Fred Goodwin, ex-RBS boss: is continued silence the best approach?
Ever since his downfall and the resulting political firestorm cast him as ‘arch villain’ in the world’s biggest banking failure (so far), the erstwhile ‘Sir’ and now just plain old Fred Goodwin has never given a media interview. It could initially have been for legal reasons, but I wonder if maintaining a dignified silence was ever the right approach and if he should now review that? Was it a deliberate, planned and considered action or an early mistake that he’s since compounded by failing to tell his version of events? It really is fascinating and puzzling to watch this former business ... read the full post »
01 February 2012 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : banks, communications strategy, Fred Goodwin, gerald ronson, media interviews, RBS, reputation, Sir Fred Goodwin.
Customer advocacy: what’s stopping you?
In my first article on customer advocacy I outlined what I hope was a strong case for talking about your successes through the clients’ voice. In this second piece, I want to explore what’s preventing more firms from doing so. Some of the common reasons I’ve encountered are: 1. The firm has a long-standing (and unchallenged) policy not to talk about clients 2. Clients would never agree to it, for various reasons 3. There is no resource to chase relationship ‘owners’ 4. Marketing people are not trusted to talk directly to clients 5. It’s too risky. The outcome cannot be controlled. Clients might be misquoted or say something detrimental Taking the ... read the full post »
02 September 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : advocacy, communications strategy, customers, reputation.
‘Trustability’ and why negative reviews are good for business
The counter-intuitive headline ‘Negative reviews drive sales, claims marketing expert’ on Marketing magazine’s web site caught my eye. But as I finished reading I was left none the wiser about why. Normally I would have stopped there and thought no more about it but the man behind this claim is Don Peppers, a widely-acknowledged marketing expert. To get to the reasons for Peppers’ claim I had to spend an hour watching his presentation at a recent conference about social media and marketing. I heartily recommend you make the same time commitment. He’s a great presenter and you’ll probably come ... read the full post »
19 July 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : advocacy, B2B, reputation, selling, trust.
Pleading and humour aren’t enough to get you into editorial pages
Some people find this Youtube video of a mock-plaintive junior at PR agency Ten Yetis amusing. Maybe it did the trick but it left me feeling a little embarrassed for her. If I was her client, I’d be wondering if that’s all there is to pitching journalists – and wondering if I didn’t need a little more marketing savvy injecting into my PR efforts. Why, for example, was there not one single good reason offered up to the journalist to write about the product in that video? Why do readers need to know about ... read the full post »
03 May 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : adding value, media coverage, media relations, pitching, PR firms, reputation, selling, USP, YouTube.
Why we need to hear less from you and more from your customers
Most people old enough to be in senior management roles today know the slogan 'Let your fingers do the walking'. It did wonders for promoting Yellow Pages and joined the advertising hall of fame back in 2002. But how about ‘Let your clients do the talking’? Nope, that doesn’t resonate quite so loudly does it? But it should, because credible endorsements from others are one of the most potent sales tools in business-to-business, especially if you’re selling professional services. PR professionals call this ‘third party endorsement’ (TPE) and, well managed, it can win you business, forge alliances, improve recruitment ... read the full post »
07 January 2011 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | 1 Comment »
Tagged : communications strategy, marketing, new business, reputation, selling, third party endorsement.
The FT meets ‘The Body’ and a PR car crash ensues
Earlier this month Elle Macpherson, one of the original ‘supermodels’, was interviewed by Lucy Kellaway in The Financial Times. You can read the article here (although you may need to register). It’s a great read, though it left this formerly neutral reader, and I suspect many others, with a rather dim view of ‘The Body’, as she used to be known. It made me wonder read the full post »
25 October 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : communications strategy, marketing, media relations, PR, PR firms, public relations, reputation, The Financial Times.
Why University College London may soon have a reputation to rival Scrooge
What on earth is going on at University College London (UCL)? On the evidence of a recent major story in the London Evening Standard, its president Professor Malcolm Grant seems to be going through a Marie Antoinette moment. read the full post »
25 September 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : crisis, London Evening Standard, media relations, reputation, University College London.
Reputation, trust and retail banks
In the UK, high street (retail) banking is dominated by a handful of five, big brands so similar you’d be hard pushed to fit a cigarette paper between them. So news of Metro bank’s launch, which The Telegraph newspaper points out is the first new entrant to this market in 100 years, ought to be welcomed, didn’t it? Especially when you hear its billionaire founder Vernon Hill likes to have fun and plans to “to eliminate every stupid bank rule we can find." How refreshing. Well, on the surface, yes. Any new-comer promising to shake things up and put customers ... read the full post »
08 June 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : banks, CNN, Harvard Business Review, Havas, marketing, Metro bank, reputation, Tesco, The Daily Telegraph, trust, Virgin.
How easily events at suppliers can turn into a big reputation issue
Reading a major, left-leaning British newspaper on Saturday I was struck by two separate stories featuring what is now the world’s largest technology corporation, Apple. In the first, Apple was the story. It was a light, positive piece about the frenzied events at the company’s flagship London store on the first day that Ipads went on sale. Apple marketing folk must have been delighted by the scale and tone of the article. The second story was altogether different, and must have tainted the pleasure prompted by the first. It was about a spate of suicides by unhappy workers ... read the full post »
03 June 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | Comment on this post »
Tagged : Apple, BBC, Foxconn, reputation.
Legal services market set to heat up. But does anyone want their law firm to be ‘cool’?
Some would say lawyers deserve all they get reputation-wise: they communicate in a strange, obscure language, deliberately designed to complicate the simple; they inhabit a rarefied, archaic world largely untouched by modern business norms such as offering high customer service levels and value for money. I suspect Luke Johnson’s recent damning column in The Financial Times speaks for many. The British government clearly thinks things need shaking up too because its ‘Legal Services Act’ comes into force next year, and aims to open up and deregulate the market. It has been described by The Times newspaper as ... read the full post »
25 May 2010 | Posted by : Andy M Turner | Blog | 4 Comments »
Tagged : branding, law firms, Legal Services Act, marketing, reputation, social media, The Financial Times, Times newspaper, Twitter, USP.