iWork for iCloud Now in Limited Beta

iWork for iCloud Now in Limited Beta
How to Handle a Public Relations Crisis
Clarity of Purpose: What’s Your Promise?
Things Aren’t Looking Good

Posted: 30 Aug 2013 01:36 PM PDT

iwork

Small business owners and employees know the value of working across multiple devices. This allows you to access your documents from where ever you are without needing to lug a laptop or other device with you. Apple recently opened a beta of its iWork for iCloud free to all users with an Apple ID account letting you do just that.

The office suite package lets you create letters and other documents, create professional looking graphics and presentations, and edit document pages easily, according to reviews.

Comparable to Google Drive or SkyDrive

The new iWork suite is comparable to Google Drive or free Word, Excel and Powerpoint features available free through Microsoft’s SkyDrive. (iWork is compatible with Microsoft Office, by the way, meaning you can drag your Word, Excel and Powerpoint files into iWork’s file manager and edit them there.)

Reviews are mixed about how iWork stands up to these competitors. PC Magazine suggests the new suite doesn’t offer much not available already from the other two services.

Although Apple has apparently already had to limit the beta due to overwhelming public response. Apple is expected to formally launch the service in the fall.

The Important Thing About iWork

The most important thing about iWork for iCloud may be that it adds yet another tool for businesses of all sizes and professionals in many fields to work on documents from any computer or device.

In fact, as Apple points out in its introduction of the service, you can even do a presentation on another computer by simply accessing your iCloud account.

To get started with iWork you will need to either sign in to iCloud from your Mac or other Apple device or follow setup instructions for your Windows PC. See a demonstration of iWork for iCloud below.

Image: Apple

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How to Handle a Public Relations Crisis

Posted: 30 Aug 2013 11:00 AM PDT

public relations crisis

Admit it: None of us are as graceful as we think we are. We've all "stepped in it" so-to-speak and sometimes, the results aren't pretty. Whether we're out for a run or walking within the confines of our home, we've all had a clumsy moment with unintended consequences. Likewise, no matter how appropriately you run your business, if you've been in business long enough, then you’re bound to receive publicity you don't like.

Meet Nivia, the focus of today's case study.

After releasing its "Re-Civilize Yourself" ad campaign, Nivia was criticized for undertones that many claimed were racist. The ad prominently featured a clean-shaven black man tossing away a head with an afro and facial hair, implying that he was throwing away his old-self to "Re-Civilize" himself.

Fortunately, Nivia has become a role model of how small businesses should handle a public relations crisis and negative PR situations, immediately apologizing through social media and other platforms. Nivia then removed the ad and suspended the campaign due to the widespread backlash.

If your business becomes the center of unwanted controversy and a public relations crisis, it's important to know how to react.

Handle Your Public Relations Crisis with Grace

Avoid Knee-Jerk Reactions

Whether warranted or unwarranted, it's important to remain calm while handling any sort of controversy online. If your brand did nothing wrong, such as Cheerios in their recent "Just Checking" ad (seen below), then there's no reason to withdraw any of your campaigns or apologize for a wrongdoing.

However, if there's legitimate dicey-ness such as in the Nivia campaign, you'll certainly want to react as quickly as possible without a knee-jerk reaction.

Remember, an inappropriate response can cause more damage.

It's Sometimes Better to Say Nothing

Sometimes it's better to stay quiet and avoid making the situation worse than to try and give a lengthy explanation and apology.

Just like avoiding a knee-jerk reaction, sometimes less is more. Especially when your brand is under heightened scrutiny.

Be Aware Moving Forward

When it comes to new marketing strategies and campaigns, sometimes we get so excited in the potential value that we forget to consider any potential pitfalls. Just as you might trip while walking because you weren't paying attention, many controversies happen because marketers didn't fully consider or understand the dynamics of a campaign.

Ultimately, the best way to handle controversy is to prevent it. But just as Cheerios learned, sometimes controversy is unwarranted and can come swiftly from various sects of the online community.

By handling a public relations crisis and controversy appropriately and gracefully, your brand will be able to establish itself as one of the most professional in its industry.

Angry Mob Photo via Shutterstock

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Clarity of Purpose: What’s Your Promise?

Posted: 30 Aug 2013 08:00 AM PDT

zappos

Does it live consistently across your company?

Clarity of purpose extends well beyond the boardrooms of beloved companies. It unleashes the organization's imagination to make decisions guided by its promise. It's no wonder that companies with clarity of purpose have the most loyal and engaged employees. The opportunity to deliver to a clear purpose elevates day-to-day tasks, giving work direction and joy.

Internet clothing and shoe retailer Zappos earns 75 percent of their daily orders from repeat customers. Clarity of purpose fuels its customer devotion. Zappos wants to be known as a service company that happens to sell shoes, handbags and an expanding array of products in the future. The lens through which the company makes decisions is service.

This clarity frees everyone there to live the "Golden Rule" in the way they work.

Zappos Clarity of Purpose

One decision Zappos acts on every day is helping customers find a pair of shoes, even a pair they don't stock. Customer Loyalty Reps who take customer calls are encouraged to know competitors' Web sites for one simple purpose: Service. If a customer calls Zappos for a shoe it doesn't have, their Reps will search the Internet to help the customer find it. Customers are continuously amazed, delighted and dazzled by this act of genuine customer care.

Zappos' clarity of purpose – that doing the right thing for the customer is ultimately the right thing for the business – transcends any short-term gain it might get by pushing the customer toward another shoe they have in stock.

Clarity for being a service business first gives Customer Loyalty Reps energy and a compass for decision making. And it gives them the joy of delivering Zappos' version of the "Miracle on 34th Street." You may remember that in the movie Miracle on 34th Street, a Macy's-employed department store Santa joyfully sends customers to competitors when the store didn't stock what they wanted, making Macy's the "winner" of the Christmas season.

In this single, simple decision, Zappos wins over the hearts of customers. It is this type of gesture that makes customers love them. They are loved for being the kind of people who send a customer to the competition because it's the right thing to do.

Every type of business prospers when clarity of purpose steers decision making.

People across your company live up to the promises you make. Customers become emotionally connected with you and want others to experience what you deliver. Their stories of your service, experience, and people become the folklore that defines you.

And customers become your sales force, telling your story to everyone they know, fueling your growth.

Image: Wikipedia

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Things Aren’t Looking Good

Posted: 30 Aug 2013 05:00 AM PDT

things aren't looking good business cartoon

I saw a lot of movies this summer. For the most part, I enjoyed them all.

But unexpectedly, my favorite by far was not any of the various superhero reimaginings, sequels or prequels. It was Pacific Rim, where giant mechs fight giant monsters from below the sea.

POW! ROAR! PEW PEW! HEE-HEE! FUN!

So when I was drawing a new bar graph cartoon and the bars looked like tall buildings – adding in an angry kaiju just couldn’t be helped.

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