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Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Business Trends: Public Favor And Going To Cyberspace

By Penny Maseko

Sometimes it's good to read the business news in your local paper both for information and with an eye on the question - "Did the business being discussed work to get this article printed about them in the paper?" In some cases, it is blatantly clear that the business went to great lengths to get noticed. Many businesses actually employ public relations and advertising professionals to tailor how they will be viewed in the press and to court public favor by romancing the right kind of press coverage for the business.

A strong reputation makes for better business dealings. Running a business means entering into dozens of business relationships, making deals and drafting contracts with other businesses in town. If your business is well regarded in the public eye, this will reflect favorably when you need a deal to fall your way at the negotiating table.

There are solid reasons for a business to put some energy and capital into courting a good reputation in town. Whether that means a strong representation on United Way weekend or holding blood drives once a month, the business that has a reputation for reaching out to the community will be a business that prospers.

Business goes to cyberspace

This cyberspace explosion of an entirely new marketing model has introduced the world of business to entirely new paradigms of marketing and new ways to achieve greater market penetration and sales. And so any business that has had to get out on cyberspace to keep up with the competition has already had to learn a whole new vocabulary that has grown up around the internet marketing phenomenon. Now terms like "Search Engine Optimization", "Auto responders" and "Viral Marketing" become important and powerful tools to any business that wants to tap the power of the internet to increase sales.

The second wave of businesses that perhaps reluctantly ventured out into cyberspace was traditional retail business that you would not associate with cyberspace at all. This includes sport teams, restaurants and even retail giants such as Wal-Mart and Border's Book Stores.

The good news is that these rapid changes in how modern markets work have made the business world more diverse, more able to adjust to changing business dynamics and more open to the creative and innovative minds that have always been the real life blood of the business world. And, ironically, it is often the small business that is most capable of making rapid changes to its online presence and ways to doing things.

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