I was driving home last week and noticed a Thai restaurant I hadn’t seen before. Feeling adventurous for dinner that night, we thought we’d try it out and order some take away. I jumped on Google and, to my surprise, the mysterious Thai restaurant could not be found. I tried Google Maps, and again, no result.

At this stage, most customers would have given up and moved on. But on a desperate hunt for a delicious Penang curry, I even went so far as to stalk them on Google Street View. Unfortunately, their phone number wasn’t visible in the window, so we decided to go back to our trusty local.

As someone who works in digital every day, I couldn’t believe this restaurant’s management had overlooked such a simple opportunity. Even though they ran an “old school” small business, it was frustrating to see digital was clearly something they hadn’t considered. And ... Continue reading]]>

I was driving home last week and noticed a Thai restaurant I hadn’t seen before. Feeling adventurous for dinner that night, we thought we’d try it out and order some take away. I jumped on Google and, to my surprise, the mysterious Thai restaurant could not be found. I tried Google Maps, and again, no result.

At this stage, most customers would have given up and moved on. But on a desperate hunt for a delicious Penang curry, I even went so far as to stalk them on Google Street View. Unfortunately, their phone number wasn’t visible in the window, so we decided to go back to our trusty local.

As someone who works in digital every day, I couldn’t believe this restaurant’s management had overlooked such a simple opportunity. Even though they ran an “old school” small business, it was frustrating to see digital was clearly something they hadn’t considered. And they’re not alone.

Today, every business is and needs to be a digital one. The most traditional “bricks and mortar” stores are impacted by digital—even if they don’t realise it yet. Unfortunately for them, customers and competitors aren’t going to wait for them to catch up.

The fact is, customers don’t turn to the Yellow Pages anymore when they need an accountant or a dry cleaner. They Google instead. And it’s not just being visible in search you need to worry about.

We live in an age where customers decide which restaurant to eat at based on online reviews at Yelp or Urban Spoon. A check-in on Facebook Places at a bookstore is an endorsement to 229 people (the average number of friends a user has on Facebook). And a single tweet mentioning bad customer service is enough to turn potential customers away.

All this, and more, happens whether you like it or not. If you think you’re a business who doesn’t need to worry about digital, you’re mistaken.

What can you do about it?

If you don’t want to dive into the digital deep end, dip your toes in the water with these simple, low resource-involved but effective opportunities:

1. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and Google yourself. Try your business name, and then something a customer might search for (eg., “thai surry hills”). You may be surprised by the results.
2. Register your business on Google Maps (or update your current listing) for free. Here’s a good place to start.
3. Start thinking about what role digital can play across your business, specifically around your website, social media, and search (organic and paid). There are plenty of articles on here to get you started.

“Digital” can be a daunting word for any business, especially with so much jargon and so many buzz words out there. However, with a little research, even the most traditional small business can be hugely rewarded by investing some time into the basics.

I’m still hoping to one day try that Penang curry, but they’re not making it easy for me.

Zac Martin| Digital Strategist – Pigs Don’t Fly

This week, MYOB has taken a big step in helping New Zealand’s businesses embrace social media, by fully integrating social media platforms into our existing enterprise suite.

We want to see social media more widely used by New Zealand businesses because it can help them to stand out in the online space, find new ways to communicate with their customers and generate sales leads.

By allowing them to interact with their customers in a more real and enduring way, social media allows businesses to increase customer loyalty, get instant feedback about what is working and what needs to change, and benefit from an ongoing dialogue with potential customers.

However despite these benefits, a relatively small percentage of New Zealand businesses have embraced social media.

According to the MYOB business Monitor, only 40% of small businesses (defined as those businesses with 6-19 employees) utilise social media and at just 25%, that number is even lower ... Continue reading]]>

This week, MYOB has taken a big step in helping New Zealand’s businesses embrace social media, by fully integrating social media platforms into our existing enterprise suite.

We want to see social media more widely used by New Zealand businesses because it can help them to stand out in the online space, find new ways to communicate with their customers and generate sales leads.

