I thought this was really nice. I know he has lied and cheated and really had no other choice but to just come out and apologize for it, but it is still nice when a famous person acknowledges their wrong doing and takes steps in a better direction.
Methods and outlets for advertising are always growing and changing. And a struggling economy is the perfect opportunity to look over that advertising/ marketing budget and make some much-needed changes that will grow with it.
Billboards are probably one of the oldest forms of advertising. They began as big posters hung on the sides of buildings near the end of the 18th century, but as technology increased and highways and automobiles began to thrive so did the billboard industry. They grace the sides of roads and highways from the middle of nowhere to the heart of the city. Today, billboards are still a very useful advertising tool, since most people spend a good portion of time out and about or commuting to and from work.
Television is a more recent form of advertising; however, since their inception in the 1940′s they have really taken off. Every television show you watched is interrupted nearly every 15 minuets for 5 minutes of commercials. Many television stations will allow you to choose the time slots and area that your advertisement will be aired in so you can really get the most out of your money.
The Internet is by far the most recent form of advertising. The Internet as we know it has only existed since the early 1990′s but has exceeded by far many other types of technology. Billions of people worldwide use the Internet for research, social networking, and entertainment. As a result, Internet advertising has gone ways billboards and television never could. With reputation management online businesses and individuals can help monitor what is being said, or written, about them online and influence the ranking of websites on search engines such as Google. Here the Internet has opened up a whole new way for businesses to advertise and increase their visibility, as well as deal with competitors.
The most popular of the Mascarene Islands off the coast of Africa is the stunning beach paradise that is Mauritius. Its location in the southern hemisphere makes it the perfect escape from northern winters, with warm, sunny days and crystal clear waters kissing the white sands of the many beaches. No wonder many have compared the island to heaven.
The island of Mauritius was formed millions of years of ago by undersea volcanic eruptions. It was discovered by Austronesian and Arab sailors and then settled by the Portuguese, Dutch and French before being ruled by the British. It achieved independence in 1968 and joined the British Commonwealth as a republic in 1992.
In addition to the stunning ocean views, the island has a central plateau surrounded by picturesque mountains. The lush forrests, glossy lagoons, and beautiful waterfalls add to the island’s allure. Black River Gorges National Park offers breath-taking scenes and divers will want to explore the gorgeous coral reefs ringing the island.
While Mauritius is fabled for its natural beauty, the island has developed a thriving tourism industry that offers comfort and variety to all visitors. The luxury hotels on Mauritius have all the technology and conveniences of the 21st century. The restaurants on the island serve heavenly dishes from Africa, China, France, and India as well as the spicy Creole local recipes. Shoppers can stroll through modern shopping centers or explore the traditional Flacq Market.
A perfect day on Mauritius might involve a relaxing ocean swim, hours spent visiting the Balaclava ruins, dinner at one of the charming local restaurants with a stunning ocean view, and then dancing all night to the popular sega music in one the island’s many clubs.
Wikipedia can be a useful online branding tool. From my experience problems can arise when competitors or others with malicious intent change or add to the listing material. If this happens there are steps you can take.
Those who feel they have been the victim of malicious vandalism aren’t helpless, there are numerous ways to go about fixing the problem. The obvious answer is edit the entry yourself, but that can be, potentially, problematic, as it can get you flamed by users or land you in an edit war.
This article gives you 7 steps to manage your Wikipedia reputation.
Further to our original post on the Whole Foods reputation management problem it is now reported that the CEO of Whole Foods has issued an apology for his anonymous bashing of rivals Wild Oats.
The chief executive of Whole Foods Market Inc. apologized to shareholders on Tuesday for anonymously posting comments about his company on the Internet as the organic and natural foods grocer said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had launched a probe into the matter.
Excuse the pun but…your reap what you sow….(ouch!) Read more
For an in-depth analysis go to Force of Good.
This article entitled ‘Whole Foods CEO Attacked Rival Online‘ highlights why there is a growing need for online reputation monitoring and management. The internet makes it easy for anonymous individuals to attack your brand.
The chief executive of Whole Foods Market Inc. wrote anonymous online attacks against a smaller rival and questioned why anyone would buy its stock, before Whole Foods announced an offer to buy the other company this year.
The postings on Internet financial forums, made under the name “rahodeb,” said Wild Oats Markets Inc. stock was overpriced. The statements predicted the company would fall into bankruptcy and then be sold after its stock fell below $5 per share.
This is an interesting article about using search for PR and reputation management.
Although we may credit our college professors or our first marketing job, we should thank our parents for our very first public relations lessons. We were taught at a young age the importance of reputation management. Each time we were forced to return the gum we accidentally shoplifted from the convenience store, or to ring a neighbor’s doorbell and apologize for breaking their front window with our baseball, our parents were teaching us the value of managing public opinion and steps to restoring trust.
Protecting the trust that you have labored hard to build is what reputation management is all about. More and more companies are developing plans to protect their reputation. What are you doing about it?
The USA Today has an online reputation management article posted today entitled ‘Your Internet Image is Everything.’
The article concludes:
The bottom line: Businesses and individuals need to be proactive when it comes to their reputations. And it’s more important the smaller the business. It doesn’t take much more than a dissatisfied customer with some Web savvy to wreck a company online — and it doesn’t take much negative material online to wreck a brick and mortar operation.
I believe that any business, regardless of size, should have as a core activity online reputation management.
Online reputation management helps you to develop and protect your online brand. It also gives you the opportunity to influence consumer perception of the brand.
Visibility and high rankings of favorable brand related information is the ultimate goal. This is what the vast majority of consumers come across while undertaking searches for your brand. The byproduct of getting favorable information ranked is that any negative information is pushed down or removed from the top end of search engine listings. This is the type of information that may be damaging to the reputation of your brand.
Organizations produce a large amount of content on many different platforms and websites. It is often the case that this information is not promoted for the web or is not indexed by the search engines.
The goal is to analyze your current situation and build a plan aimed at developing brand related information that can be indexed and ranked by the search engines. Your organization should also be geared to participate in the online conversation relating to your brand.
Here are three steps to build your online reputation management strategy around:
Your online brand reputation is the result of years of hard work; therefore you should have total control over how it is presented in the search results. Your reputation means everything in the real world, and that is no different in the cyber world.
A nice piece on the need for reputation management when handling your online brand.
A few months ago, I had a series of conversations with managers who reflected on the increasing difficulty of managing the perception of their brand. They told stories of customer complaints spreading like wildfire through the Web before they had a chance to deal with them, and opinions expressed in blogs and forwarded e-mails by some of their detractors that appeared to be magically reprocessed into fact.
You don’t have to search hard to find examples of such challenges. An international fast-food chain is sideswiped by images available on YouTube of rats roaming freely in one of their outlets. A global apparel maker contends with allegations, published online, of operating sweatshops. Read more