Empower business with online video

Jonathan Bowers, January 4th 2008, 11:03AM

As ever there are many blogs about what the big trends of the next year will be. Some say widgets will guide growth online, others believe personalisation of online services will be the focus. In the business community I believe we are going to see media empowerment. Written content will continue to be the main format for business commmunication but online video is going to prove to be a very potent force allowing a stronger voice in ways that we haven't seen before.

As a hosting provider, UKFast is able to look at thousands of businesses and draw conclusions about excellent business practice from those who are competing at the top of their chosen fields online. What we can see is that the companies growing at the fastest rate are those who are truly engaging with their audiences and communicating with them through multimedia formats.

Imagine how much more Northern Rock could have done to bolster customer confidence in the aftermath of the crisis if they had taken a more personal approach to informing their customers. The website included a list of FAQ's regarding the situation but they could have posted video from senior management talking direct to each customer. This would have been much more effective.

Crisis management is just one area where video is priceless. I think we are going to see a boom over the coming months in video being employed directly on company websites as a new element in the drive to build trust with the target community.

Tags: communication, video
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Considering the value of online surveys

Jonathan Bowers, September 4th 2007, 12:49PM

Every year at UKFast we do a customer satisfaction survey and we include the results in our strategies for improvement. Having doubled in growth each year over the last four we now have a very healthy dedicated servers client base. On the eve of each survey the question arises - would this be best conducted online or over the telephone?

I spend a lot of time talking about the future of online and the ways the business world is gravitating to the web but for me customer surveys represent one aspect of monitoring that may not successfully move online.

If you work in an industry where customer feedback is important to you (and I wonder who doesn't) then in order to get as much information as possible you need to facilitate an open dialogue. This is the only way to truly discover what your clients think - and you need to do it with all of them.

As an internet company, it's easy to forget that people thrive on the human element. Of course, you need the right kind of questioners to engage customers in a way that will allow them to reveal the good, the bad and the ugly but they are worth a hundred online forms arriving in an inbox.

There are many areas of business where the internet makes life much easier but it's hard to picture a time when attaining good honest feedback from your client list will be more effectively gained online than over the phone.

Tags: communication, customer_feedback
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Browser wars continue

Jonathan Bowers, January 10th 2007, 11:33AM

Browser usage statistics for 2006, provided by Net Applications show that Mozilla has once again decreased the margin between IE and Firefox. Two years ago Microsoft was providing the web interface for 90 per cent of Internet users. Now more and more people are moving over to the world's second favourite browser with Firefox enjoying an increase in users of 50% this year giving it 14 per cent worldwide.

And Mozilla's Asa Dotzler has started the New Year by taking a tough line on browser's communications with customers as it is revealled that Opera has potentially put customers at risk by not disclosing security vulnerabilities. Dotzler even goes as far as saying that arch rival IE would be more forthcoming with information than Opera has been.

The impact of IE7 has yet to be determined but I suspect that 2007 will be another good year for Firefox, which in my mind remains the market leader when it comes to innovation and company transparency.

Tags: browsing, communication
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New media is the way forward for PR

Jonathan Bowers, July 10th 2006, 10:09AM

The CIPR Northern conference last Thursday was full of great speakers and new ideas for the PR community - and the most resounding gong was for blogging and the new media techniques.

The new media in this case is the myriad of ways that we can use the Internet to reach all our stakeholders and customers and every single session included at least a passing glance to how we must change our thinking to incorporate the Net.

I was there producing a podcast for the conference, which I have been editing over the last few days. It will be online by tomorrow and I'll include a link to it as soon as possible. It gives a flavour of the event and you'll see just how prominent blogging and the Internet are.

In particular, the keynote speakers looked at the effect of social networking and the globalisation of information and stories.

More news on this soon...

Tags: blogging, cipr, communication, socialnetworking
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A growing business is like a starfish

Jonathan Bowers, June 14th 2006, 12:55PM

There's a story going around that Starfish have incredible regenerative powers. So much so that when they lose a leg (or a ray) they grow one back. This may not seem that incredible – after all lizards can grow tails back and there are many other similar accounts in the animal kingdom. What is impressive is the suggestion that the severed leg (ray) can grow itself a starfish.

This kind of regeneration or enhanced recycling is something that we can be doing in business all the time. Every morning I generate business stories based around what our visitors are interested in reading. These in turn create themes and topics that I can discuss with clients and build into podcasting features, which may turn up interesting comment and opinion that can be acted upon and turned into Press Releases and even in some cases, new policy or product for the business.

This cycle of regeneration and development helps to build business in many different ways and reaches out to a global audience just as quickly as a local one.

And by blogging about it, I can create an extra layer within the cycle. How are you making sure you maximise on your information and expertise?

Tags: communication, growing_business
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