By allowing them to interact with their customers in a more real and enduring way, social media allows businesses to increase customer loyalty, get instant feedback about what is working and what needs to change, and benefit from an ongoing dialogue with potential customers.

However despite these benefits, a relatively small percentage of New Zealand businesses have embraced social media.

According to the MYOB business Monitor, only 40% of small businesses (defined as those businesses with 6-19 employees) utilise social media and at just 25%, that number is even lower amongst medium enterprises (those businesses with between 20 and 200 employee’s.) MYOB’s EXO CRM is part of our plan to help boost those numbers, and help more businesses take advantage of the benefits of social media.

Part of why the number of larger enterprises using social media is lower than for smaller businesses is the added complexity of managing a social media presence when you are a big or complex business.

Greater size means greater complexity and less ability for the business owner to have direct control over every aspect of the business, including their social media strategy and implementation.

By fully integrating control of the social media and marketing platform into a business’s existing CRM platform, we’ve been able to take the complexity out of managing social media.

The other big benefit of incorporating social media and marketing into a business’s existing CRM systems is it allows business owners and managers to track precisely the effectiveness of the different elements of their marketing campaigns, making sure they are getting maximum value for every dollar they spend.

The costing of all elements needed to generate marketing campaigns can also be tracked to capture the true return on investment.  Knowing the return on your marketing investment is critical — social media marketing may well be the hottest media channel in 2012, but like all forms of media, it needs to deliver your business a return.

With the benefits of social media still unrealised for too many New Zealand businesses, I’m really excited that EXO CRM is a great tool that will help make it easier for larger businesses to communicate with customers, generate leads and take full advantage of the social media space.

Julian Smith | General Manager – MYOB

I’ve spent the day communicating with people in different cities in varying parts of the world.

One of them is an integral part of my team, but in reality, no one would know we weren’t sharing an office.

The modern world of interconnectivity means that we no longer have to sit with our co-workers in the same room from 9-5, 5 days a week. We don’t have to be in the same state, country or time zone, as long as we are working towards the same, unified goal as someone else, we are part of a team.

As we interact more with computers and less face-to-face, the art of communicating through our keyboards is more important than ever. Skype, Facebook and other online tools are working to create a richer online communication experience – at very reasonable prices – but it is still a very different experience.

Being flexible, organised and communicating well means ... Continue reading]]>

I’ve spent the day communicating with people in different cities in varying parts of the world.

One of them is an integral part of my team, but in reality, no one would know we weren’t sharing an office.

The modern world of interconnectivity means that we no longer have to sit with our co-workers in the same room from 9-5, 5 days a week. We don’t have to be in the same state, country or time zone, as long as we are working towards the same, unified goal as someone else, we are part of a team.

As we interact more with computers and less face-to-face, the art of communicating through our keyboards is more important than ever. Skype, Facebook and other online tools are working to create a richer online communication experience – at very reasonable prices – but it is still a very different experience.

Being flexible, organised and communicating well means your team can be as dynamic and disparate and effective as any locally united group.

And you can work in your pyjamas if you want to.

Melina Schamroth | Social Entrepreneur – m.a.d.woman

These days we spend more time looking at screens almost anything else. About the only time I look at printed material is when I’m on a plane and all the devices have to be turned off. What is worth pondering is whether these connected to the Internet devices with their large amount of storage is changing the way we think.

I pick up my Kindle. It has the capacity to hold the contents of a complete library. Now I don’t really want to wander around with 3,000 books but I am finding that I often have 4 or 5 books on the go. Usually some fiction, some business management book, some technology book and some science fiction. I find that I jump from one to the other. My reading habits have completely changed. Of course I could have done this in the past but who wants to carry around 4 or ... Continue reading]]>

These days we spend more time looking at screens almost anything else. About the only time I look at printed material is when I’m on a plane and all the devices have to be turned off. What is worth pondering is whether these connected to the Internet devices with their large amount of storage is changing the way we think.

I pick up my Kindle. It has the capacity to hold the contents of a complete library. Now I don’t really want to wander around with 3,000 books but I am finding that I often have 4 or 5 books on the go. Usually some fiction, some business management book, some technology book and some science fiction. I find that I jump from one to the other. My reading habits have completely changed. Of course I could have done this in the past but who wants to carry around 4 or 5 books?

