For customers
2020 – we’ve seen the best of people in the worst of times
In 1992 the Queen defined one of the more challenging 12 months of her reign with a handy Latin phrase that summed it up perfectly - an annus horribilis (horrible year). She was referring to a string of divorces in the family, a fire at Windsor castle, and a litany of...
Come together
This week the very first Covid-19 vaccination was administered to a 9o year old in the UK. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was created in record time and offers a real sense of hope of being able to defeat a virus that has held the world to ransom for most of this year....
How good it is to be lost in a crowd again
It's certainly been the strangest year most of us have experienced and much of how we go about our lives has changed. The Covid-19 pandemic has dominated our thoughts and actions and there is every sign that we still have a way to go, before vaccination and opening up...
Overcoming a recession will take more than great leadership
While it was surely one of the strangest election campaigns in living memory, postponed by a month because of the the Covid-19 epidemic, New Zealanders voted on Saturday (and in huge numbers beforehand) and exercised one of the most abiding elements of our personal...
Reputation is far too important to abandon to those who twist it
I think about reputation a lot. Not only as a concept or an idea but as an actuality that governs the choices we make about individuals, brands, businesses and politics. It's important to remember that reputation is all about perception, as it is created from the...
Auckland has everything – except for imagination
I've lived in Auckland for 16 years. I moved here from the South Island, never thinking at the time that I would be here this long. I've lived out west, east, and north and I've travelled all over the wide expanse that now constitutes the 'Super City'. My kids have...
Covid-19 series 2 – yeah, nah
So, we are almost at the end of series 2 of Lockdown and the reviews aren't quite as positive as series 1. Where the first series created a sense of connection and togetherness against a formidable foe, resulting in a finale of real triumph and shared achievement,...
Tipping our hats to the no cowboys
There are some professions that get a rough deal - that are perceived by some in negative ways because of past experiences or through word of mouth. Tradespeople are one such sector and in my opinion the vast majority of them would have to be some of the most hard...
It’s space Jim, but not as we know it
I've been thinking about virtual space for a while - not only because it is the strange, necessary and contested space of digital marketing - but because of the disappointing manner in which some of the more gargantuan online entities have shifted and melded to become...
Consensus, consensus, consensus
Sometimes I find myself just going 'wow', when I think about how much the world has changed in the past six months and how it continues to alter and shift as we all negotiate our way through the social, cultural and economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Each day...
We cannot go backwards
While we may always have known, and were told that Covid-19 may well come back after a 24 day spell of no cases, the past few weeks has brought us all back down to earth, with a crashing thump. More than that, the trust that many Kiwis have had in our institutions has...
We’ve had leadership – do we need politics?
New Zealand has done what most of the nations around the globe could only have dreamed of at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic - reduced active cases to zero for a stunning 19 days, with a fraction of the deaths, even though each and every one is a heartbreaking...
Colmar Brunton releases corporate reputation index results
Last month Comar Brunton, in conjunction with Wright Communications, released its annual index of New Zealand's most trusted companies. "Wright Communications’ managing director, Nikki Wright said Colmar Brunton’s polling during the COVID-19 lockdown showed many of...
All for one and one for all
When I was a kid I loved the Three Musketeers - the sword fighting, the adventure, the wit, the overcoming of evil and adversity. More than that though, I was utterly sold on their rallying cry of 'all for one and one for all'. It made beautiful sense and it was so...
Websites for all seasons
At NoCowboys we have been marketing the reputations of Kiwi businesses for over 15 years. We know reviews, we know reviews work and we have witnessed the rise and success of thousands of businesses who use our services and our platform. Over the years, however, we...
Visibility means being transparent
Many business owners spend a formidable amount of money on their 'brand' without really considering what it is that customers look for in a brand and what attracts them to brands in the first place. Brand is not about a fancy logo or a self idealised and professed...
Keeps you on top of your A game . . .
Keeping up with all of the latest research on online reviews and consumer behaviour is all well and good but I still firmly believe that the best indication of the power of what we do at NoCowboys comes from the businesses that use and profit from our platform. After...
“NoCowboys is an invaluable tool”
Like every dynamic business, at NoCowboys we take great pride in the feedback we receive and it is even more heartening for us as we are in the business of marketing the reputations of thousands of New Zealand businesses to help them prosper and grow. Reviews are our...
You may not think you’re online but your reputation is
This week I had another one of those wonderful lightbulb moments where something I read online put something I knew into sharp relief. This one was all about the resistance some business owners have to taking charge of their online reputation and controlling the...
Direct contact from customers puts you in charge
There are various ways for businesses to attract new customers but some are better than others. The best methods of all involve active, motivated customers contacting a business, this is known as direct contact. It is far superior to the alternative - business owners...
Fake reviews are only an issue for the unwary
We are strange creatures and no matter what the enterprise, the unscrupulous amongst us do anything they can to secure an advantage. It's been this way for millennia and it's just the way it is. Even still, that doesn't mean that the rest of us have to fall into the...
Reviews and ratings trump price in consumer survey
Survey results published in the US last month cement the absolute dominance of online reviews and star ratings driving consumer behaviour. 6500 consumers were surveyed by PowerReviews and for the first time the findings indicated a substantial shift in the...
Our health professionals deserve far better
There are some decisions that really should be worked out with a hell of a lot more thought and consideration. Freezing public sector salaries after the budget last month is one of them. Now we face the prospect of nurses striking for better pay and conditions and...
It’s vital to ask your customers how they found your phone number and did they see your reviews
Your reviews are online to reassure your customers; to provide them with the peace-of-mind they require to consider even picking up the phone and making contact but as a business owner, it's imperative you ask your customers a few questions when they first get in...
