Posts Tagged ‘Fuzion Communications’

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Blackberry Problems

January 3, 2010
Blackberry - Rollerball Problems

Blackberry - Rollerball Problems

I heard before about a blog that was written by a guy about terrible problems that he was having with his Dell computer, which resulted in a huge reaction from others and eventually a reaction from Dell itself.

I am having a simple problem with my Blackberry, the rollerball is sticking. Ok, small problem but I can’t check texts, emails without spending ages repeatedly rolling and rolling and rolling.

Of course I popped into an O2 store who told me that there was a problem but it would have to be sent away for a week for repair. I have too much information on it and use it too much. I will probably be given a new one but you always end up with a huge pain in the backside of transferring contacts and losing some photos etc.

The friendly guy in the O2 store “off the record” suggested using a pin to poke out the rollerball and then use some cleaning materials on it. I failed miserably at my attempts to squeeze the rollerball out.

I should have known … I had the same issue with the previous model and still agreed to switch to this one!

I put my trust in a Google search to realise that loads or people are having the same problem – surely Blackberry know that this is a huge defect but are not dealing with it officially.

I have decided to switch to an iphone but as an experiment I am writing and tagging this blog to see if I get any reaction from Blackberry!

Blackberry are you listening to what is being said about your products online?

Let’s see !

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications, Marketing & PR

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2009 – The Ultimate Business Boot Camp?

December 22, 2009

2009 – The Ultimate Business Boot Camp

Pretty much anyone who survived business in 2009 has had to dig deep, start operating really efficiently, offering good service and value and genuinely appreciating their customers. It has been normal and a matter of course to demand the same from suppliers, looking for value and quality service from everyone. Business practices have had to be sharpened in every area – to survive the services provided have had to be excellent and no longer just ok.

We have learnt more about ourselves this year I suspect, our resilience, our adaptability, our ability to deal with adversity and worry, our ability to work even harder, our customer knowledge, our staff motivational skills without writing cheques, our negotiating ability and even our credit control skills!

Has 2009 been the ultimate Business Boot Camp?

My dad was in the US army for 2 years and he always talks about how the Boot Camp period at the beginning was absolutely terrible but he will always say how is was totally valuable and necessary.

While it was incredibly challenging and really tough we are now better equipped than ever to face the future and reap the rewards of the upturn when it comes. I look forward to it!

Greg Canty is a partner in Fuzion Communications

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It will get better when we stop saying it will get worse.

November 30, 2009

Brian Cowen - Fianna Fail

Getting Better

It will get worse before it gets better!

What was he thinking when he said this?

I am talking about Brian Cowen of course, the leader of our government, the leader of our country.   I consider myself to be one of the very lucky ones in the last week with the floods. Except for a leaky roof in our office and a lack of running water, no floods and pretty much business as usual.

It is difficult to empathise with people who have had their houses flooded and their livelihoods effectively ended or at least seriously threatened due to the floods. What is it like to be exhausted after days of battling with flood water, struggling with no water to drink or wash, trying to clean up and rescue what you can from the debris? I can only imagine.

In that position I imagine I want to hear things like: “Don’t worry, you will be looked after”, “We will have it all sorted really soon”, not “It will get worse before it gets better” – that must make your hole seem ever deeper. Hope or despair?

Come on Brian, have some cop on will you? Bring people hope not despair. Besides managing how about leading for a change?

You made the same comments after the last budget – why do you think most of the country is half petrified about the economy and their livelihoods. Confidence and positivity will bring optimism, will loosen the purse strings and assist recovery not “It will get worse before it gets better”

It will only get better when we stop talking about it getting worse..

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications, Dublin & Cork

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Posted in Irish Economy, Irish Politics, PR, Recession | 2 Comments »

The SuperValu Girl!