Reading newspapers online tends to means that newspapers are no longer read sequentially. There is a tendency to jump from one article to the next which in the paper version may be many pages apart. It may be that this is resulting in a narrowing of focus as I only read the articles that grab my attention and are interesting to me.

I jump online and start researching a topic. As we follow search engine links we jump from place to place and can become distracted as other links and articles grab our attention.

Some educators are worried about this. Some feel that kids are losing the ability to think through an issue. They are losing the art of defining a problem, gathering data then analysing the data and finally forming a conclusion. That is to think sequentially. Some believe there is a tendency to jump to conclusions based on somewhat dubious Internet based information.

Others argue differently. Some feel that Internet data grazing is widening perspective. That is as people jump from link to link they are gathering information that they otherwise wouldn’t have found from the sequential reading of a book so that when they are pondering the problem they are benefiting from this wider perspective. Time will tell.

One thing is surely true. The next generation of business leaders who have always had the Internet in their lives will think differently. There has been much research to show that these young adults have a much greater capacity to multi task. I’ve seen my daughter listen to a uni lecture online, sms her friends, update her Facebook Page, listen to music and watch TV simultaneously! The uni results are good so one can’t complain but I’m amazed how she can do these things. Perhaps it’s just because I’m a bloke!

So the question is. What are we going to do about it? Do we need to rethink how work is organised, how problems are solved? Do we need to run some pilot programs to see how we can the best out of our people. I invite your thoughts.

David Smith | Director – Smithink 2020

Did you set out to achieve some key goals in your business this year?

Maybe you set some aims at the beginning of the financial year or maybe at the beginning of this year.

Whatever the case, the end of the Australian financial year is looming. How are you tracking to your targets?

As June 30 approaches, so does colder weather, shorter days and for many people, bouts or various lurgies.

So how do you stay motivated – or regain it if it’s already in hibernation?

Now is a good time to reassess your goals and if necessary set new ones.  Firstly, do a ‘stocktake’ of all that you have achieved and celebrate those wins. Often a sense of achievement can kickstart a new level of enthusiasm.

What’s left over? Go through each target and ask yourself if each one is still relevant – and realistically achievable.

Often goals are based on guestimates of what we’d like ... Continue reading]]>

Did you set out to achieve some key goals in your business this year?

Maybe you set some aims at the beginning of the financial year or maybe at the beginning of this year.

Whatever the case, the end of the Australian financial year is looming. How are you tracking to your targets?

As June 30 approaches, so does colder weather, shorter days and for many people, bouts or various lurgies.

So how do you stay motivated – or regain it if it’s already in hibernation?

Now is a good time to reassess your goals and if necessary set new ones.  Firstly, do a ‘stocktake’ of all that you have achieved and celebrate those wins. Often a sense of achievement can kickstart a new level of enthusiasm.

What’s left over? Go through each target and ask yourself if each one is still relevant – and realistically achievable.

Often goals are based on guestimates of what we’d like to occur. Plucking a number from thin air can give you something to strive for but is it worth beating yourself up if all best efforts mean you didn’t achieve it?

For those you have left on your To Do list, break them into bite size chunks, schedule them for the next six weeks and find last burst of energy to get you to the line.

By clearing away anything that is no longer applicable, you just might hit your marks!

Melina Schamroth | Social Entrepreneur – m.a.d.woman

The conventional wisdom has it that Governments hate giving a zero budget. The budget is normally a time for Governments to announce popular big ticket items or the sort of big spending on heath or education that usually wins votes, so if there’s no money in the till, meeting expectations can be difficult.

However this year the Government is rolling out its second zero budget in a row and, according to the MYOB Business Monitor, the approach is going down surprisingly well. 68% of New Zealand businesses support “an increased focus on cutting Government expenditure to ensure the New Zealand Budget returns to surplus faster.”

