size matters, well, knock yourself out.” Read on

Allan Chochinov Core77

E-newsletters: the need to know principle

“Saying what we need to say and no more is a skill that still eludes many of us. It is also an essential part of creating effective online newsletters, which can be a key business tool in the digital age.” Read on

John O’Hanlon Growing Business

Ethical shape

“How do you create packaging that combines real sustainability and compelling form, without compromising on either? Sarah Woods unpacks the issues involved and looks at what some key brands are doing to get their offer right.” Read on

Sarah Woods Design Week

Managing an online reputation

“Your customers are talking about you — and the whole world is listening. Local review sites are reshaping the world of small business by becoming the new Yellow Pages, one-stop platforms where customers can find a business — and also see independent critiques of its performance. How do you manage your reputation when everybody is a critic?” Read on

Kermit Pattison Small Business, The New York Times

How to win a design competition

“Whether you’re trying to win some money, gain exposure, or just build out your portfolio, design competitions are a great way for young designers to develop themselves. Over the past few years, I’ve entered many competitions for many reasons. I’ve even won a little bit. From my experience, here are the five keys to winning the next design competition you enter.” Read on

Michael Roller Strategic Aesthetics

5 mistakes you may be making online

“Doing business online has made it so much easier to communicate with customers and enable them to transact with you. However, it can be easy to forget the little things that can make a big difference. Some business owners are making mistakes online that could be losing them sales. So what do you need to watch out for?” Read on

Valerie Khoo Small Business, The Sydney Morning Herald

Look like a multimillion dollar brand

“You may have a great product or service, but to be taken seriously, clients need to believe that you’re on the same playing field as the bigger guys. Even if you’re a consultant that works from a home office, you’ll need to position your company as a polished brand that touts confidence, experience and quality. Fear not. Here are five simple tips for branding your business to create the illusion that it is a global corporation with an army at the ready all without breaking the bank.” Read on

Scott Gerber Entrepreneur.com

Your website IS your brand

“As the front door to your prospects, your website becomes your brand’s face. From the moment they land on your home page, visitors make snap judgments about the value you provide, how you’re different from competitors and whether they feel an emotional connection to your brand. So it’s important to consider how well your web presence communicates your value. Smart business owners get this, but they often respond to this imperative by spending a lot of time on their site’s design, colors and images. That’s a good start, but design is only part of a prospect’s online experience.” Read on

Lynn Parker WomenEntrepreneur.com

Don’t overlook the value of referral marketing

“What’s the fastest way to generate new business without spending a fortune? How can you develop a targeted list of potential clients that have a need for your product or service? Do you need to improve your conversion of potential clients into new clients? It’s time to think about referral marketing.” Read on

Renee Hancock Australian Anthill

How the web made me a better copywriter

“In 1999, when I left a staff job at a newspaper to start my own copywriting business, I never even thought about writing for the web. A decade later, most of my work consists of web projects. It struck me recently that this medium has led me to develop a different way of writing—tighter, simpler, more transparent. The results, I believe, are greater clarity and persuasiveness, and a speedier, more user-friendly read.” Read on

Cathy Curtis AIGA: The professional association for design

Measuring your online success

“An increasing number of Australian businesses are investing time in including search and online marketing in their business strategy and also as a way to maximise their existing online presence. So, how can you best keep track of the impact of your online marketing spend in today’s tight economic times?” Read on

Michael Fox Australian Anthill

Using online stories to sell a product

“Another way to get the word out about your product service? Post content online that catches on with potential customers and prompts them to share it. We all have stories to tell. As a small business owner, your story is a valuable asset, a differentiator, and the key to shaping your brand.” Read on

Carmine Gallo BusinessWeek

Getting the results you want from your media interview

“So you have distributed your media release, it’s attracted some interest from journalists and now a couple of them have called you for an interview. What do you do? Before you panic and run for cover, the most important thing to remember is that it’s an opportunity to get your messages to your customers via the journalist. You are in control of the interview.” Read on

Catriona Pollard Australian Anthill

How (not) to write like a designer

“Half technical, half intuitive, the design process is tough to explain. But that’s my job — I’m a design writer. I write so you don’t have to, putting into words the work that you’d rather do than write about. But write you must—website copy, proposals, captions, emails to clients—and though the worse designers are at it, the more work I get, in the spirit of collaboration I’m going to share my secrets.” Read on

William Bostwick Core77

10 secrets to marketing SMEs online

“Being online levels the playing field. Big or small, everyone has the same chance to attract and convert customers. By following some basic principles, you can receive the same coverage as major players and see your business take off using savvy, affordable marketing techniques.” Read on

Fred Schebesta Australian Anthill

Packaging design for the environment

“Good design has a vital role to play in producing packaging that is both fit for purpose and less environmentally damaging. Many companies have redesigned their packaging in recent years and have usually achieved significant cost savings. This guide is intended to help both management, designers and specifiers to take a fresh and systematic look at packaging design with a view to reducing its cost and its impact on the environment.” Read on

Envirowise

7 ways to build your brand online

“These days, traditional marketing has gone out the window. In the past, small businesses had to rely on advertising, referrals and labour intensive initiatives like letterbox drops. While these still have a place in some marketing strategies, savvy business owners know that an effective and economical way to build their brand is via the internet. So what can you do to build your brand online?” Read on

Valerie Khoo Small Business, The Sydney Morning Herald

Building an online community

“Are you looking for instant customer feedback and ideas to improve your product or service? What about a free focus group with a targeted set of customers? Do you want to increase positive customer referrals? Do you want to lead the online discussion in your industry? If the answer is ‘yes’, then it’s time to look at your community marketing strategy.” Read on

Renee Hancock Australian Anthill

The 5 myths of PR

“Publicity can be a very powerful marketing tool. Endorsement from a reviewer, presenter, editor or journalist carries a lot of weight. Getting publicity for a product or service isn’t easy. Often clients expect that they will get masses of media coverage, including TV, for their great product or service. In order to get attention from the media there needs to be a new ‘hook’ or story angle and it needs to be ‘sold’ to the relevant journalist. Here is our list of PR myths.” Read on

Jules Brooke Australian Anthill

Have you validated your market? Really?

“If you were to ask an entrepreneur or a company if ensuring a market existed for their concept prior to investing time and capital in getting it off the ground, they would likely say “of course”. However, in reality, validating the market is commonly done too late or never at all. Market validation therefore, must surely take the prize as the most talked about and yet most neglected element of the innovation process.”  Read on

Ben Olsen Australian Anthill

Meet the antipreneurs

“Meet the antipreneurs… A few thousand business owners who have won both notice and profits by being overtly or covertly anti-big business and anti-advertising. Antipreneurs frequently choose each other as suppliers because they share similar philosophies. Their marketing strategy is targeted toward consumers who have grown cynical about buying products and services from larger companies, whose methods they deem irresponsible.” Read on

Jeremy Quittner BusinessWeek

Etsy founder Rob Kalin on marketing

Etsy is a kind of arts and crafts version of Ebay. They are a great young company and worth looking into in terms of how they have worked with the global design and craft community to establish and spread the word about their business organically. In a video published on AdWeek the founder of Etsy Rob Kalin talks about their non-traditional approach to marketing and the importance of transparency when communicating to market. View

Branding and small companies

“Should a small company use branding as a part of its competitive strategy? I will point to some factors that imply that brands with a small geographic market have a good chance to steal market share from the gigantic, global brands.” Read more

Jonas Bergvall AllAboutBranding.com

Tool kit (Marketing)