November 28, 2009

The SuperValu Girl !There I was shopping basket in hand at my local supermarket picking up a few bits for a night in watching TV and all of a sudden I spotted her! This was my moment at last..
As a happily married man this might sound very suspicious but let me assure you that there is nothing sinister about it.
You see, this day was a special day, in fact a very special day.
Liverpool had beaten Man United that morning and I knew the SuperValu girl was a Man U supporter and for once I was able to have a little fun with her, with me being able to take the upper hand eventually. She spotted me coming, threw the eyes up to heaven and just took the teasing like any true fan!
I pick up bits and pieces in the store on a regular basis and as a result would be quite familiar with some of the staff and this girl in particular. She has a pleasant word to say to absolutely everyone from young kids to quite old customers and she always seems to be in good form, even when Man United lose to Liverpool!

The store might be a little bit more expensive than the local Dunne’s or Tesco’s, the selection probably isn’t as good but at the end of the day you just can’t beat a good atmosphere created by efficient and pleasant staff.

The SuperValu girl and all the other really good staff in stores and different businesses all around the country are worth their weight in gold, more than any marketing campaigns can hope to achieve. Campaigns are terrific at communicating what your business is all about but the proof is in the eating. Excellent staff are the best marketing of all.

…so even though we are on a bad run of results I will still bravely return, do my shopping and look forward to the chit chat with the SuperValu girl.

Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications

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Posted in Irish Economy, Marketing, PR, Retailing | 3 Comments »

A Merry Irish Christmas and a Happy New Year?

November 21, 2009

Bah humbug – we have just seen the NAMA legislation passed by the Dail and we are about to face a round of public sector one day strikes with the government and the unions both posturing in a serious game of who has more bottle for a battle as we nervously approach the second Budget day this year. Who knows where all of this will lead and how it will affect us? For the most part we are quite helpless with little enough ability to influence anything. Are you as fed up with all of this as I am?

The one thing that we can be sure of is that Christmas is around the corner and as with every other year since we can remember we will all be stretching our budgets on presents for loved ones and friends and even gifts for our customers and staff who will have looked after us during the year. As always we will indulge in extra treats for ourselves and for our home between food and decorations… Merry Christmas, we deserve it!

How can we take this opportunity to take some small element of control of our circumstances and positively influence the economic environment around us and help not only to make it a Merry Christmas but also a Happy New Year?

My simple challenge is that we all consciously influence that spend on our Christmas budgets will be on Irish products and Irish services as much as possible. Without a doubt there will be less spent this year compared to last year but at least if we consciously Spend Irish, the money will stay in circulation in Ireland with more money in the country coffers come January, which will help kick off 2010 in a really positive way.

Ok, this may sound very noble and patriotic but when it boils down to it are we really going to be able to do it? .. I think so.

Let’s have a look at the typical shopping list:

– Books: Irish books by Irish authors by Irish publishers – make the effort to specifically choose Irish where possible. There are some fabulous books available
– Music & DVD’s: given a choice can we vote for the Irish artist, comedian, movie?
– Vouchers: can we opt for the restaurant, spa treatment or weekend break instead of an alternative?
– Turkey & Ham: make sure these are from Irish suppliers, that should be easy
– Other foodstuffs, relishes etc: Irish all the way, there is plenty of terrific choice
– Booze: which brands are produced in Ireland? – can we substitute our favourite for an Irish alternative? Cork Dry Gin isn’t a bad substitute for Bombay!

This list can go on forever but if we consciously make it our business to choose for the option that keeps money in Irish circulation then, that is better for our economy, for jobs and ultimately for us.

And how about thank you gifts for customers and staff?

If you are in a position to allocate budget for Christmas gifts then consciously choose gifts that are Irish, Irish food and beverages, Irish vouchers, Irish books, Irish Christmas cards and so on. Without too much effort we should be able to easily steer all our precious Euros towards Irish products and services. Many of the hamper suppliers specialise in Irish products.

Where it just isn’t possible to choose an Irish alternative (Transformers and Hannah Montana and nothing else will do!) you will at least help the cause if you carefully choose how and where you purchase these products. You can help keep more money in the country by supporting our retailers or if you shop on the web try to keep the business for the Irish providers.

The retailers and Irish web retailers can also play a huge part in all of this with their choices about the products that they decide to stock this Christmas and how these are displayed and promoted. Purchasing behaviour can be significantly influenced by the retail space the products are given, by products featured in window displays and adverts and by the products featured on the home pages of the websites. Suppliers and retailers should proactively work together to ensure that Irish products are given a fair crack of the whip or even a significant advantage. How bad? – We will all benefit.