Given the ongoing crisis in the Eurozone, driven by unsustainably large levels of debt, it’s perhaps not surprising that New Zealanders are feeling good about the Government’s emphasis on thrift.

We’ve seen what happens overseas when countries like Greece embrace “Visanomics” and we don’t want the same thing ... Continue reading]]>

The conventional wisdom has it that Governments hate giving a zero budget. The budget is normally a time for Governments to announce popular big ticket items or the sort of big spending on heath or education that usually wins votes, so if there’s no money in the till, meeting expectations can be difficult.

However this year the Government is rolling out its second zero budget in a row and, according to the MYOB Business Monitor, the approach is going down surprisingly well. 68% of New Zealand businesses support “an increased focus on cutting Government expenditure to ensure the New Zealand Budget returns to surplus faster.”

Given the ongoing crisis in the Eurozone, driven by unsustainably large levels of debt, it’s perhaps not surprising that New Zealanders are feeling good about the Government’s emphasis on thrift.

We’ve seen what happens overseas when countries like Greece embrace “Visanomics” and we don’t want the same thing to happen here.

However there is also a bit of a warning for the Government in the results of the Monitor, and recent events overseas.

While they are overwhelmingly in favor of the Government living within its means, 66% of New Zealand’s businesses also support an increase in funding for research, development and innovation.

For businesses, it’s innovation and new ideas that lead to growth, and they don’t want to see our countries ability to innovate damaged.

At the recent G8 summit, President Obama spoke of a new consensus around Governments focusing not just on austerity, but on investing in creating growth. As the UK has just found out, too many cuts during a recovery can put you right back into a double dip recession. Governments need to find the right balance between lowering debt, and creating growth.

It’s clear from the Monitor that this sort of strategy is what New Zealand businesses have in mind: they want a Government that spends money wisely, but protects and invests in the innovation that spurs growth and creates new jobs and industries.

When you think about it, what New Zealand businesses are asking for is for the Government to follow the same approach that they themselves have had to take over the last few years.

During the recession, businesses have had to make hard decisions about spending money, and have had to keep a tight reign on spending and cashflow. But they’ve also had to be innovative and nimble enough to survive the economic downturn and figure out ways to attract new customers, open new markets and find a way back to growth.

They expect the Government to do the same.

What are your views?  Do you support the Government’s “zero budget” approach?

Julian Smith | General Manager – MYOB

If you are in business it’s important to spend some time building a great business connection base, but how are you currently doing it?

If you are still networking your way across all of the golf courses throughout the country, and attending as many networking functions as possible in the evenings, there maybe a smarter way to meet new business contacts, and probably more your target market. LinkedIn.

I‘ve written many articles on building your connection base and networking within the groups on LinkedIn in the past, so let’s take a look at a way that you may not have thought about.

In your news feed, you will find interesting posts that your LinkedIn connections are sharing with their connections; people you possibly don’t know even exist at this stage. So how can you meet some of them? By commenting and liking, just as you do on Facebook.

By commenting on ... Continue reading]]>

If you are in business it’s important to spend some time building a great business connection base, but how are you currently doing it?

If you are still networking your way across all of the golf courses throughout the country, and attending as many networking functions as possible in the evenings, there maybe a smarter way to meet new business contacts, and probably more your target market. LinkedIn.

I‘ve written many articles on building your connection base and networking within the groups on LinkedIn in the past, so let’s take a look at a way that you may not have thought about.

Your LinkedIn news feed

In your news feed, you will find interesting posts that your LinkedIn connections are sharing with their connections; people you possibly don’t know even exist at this stage. So how can you meet some of them? By commenting and liking, just as you do on Facebook.

By commenting on your connections posts, you are doing two things:

1. You are putting yourself back on the radar of your connection, a bit like seeing them in the street and waving “hi”. How many times have you seen someone somewhere and thought, “Ah, must give him or her a bell”?
2. When you comment on a connections post, the post including your comment is then shared in the news feed for your other connections to see. This means, if one of your connections comments on your post, the whole thing is shared on their newsfeed for their connections to see. Greater exposure for your message / comment across another network.

From your home page, you can decide whether you want to see the most recent posts, the top posts or the shared posts, which ever suits you.