Utilising reviews to boost your conversion rate
As always, I spent a few hours this week perusing the internet to see what new trends are emerging in marketing, consumer behaviour, and online reviews. A lot of it is just confirmation of what I already know but I will always read something that puts what we do at...
NoCowboys is an online review platform
Since 2006 NoCowboys has given Kiwi consumers the essential information they desire before contacting businesses and at the same time we have been instrumental in helping thousands of New Zealand businesses grow and substantially increase their customer bases. The...
Online reputation marketing is for the life time of a business
Over the years I've seen a number of business owners make one of the biggest marketing mistakes without thinking of the consequences to their business and it's so easily avoidable. Marketing a reputation is not something that you turn off because you are 'too...
Strangers’ opinions guide us to greater things
Last week I read an article on The Guardian about the backlash that a reviewer had experienced over their career of opining on television shows and movies and I saved the link because I wanted to come back to it. That night the article occupied my thoughts and I...
Most trusted Kiwi brand revealed
The word iconic is terribly overused and often misapplied but for some reason it fits exactly when I think of the winner of this year's Reader’s Digest’s annual Trusted Brands survey. Ask any kid and they will tell you that one of their favourite things is chocolate,...
The perils of positivity – read the reviews!
We have known this for years and the research affirms it year in and year out - consumers aren't just taken in by 4 and 5 star ratings - they want to read the actual reviews themselves. An article I read this week brought that into greater focus and I...
Don’t ask, don’t get – the practice of acquiring online reviews
I've been involved in online marketing and the review industry for a number of years and if there is one constant I hear from business owners, it is frustration about getting their customers to review their business. I've learned a number of valuable lessons and...
Has traditional advertising lost its impact?
I was researching a story the other day and as often happens, an innocuous statement got me thinking. I love when that happens and I am constantly surprised by where it it can take my mind and make me think very differently about things I hadn't considered before....
Better be home soon
Last Sunday I got to be part of a huge, raucous, and appreciative crowd at Auckland's Spark Arena to see and hear Crowded House. This isn't a review of their music, their talent, their endurance, their achievements, or their artistry. It's a short and heartfelt...
A year since the first nationwide lockdown . . .
This week marks the one year anniversary of New Zealand's nationwide Level 4 lockdown and it is incredible how quickly the past 12 months have passed and how much we have changed. I can remember vividly the thoughts of impending doom as the whole country, apart...
An authenticated review platform is essential
One of the greatest challenges to the substance and veracity of online reviews is instilling confidence in the consumers who flock online to make their choices based on the opinions of others, whom they will likely never encounter in real life. Maintaining a...
Why you need to register your business with NoCowboys
Simple marketing is the most effective Marketing is essentially the bridge across the gap between your business and the customers you want to attract. NoCowboys provides the most effective means to close that gap – using your greatest, and probably most under utilised...
Reputations are made by the perceptions of others
A friend and I were talking the other day about branding, reputation, and reviews and she said something that was incredibly simple and also amazingly profound. I really love when that happens - when someone can utter a few words that solidify your thinking and make...
How to leave a great review
When you're leaving feedback for a business there a few things to keep in mind to ensure those who read it get the real benefit of your opinion. After all, that's what feedback is, your experience of the service you paid for or a product that you bought and...
A resource of all of the benefits of online reviews
This resource is aimed at those business owners who have not yet committed to putting their reputations on the line, online. It explains the many benefits of an online reputation to every business, no matter what it does, where it does it, no matter how large or how...
Conflict resolution is a crucial skill in business
I've witnessed enough conflict between businesses and customers, personally and professionally, to have a good idea of how to avoid it and if it occurs, to resolve it. Firstly, and most importantly, differences are endemic to human beings. We see things,...
NoCowboys grows your business online!
Where does the freedom of speech end?
I've been thinking a lot about free speech really, though in truth, the issue of the right to express opinions and beliefs is something endemic to the review industry all of the time. Reviews are, after all, the subjective experience of an individual and there is no...
Fair suck of the sav!!!
Search engine monopoly, Google has been accused of playing rough in Australia by an 'experiment' that removes certain news websites from search results. In and of itself, that's fairly average but it is even more worrying, considering earlier calls by Australian...
Responding to an unreasonable review is essential
I worked in the hospitality industry in various capacities when I was much younger and while I loved being in a kitchen, I quickly worked out that I didn't quite have the patience or the quick thinking required to be successful when dealing with the public. Perhaps I...
Cricket needs honest leaders as much as it needs ‘stars’
Late last year, or nearly a week ago, former Australian cricket captain, Steve Smith was named test player of the decade by the ICC (International Cricket Council). Now, don't get me wrong, Smith is a fantastic cricketer, with an incredible record of amassing a huge...
Consumers expect to see challenging reviews – embrace them!
For some businesses owners, challenging reviews are a huge obstacle and sometimes end up being a stumbling block that they just can not get past. While there is obviously a human element to dealing with and accepting criticism - fair or unfair - there are some things...
2020 – we’ve seen the best of people in the worst of times
In 1992 the Queen defined one of the more challenging 12 months of her reign with a handy Latin phrase that summed it up perfectly - an annus horribilis (horrible year). She was referring to a string of divorces in the family, a fire at Windsor castle, and a litany of...
Review survey establishes impact of Covid-19 on consumer behaviour
Each year BrightLocal publishes the eagerly anticipated and well respected results of its annual Local Consumer Review Survey. Year in, year out, the survey affirms the supremacy of online reviews as a dominant driver of consumer choice. This year has been unique in...