Recession or no recession, a huge amount of money will be spent between now and Christmas
…so when you are making your list this Christmas, try to check it twice and where possible decide to keep as much as possible of that money in Ireland, have a Merry Christmas and help to make it a Happy New Year!

 

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Have you heard of Hugh?

October 19, 2009
Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty

Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty

Just as Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize you might think about Irish people down through the years who may have been worthy of the same award. How many people spring to mind and in the same breath I will ask you ‘Have you heard of Hugh?’

Two years ago I was coming back from Berlin after a fabulous weekend with some friends. We had a great time with the usual mix of late nights, shopping and visiting the various tourist attractions. We had a very sobering visit to the Holocaust museum, which was quite depressing and a very real reminder about how crazy our world is capable of being.

On the plane home I spotted an article in the Irish Examiner reviewing a new book The Vatican Pimpernel, about an Irish priest working in Rome, who had helped save over 6,500 people during World War II. First I thought that it must be a fictional story about the war and I read on quite intrigued. To my utter amazement I discovered that this actually happened and the Irish priest in question had been born in Cork and grew up in Killarney!

How could this be possible? How was it that for all 40 plus years of my life that I had not heard about this Irish hero who was from literally just down the road? Asking practically everyone I met I was getting the same response – no one had heard of this terrific Irish man.

The man in question was Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty.

During World War II, the Monsignor held a senior position within the Vatican. However despite the fact that the Vatican had a neutral capacity during the war the Monsignor could not just ignore pleas for help from people in need. When approached at the gates of the Vatican by people who were in danger and were looking for shelter the Monsignor decided he had no choice but to help. During the course of the war he provided shelter and ultimately saved the lives of over 6,500 people of all nationalities and religions.

Besides being incredibly courageous what I find most fascinating was the strategy, sophisticated planning, organisational and business brilliance of the Monsignor. Despite his life being in constant danger he managed to manage and finance a project that secured a network of safe houses to protect and shelter prisoners of war in Rome through a combination of friends and rented accommodation. With his own life at risk, he managed to raise funds on an ongoing basis that paid for these premises and also provided food and clothing over an extended period for all the people in hiding and kept all of this going until the Allies arrived in Rome in 1945.

A key element to keeping the operation going despite the constant presence of the Nazis was his intelligence network, which succeeded in keeping everyone safe despite many close shaves.

After the war his work did not stop there, the Monsignor spent much of his time visiting German prisoners ensuring that they were being treated properly by the authorities.

The Monsignor received many decorations, including, Commander of the British Empire and the US Medal of Freedom. The Monsignor retired to Cahirciveen for the last three years of his life and on 30th October, 1963 he sadly passed away. His death was mourned throughout the world, including a front page tribute in the New York Times.

Up until this past year, the Monsignor has never been officially recognised in Ireland by either government or church.

While we can’t exactly compare, we all are now in tough times and we need courage, flexibility, adaptability and ingenuity to steer our way through this tough economical crisis. At the same time we do need to do our best to work with our colleagues, suppliers and customers in a compassionate and respectful manner as they could very well be under severe financial pressure.

To learn more the Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty check out the book by Brian Fleming, The Vatican Pimpernel, visit the memorial website http://www.hughoflaherty.com or hire the DVD The Scarlet and the Black featuring Gregory Peck as The Monsignor.

On the weekend of the 6th November in Killarney, the second annual memorial weekend takes place, in honour of The Monsignor. The weekend includes a presentation of his life in pictures at The Killarney Outlet Centre, the presentation of the Hugh O’Flaherty International Humanitarian Award and a fundraising concert so that funds can be raised for a permanent memorial to be erected in Killarney in honour of the Monsignor.

Have you heard of Hugh? We must never forget..

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Getting Past the Menu

October 4, 2009

Getting past the menu

How can searching for the perfect meal in a really nice restaurant teach us valuable lessons about our own business?

I am sure like myself most of you absolutely love dining out!