What can you comment on?

Anything that you have a sensible answer for, or the expertise to add value to a post. It’s not a mechanism to post links back to your product or service, which will just annoy your connections and probably get you unconnected from. Add value, and personality if appropriate.

Remember also, each time you comment in an open LinkedIn group, that message is also posted into the news feed, so you and others can see lively discussions in groups and head over to add your piece.

This subtle online exercise is an additional way to network with others, putting yourself on your connections radar, and at the same time, exposing yourself to new connections; connections that one-day may be very valuable to you.  And it takes moments to do.

Next time you look at your Facebook news feed, don’t forget to check your LinkedIn newsfeed too; it may be more yielding for your business.

Linda Coles | Speaker, Consultant and Author – Blue Banana

Self-help books are extremely popular. They’re a great friend of New Year resolutions, but with so much help around it’s a wonder that there is still so much help needed.

Turns out a lot of these publications and workshop handouts become what’s termed in the industry as ‘shelf help’ books. That’s because people buy them, collect them and then store them… never to look at them again.

I was shocked to learn that only a small percentage of people who people read these books, or attend motivational seminars or any kind of personal development events ever follow through on the advice they’ve received.

Of course it’s easy to feel motivated when you’re in a high energy positive environment, or when you’re relaxing at the end of the day reading for an hour before bed – but the challenge is to implement the advice when you aren’t feeling so upbeat.

People who read a self-help ... Continue reading]]>

Self-help books are extremely popular. They’re a great friend of New Year resolutions, but with so much help around it’s a wonder that there is still so much help needed.

Turns out a lot of these publications and workshop handouts become what’s termed in the industry as ‘shelf help’ books. That’s because people buy them, collect them and then store them… never to look at them again.

I was shocked to learn that only a small percentage of people who people read these books, or attend motivational seminars or any kind of personal development events ever follow through on the advice they’ve received.

Of course it’s easy to feel motivated when you’re in a high energy positive environment, or when you’re relaxing at the end of the day reading for an hour before bed – but the challenge is to implement the advice when you aren’t feeling so upbeat.

People who read a self-help book or go to a seminar generally want something in their life to be different. The real question is whether they are prepared make the behavioural changes necessary to achieve it. If this sounds all-too-familiar make sure you spend as much time thinking about the process as you do the outcome.

It’s generally recognised that the difference between successful and unsuccessful people is the level of action they take.

What’s one extra action you could take to help you on your journey? Starting something? Finishing something? Or just taking a visit to the bookshelf?

Melina Schamroth | Social Entrepreneur – m.a.d.woman

What’s your social profile worth? Have you even thought about it? Is it growing in value? When you talk, do people listen?

With social reputation becoming more and more of a relevant form of currency, there are powers at play that are looking to exploit this new medium. In the past, it has all been about celebrity endorsement – getting the star of the day to put their name to a product. As the celebrity space becomes more and more distributed, thought the wonders of the increasingly social internet, a new generation of celebrities with social credibility are sprouting up.

The first online celeb to pop up through social is Tom Anderson; everyone’s first friend on MySpace. He, like it or not, was known if you were on MySpace. As time progressed and MySpace faded away, so did he. But now, with the resurgence of his profile on Google+, Facebook and Twitter, ... Continue reading]]>

What’s your social profile worth? Have you even thought about it? Is it growing in value? When you talk, do people listen?

With social reputation becoming more and more of a relevant form of currency, there are powers at play that are looking to exploit this new medium. In the past, it has all been about celebrity endorsement – getting the star of the day to put their name to a product. As the celebrity space becomes more and more distributed, thought the wonders of the increasingly social internet, a new generation of celebrities with social credibility are sprouting up.

The first online celeb to pop up through social is Tom Anderson; everyone’s first friend on MySpace. He, like it or not, was known if you were on MySpace. As time progressed and MySpace faded away, so did he. But now, with the resurgence of his profile on Google+, Facebook and Twitter, his reputation is again growing. He’s approachable, reads what you share with him, and according to Klout, has influence of almost 100K people. Klout understands social is potential currency, and is a platform aimed at measuring people’s online influence. According to Facebook, he has 1.2 Million subscribers who read his thoughts, but the smaller Klout number is based on how much he actually influences.

