How does your online communication stand out in the crowd?

I’m in China at the moment, I got here on Saturday 14 March. We are traveling around meeting a few development companies who Leftfield Interactive has used in the past and a few we are hoping to meet and work with in the futre.

One of the first things that I noticed when I got here was the advertising. There is a huge contrast in the quality and condition of external promotion work over here.

Generally I find it to be either really good, or very poor. There is no middle ground. The good stuff is right alongside the poor and it stands out all the more. Putting great advertising next to poor has a double advantage because firstly, it stands out so well next to the poor quality work; secondly, it gives off an added air of quality that draws me in. I know which places I would rather go based on the advertising. I would rather vist the places that actually spent some time on their image. I would rather vist them because I fugure that if they spent time and resources making their external image look good, then chances are they spent time making their premises look good, and probably spent time making their product displays look good and work well.

The difference in quality of promotional work is pronounced here in China but the principle can still be seen in any competitive market around the world. The difference can be seen when flyers and mailers come through your letter box e.g that crappy black and white photocopied flyer or that full colour glossy. Which one gives you confidence of a quality product? What level or trust and service quality does the unevenly photocopied flyer give you?

Your website gets compared online all the time

I find that often businesses don’t think their websites really matter. They know they have to have one but they don’t really know why or what the point of having a website is. They think they can just put a website up, some people might find it but really no one cares. Oh how wrong those businesses are. Oh oh oh how very wrong.

In 2007 a benchmark survey was conducted of New Zealanders who use the internet and it showed that of the people surveyed, the most IMPORTANT source of information for people was not from radio, print, or TV. It wasn’t even from word of mouth. The most important source of information for the aveage person in New Zealand was the interent. You can see the full report for yourself on the AUT website. Or you can see the World Internet Project site for other contries

I hope you read this report and maybe even reconsider where online communication sits in the priority level for your organisation.