After all enjoying a good meal in a good restaurant is one of life’s greatest pleasures and a bad meal is a huge disappointment and feels like a wasted opportunity and will leave you totally disgruntled.

Have you noticed with restaurant reviews that they talk about the food in intimate detail, examining each dish, discussing each flavour and the textures of the food – mouth watering stuff indeed!

I find it really interesting that most of the reviewers rarely talk about all the complicated steps that come before the food, which I find are often as important as the meal itself.

Ok, where am I going with this argument?

On holidays I always look forward to meals out – for me it is one of the very best parts of the holiday. In particular if you are in a place that you are not familiar with there is a fabulous sense of discovery and adventure as you search for the ‘perfect meal’.

Now this is where the difficulty lies – how to negotiate your way through the choices on offer and finally get past the menu and find the perfect meal?

If you have had the time to do your research in advance you may have been able to get your hands on some reviews, searched for restaurants on the web (how many restaurants have websites?) and then maybe visitors on Trip Advisor may give you a clue as to where to go.

Maybe some friends have been there before and can make a recommendation. No doubt they will have been through the same tricky process in trying to discover the perfect meal.

You may just wait till you arrive at your destination, study the local guide books and adverts or then again it might just be a case of hoping for the best and heading out and leaving it to your eyes and ears to decide where you will find the perfect meal.

If you are anything like me you will probably end up walking the streets and judging places by how the look. Very scientific!

What does the building look like, does it look clean on the outside, what kind of food are they serving, have a peep inside – busy or quiet, what do the staff look like – smart, casual or too casual, have a peep at the menu outside, what is your overall impression?

No doubt at this stage you will have looked at too many places, probably walked too much and starvation starts to kick in.

Eventually if you are lucky you will find a place that you are happy with or if you have been searching for too long you might just settle for a place that looks ok.

You are one step closer to the perfect meal.

And now for the closer look – the greeting, the cleanliness, the cutlery and the napkins, the toilets and the menu?

The menu – Besides the actual contents, is it clean, do the pages stick together with bits from previous meals, is it battered from overuse, are there pieces of paper covering over prices or menu items that have changed, are the menu items spelt properly? – chickne (I am not kidding!). How many times have you sat there and realised that you have probably made a mistake? – Get up and leave embarrassed or just give in and order and hope for the best?

It is your chance to have a perfect meal and you shouldn’t blow it!

We recently experienced the ‘sticky menu’  did just that, admittedly having ordered a starter and some wine, consumed them quickly and moved on. The food may have been superb but we weren’t going to risk it. Eventually we settled on another restaurant and a not-so-bad meal was had by all but the holy grail of the perfect meal was never found.

When you get it right it is fabulous, when all the parts come then you do tend to tell everyone how great a meal you had.

Eating out can be tricky and very frustrating – maybe that is why we end up going to the same restaurant over and over, where we pretty much know what to expect. The low risk strategy!

So how does all of this relate to you?

In your business, whatever that may be, do your prospective customers get past your menu?

Greg Canty 

Greg Canty is a Partner of Fuzion PR, Marketing and Graphic Design, with offices in Dublin and Cork

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Sticky Solutions

September 5, 2009

I bumped into a friend of mine yesterday as I headed for a quick sandwich at lunchtime. We chatted briefly in the glorious sunshine and we both kicked off with the usual conversation: ”How are things?”, “Not bad but cash is really tight out there”, “Lots of people are under pressure”, “Survival is the key for this year” etc – nothing unusual in any of this, we have all had these conversations, probably more than once in the day!

My friend works on the management side of a shopping centre and he was telling me how many of the tenants are under pressure. I was asking what the procedure was with tenants that fall behind in their payments and he was saying that while they do understand their procedure is to take legal proceedings against them.

He did acknowledge that this process was probably a total waste of time as he knows the tenants are under pressure. It is difficult for him to make exceptions as there are clear cut procedures that must be followed. In a black and white world of contracts and procedures it is difficult and messy to stray from these.

All of this makes total sense but at the same time it makes absolutely no sense.