Now, there are many celebrities with roots from social, from tech circles (Mark Zuckerberg, Kevin Rose) to real mainstream – Justin Bieber, Rebecca Black, Perez Hilton; all started via social.

So, are their opinions worth anything? While not the traditional celebrity, they certainly have influence and people take their endorsement seriously. Perhaps fewer fans than your traditional celebrity, but in terms of identifying a niche, what these guys say can carry real weight. How much value can they add to a company if they say ‘check it out, it’s really cool’. And, enter Wahooly – a start-up that is aiming to give people with influence (yourself included, if you connect with enough people online) a chance to own stock in other start-ups to help get them off the ground and exposure. Essentially, companies are buying endorsements from regular people, which has potential to add a real sense of authenticity of an endorsement.

So, where is all this going? Does everyone have a price? When is it selling out, and when is it just a desire to help good ideas get off the ground (and getting a little kickback)?

I see a point in the future where what is said from a friend might just be an advert. It’s very gorilla-marketing gone social.

Steven Wright | Web Developer – MYOB

The results of the latest MYOB Business Monitor are a worrying read for ratepayers, as they show that businesses all over the country are unhappy with the performance of the local councils and regional authorities.

What is so frustrating about these results is that high levels of dissatisfaction with local government is nothing new, but not only is the problem not being solved, it is actually getting worse.

Nationwide, 44% of New Zealand’s business owners are “dissatisfied” with the performance of their local council or authority when it came to helping their business. The biggest source of frustration was delays in dealing with councils, with 64% supporting more stringent response times for local Government.

However, what adds to the frustration around these numbers is that they show no improvement from the results of the last MYOB Business Monitor from October 2011, which showed that 42% of businesses were unhappy with their local council’s ... Continue reading]]>

The results of the latest MYOB Business Monitor are a worrying read for ratepayers, as they show that businesses all over the country are unhappy with the performance of the local councils and regional authorities.

What is so frustrating about these results is that high levels of dissatisfaction with local government is nothing new, but not only is the problem not being solved, it is actually getting worse.

Nationwide, 44% of New Zealand’s business owners are “dissatisfied” with the performance of their local council or authority when it came to helping their business. The biggest source of frustration was delays in dealing with councils, with 64% supporting more stringent response times for local Government.

However, what adds to the frustration around these numbers is that they show no improvement from the results of the last MYOB Business Monitor from October 2011, which showed that 42% of businesses were unhappy with their local council’s performance.

The message is clear: local governments are not listening and are not willing to change. It’s no wonder people think their councils are out of touch.

In some regions, the refusal to listen is truly staggering. In Northland for example, 47% of business owners in October 2011 said they were “dissatisfied” with the council. Today that number is a shocking 64%, the single worst result of any local council or authority in New Zealand.

Something needs to change, and it needs to change quickly.

For people looking to start businesses and create jobs, hold ups with local council’s lengthy and often byzantine consent process can be the difference between their business succeeding or failing.  It can also be the difference between a young jobseeker being able to find work today or in six, seven or eight month’s time – when the café that will finally employ them is at last allowed to open its doors.

For many businesses, all they need to get things moving is for local government to get out of the way.

It can be done. The Monitor results show that some councils have been able to make really big improvements. For example, Hawkes Bay has increased the number of satisfied businesses from just 6% in the last Monitor to 25% today, marking it out as the most improved region in the country.

For too many other councils however, things are actually getting worse. In fact Hawkes Bay, Otago-Southland and the Manawatu were the only regions that saw their ratings improve.

For the rest of the country, this has meant more delays and more frustration. If things are going to improve, local governments need to start acting like the businesses they should be serving and actually start listening to their customers.

Do you agree?  Have you had to battle local government red tape in your business?  What would you like to see changed?  How do you feel about your rates bill this year – do you feel it represents good value for money?

Julian Smith | General Manager – MYOB