For customers
Owning up to mistakes is a huge strength
The vast majority of unflattering reviews online focus on failures to deliver what was promised - whether that be for a product or a service. The substantial factor in all of this is that the uncomplimentary review is very often the last step a consumer takes when all...
Time for All Blacks fans to step up
When I wore a younger man's clothes I dabbled with playing rugby. For most of my childhood I'd played football, or soccer, as Kiwis call it. I had my masculinity attacked. Other kids hassled me and mockingly asked if I kissed and hugged the other players, as that's...
Too little, too late?
Since last Wednesday when the US held elections for president, congress and half of the senate, as well as a myriad of other public positions, the world has focused on the results as they came in, in fits and starts, until at the presidential level, Joe Biden had won...
Increasing customer value in your business
In business, growth is dependent on attracting new customers and ensuring that existing ones return. For repeat customers a significant factor is what they perceive to be the benefits of the purchases they make or in the services they commission. In most instances,...
Social proof and online reviews
In the psychology of marketing and consumer behaviour, social proof is a concept used to describe the actions and behaviour of consumers when exposed to online stories and experiences. In essence this is an outside voice or voices expressing what they think and feel...
The dos and don’ts of building an online reputation
Over the past five years I've come to learn most about building an online reputation from those who actually do it. I can read journal articles, news stories, industry research papers and blogs, like this one, but the greatest education I've had is from business...
All good things take time
I've come to realise one very important difference between businesses that value their reputation and those that don't. In essence it boils down to one very critical factor, that if managed correctly, garners significant returns, while if done incorrectly can be...
The benefits of really listening to positive feedback
I've written a lot about reviews - the great ones, the good ones, and dreadful ones. I've written about their appeal to consumers and the many benefits they hold for businesses. In this industry I fully admit that I am learning all the time and new thoughts and...
Reputations are too valuable to be left unchecked online
Working in the reviews industry is never light on surprises and constantly provides proof of what a diverse and incredible species human beings are. At their core reviews are stories, tales and observations of experiences with products and services. They can be dry,...
The benefits of the unreasonable negative review
I read an interesting article online recently that confirmed many of the things I already thought about a particular kind of negative review - the unreasonable one - and how useful and powerful they are for the businesses that receive them. The study, to be published...
Job boards and NoCowboys – what’s the difference?
One of the questions I will regularly be asked about NoCowboys is, what is the difference between what we do and a jobs site? It's a good question and one that illustrates the contrast between online reputation marketing and leads apportioned from jobs posted by...
Why does Facebook get a free ride?
For a while Facebook has described itself as a social network but in truth and reality it is barely that at all. It is a marketplace, an advertising platform, and as we have discovered in the past few years - a purveyor and seller of personal information, a tax dodger...
Easily manipulated and poorly monitored . . .
A recent story in the New Zealand Herald highlighted the huge pitfalls in the US owned search engine monopoly's review practices. Google reviews are not monitored, they are not screened, and they are difficult to remove if manipulated. This can lead to huge harm to a...
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...
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....
The whole truth and nothing but the truth
Reviews are only valid and worthwhile if they are honest, transparent and real but more than that businesses need to be aware that in New Zealand, there is a legal requirement to present reviews accurately, and consequences if those obligations is not met. This...
Owning up to mistakes is a huge strength
The vast majority of unflattering reviews online focus on failures to deliver what was promised - whether that be for a product or a service. The substantial factor in all of this is that the uncomplimentary review is very often the last step a consumer takes when all...
Time for All Blacks fans to step up
When I wore a younger man's clothes I dabbled with playing rugby. For most of my childhood I'd played football, or soccer, as Kiwis call it. I had my masculinity attacked. Other kids hassled me and mockingly asked if I kissed and hugged the other players, as that's...
Too little, too late?
Since last Wednesday when the US held elections for president, congress and half of the senate, as well as a myriad of other public positions, the world has focused on the results as they came in, in fits and starts, until at the presidential level, Joe Biden had won...
Increasing customer value in your business
In business, growth is dependent on attracting new customers and ensuring that existing ones return. For repeat customers a significant factor is what they perceive to be the benefits of the purchases they make or in the services they commission. In most instances,...
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...
Social proof and online reviews
In the psychology of marketing and consumer behaviour, social proof is a concept used to describe the actions and behaviour of consumers when exposed to online stories and experiences. In essence this is an outside voice or voices expressing what they think and feel...
The dos and don’ts of building an online reputation
Over the past five years I've come to learn most about building an online reputation from those who actually do it. I can read journal articles, news stories, industry research papers and blogs, like this one, but the greatest education I've had is from business...
All good things take time
I've come to realise one very important difference between businesses that value their reputation and those that don't. In essence it boils down to one very critical factor, that if managed correctly, garners significant returns, while if done incorrectly can be...
The benefits of really listening to positive feedback
I've written a lot about reviews - the great ones, the good ones, and dreadful ones. I've written about their appeal to consumers and the many benefits they hold for businesses. In this industry I fully admit that I am learning all the time and new thoughts and...
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,...
Reputations are too valuable to be left unchecked online
Working in the reviews industry is never light on surprises and constantly provides proof of what a diverse and incredible species human beings are. At their core reviews are stories, tales and observations of experiences with products and services. They can be dry,...
The benefits of the unreasonable negative review
I read an interesting article online recently that confirmed many of the things I already thought about a particular kind of negative review - the unreasonable one - and how useful and powerful they are for the businesses that receive them. The study, to be published...
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...
Job boards and NoCowboys – what’s the difference?
One of the questions I will regularly be asked about NoCowboys is, what is the difference between what we do and a jobs site? It's a good question and one that illustrates the contrast between online reputation marketing and leads apportioned from jobs posted by...