Effectively both landlord and tenant are in a partnership of sorts with the property. Logically for this arrangement to work both the tenant and the landlord must make money, but the pie has got smaller and there is a general acceptance by everyone that this is the case.

The solution is probably some form of adjustment on the lease, some form of turnover related rent, some solution that acknowledges that both parties need to make money from the property. The solution may be for 12 months with a review. Even better if the tenant and the landlord can openly review the sales performance of the business and have an open and fair conversation. Better again is the tenants working together on a Marketing programme to generate new business for the centre. Focus the energy on positive solutions instead of solicitors and aggro.

The alternative makes no sense and will probably result in a closed unit that the landlord is unable to rent to anyone else – even offering a better deal than the original tenant! On top of that we will have staff out of work, less wages being spent at the centre, less traffic to the centre.

There are no winners in this game so we should work hard at finding positive solutions to deal with these exceptional circumstances. These solutions will be ‘Win Win’ – for the landlord it may not feel like this right now but long term tenants are better even if a short term sacrifice of principles and income is required.

I call this a ‘Sticky Solution’ for two reasons:

Firstly it is not straight forward – the rule book and normal procedures need to be put to one side and a different solution needs to be worked out – it is a little messy or sticky . Secondly the solution requires for both landlord and tenant to work as a partnership. Like it or not they are on the same side facing the same problem and effectively ‘stuck’ together. The problem needs a Sticky Solution.

Sticky Solutions are required everywhere in order for us to see out this recession.

To find Sticky Solutions we must all have the common goal of keeping businesses open and staff working. Fairness, openness, respect and honesty are critical attributes that are required to find these solutions.

All of this probably sounds very utopian but why not?

Sticky Partnerships

Today we are all co-dependent – employees, business owners, suppliers, customers, landlords, bankers, government and even the taxman. We all need to play our part in keeping business going and staff working, which in turn keeps us all in income.

Owners & Staff – Take the work situation with contracts and agreed % increases and bonus structures etc. The electrical workers strike recently is a prime example of this – in the context of the current economic climate the strike made no sense. A Sticky Solution was required but was not achieved.

Staff should not be taken advantage of in the current climate but they need to be realistic about expectations regarding pay and hours of work. Digging deep, sharing the burden and doing everything to keep the business open and your colleagues working is the order of the day. Dealings with staff need to be open and honest in terms of revenue and costs. A Sticky Solution.

Business & Suppliers – We need to work together with our customers and suppliers through these challenging times. Everyone needs to make a profit and everyone needs to get paid. Be fair, open, honest and human, showing respect in times of crisis. Positive solutions are required instead of solicitors when a business faces financial problems.  Let’s do everything to come out the other side of this crisis together.

The Taxman –The Revenue Commissioners play a huge role in whether many businesses will keep going or will fold. As a preferential creditor the Revenue are effectively ‘judge and jury’ with businesses that are in trouble. Keeping businesses open and people employed must be a priority in all feasible situations. Settlements and payment arrangements must be structured to take this into account. A very Sticky Solution.

The Banker – Now where do we start with this one? We all know of a dozen instances where the banks have taken over properties due to non-payment and then offered them back to the marketplace at a fraction of the original loan values. What is the point of this? – Is it not better to come to some reasonable arrangement over time with the existing customers instead of shutting them down, transferring the bad debt to the tax payer and then crashing the value of commercial properties in the process?  The Stickiest Solutions of all are required here.

..So, we need ‘Sticky Solutions’ to our very exceptional problems. We are in this together and we will have to throw out our rule books and our fixed procedures and put positive effort into real solutions even if they are a little messy and very Sticky.

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Posted in Irish Economy, PR, Recession | 2 Comments »

Click Your Way to Success

August 11, 2009

Do terms such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Web Marketing make your eyes gloss over and bring on a wave of sudden tiredness?I totally understand how you feel but I can promise you that getting this area right will definitely lead to more business for you. In a tough economic climate this is one of those areas that you can improve easily and it won’t break the bank.

The good news is that it is not that complicated!

