One of the companies that I am involved in, (disclosure: as a non-executive director & shareholder) is Quirk, which is an eMarketing agency. Quirk has just launched an exciting new product called BrandsEye today, which plays in the realm of Online Reputation Management (ORM). BrandEye has been in development for a long time now and it competes with other services such as Trackur, which is headed up by Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim.
ORM deals with managing the huge flux of information, opinion and reviews about your company and your brand online, and both these services make it very easy to track what’s being said about your brand - good and bad. As a business owner, it’s extremely important to understand what’s in the public domain, as a poor online image can really impact your business negatively. The skills and resources to monitor what happens online are not usually available to the average business owner, and therefore it really makes sense to outsource it to a service that can really monitor what’s happening on the web.
The fact that both Andy & Rob (CEO of Quirk) - both of whom I highly respect - have launched similar services within a few weeks of each other, speaks for itself on the opportunity in this space to assist businesses in understanding how to control and manage their brand online. Companies such as Dell & Telkom have had some online PR nightmares with Dell Hell & Helkom - and perhaps these are extreme cases.
In the world of Web 2.0, where sharing is caring, you can expect users to offer more opinions about more companies online and sites like Yelp can make or break a local business if they do no know what people are saying about them. This part of social networking really allows the cream to rise to the top and businesses need to look inward to improve their products and services in order to remain competitive. I see a major marketing exploding in ORM, so I wish both Andy & Rob all the best!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Add New Comment
Viewing 12 Comments
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
I'd also like to add a link to my own service which launched yesterday which does compete with Trackur - http://www.attenalert.com
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
It's all relative to currencies. In the UK, many small businesses will pay $750/month for this type of serve (given the weak dollar/pound exchange rate). Quirk has offices in the UK and are targeting that audience. I'm sure some businesses in the US will pay but for example, in India - I doubt many small businesses could afford it.
I hope this gives some perspective.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Of course not to say that nobody will pay for it, but I think it would be a difficult one to justify from my experience running a small business.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
I am in London, and depends on the type of business really. The price makes sense for online retailer/lenders/lettings, etc, then yes, a powerful tool is needed to see who's posting what on which forum (am assuming these services go at that level rather than just skimming press releases like most ORM).
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment
Trackbacks