Just think of SEO or Web Marketing as “making it easier for potential customers to find your business online”

The Importance of Web Marketing
It goes without saying that being found on the net easily could be the difference between doing business and not doing business.Your website is in effect your ‘on-line brochure’ and it is vital that it is easily found by potential clients who may be looking for your services or products. Over 50% of all product and service searches are instigated by searches on the web. While this figure may vary from industry to industry it is constantly increasing.

Whether someone is searching for a Tax Consultant in Dublin, a Maternity Clothing Store in Limerick or even a PR Company that provides web optimisation services!, it is vital that you are found online if you provide any of these services. Can you afford not to be visible?

For the sake of argument, quickly do a Google search on one of your key services and see how your website performs – if I do a search for ‘PR in Cork’ it is important for my business that Fuzion appear in a prominent position. There are a number of areas to consider as part of your ‘being found easier on the web’ campaign:

Your Website = Your “On-Line Brochure”

It goes without saying that your website should present your business properly and much of this will be down to the ‘look and feel’ of the website in exactly the same way as a professionally designed brochure would create a good impression.
Just like the old saying ‘paper doesn’t refuse ink’, exactly the same applies for websites.

Google and other search engines, while very sophisticated in many ways are actually quite simple. If they are returning the results of a search query they are attempting to match the words that you have searched on with the index or catalogue of words and websites that they have on their giant database.

In doing this the search engines follow certain criteria but the bottom line is that they are trying to find the best match for the query. Words are the key to every search – it makes sense that if I search for ‘Tax Consultant in Dublin’ the search engine will return a website that has these words featured prominently on the site but critically used correctly. They are clever enough to know that a website with Tax Consultant in Dublin written 100 times is trying to cheat the system!

So, words are important but they must be used in the right way.

When planning your website decide on your key services & products and then make sure that the site is optimised specifically for each of these. I would advise a separate page for each key service, which should then in turn be optimised properly. Yawn, I can feel it coming on..

Optimise – this means ensuring that the content includes the important keywords, that the headings on each paragraph carry the keywords and the first introductory paragraph carries the keywords. Search engines can’t read pictures, except for the labels embedded on them – be careful with too many pictures.

If my company specialises in PR then Google expects to find the words ‘PR’ in prominent places on some pages of my website. Besides the content you see on each page there are a few things in the background that the search engines place huge importance on.

The title of each web page, the description for each page and the keywords for each page are really important. These are programmed into the background but it is important that they include the words that are important to you: ‘PR in Cork and Dublin’ should feature on my PR Services page.

How do you know if this is being done for your website?

The title of each web page appears in the line at the very top of the web browser. When you look at any page of your website click a button on the browser called ‘View’ and then ‘Page Source’ which shows you the code that runs behind the scenes. Check to see the content that appears after meta “description” and meta “keywords” and ensure that these include the keywords that are important for this page.

Outside of this your website should be easy to navigate, should be updated regularly (a Content Management System will enable you do this easily yourself), should carry links to relevant sites and make sure it is easy for someone to make contact with you.

Off-line activities

Another good and quite obvious tip to encourage awareness for your website is to use your web address prominently on all advertising, uniforms, packaging and on company vehicles.

This is an area that’s very basic but is often overlooked.

Paid Search (Pay per Click)

If you have done all you can in terms of optimising your website naturally and you are still not achieving a position on web searches then I would suggest trying Google Adwords.

This is very effective in drawing very specific traffic to your website. Google will display ‘paid results’ alongside organic\normal results. These are the websites that appear at the very top of the page and on the right of the page.

In simple terms if you want your website to be displayed when someone searches on a particular keyword, you can ‘bid’ on that keyword. This is often referred to as ‘pay per click’ as you are only charged when someone clicks through to your website from your advert.

Until your organic or natural position improves, it is a great way of achieving a good position with relevant search queries and if your advertisement delivers exactly what a user is looking for then they will be inclined to click onto your site. It is advised that these campaigns are set up very carefully to ensure your budget is not wasted.

Summary
Being found on line is critical for every business. If your website cannot be found easily than this is great news! This can only mean more business when you sort it out, which is hopefully now easier than you originally thought.

After all that a strong coffee is required!

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Posted in Marketing, SEO, Web Marketing | 7 Comments »

Spend Ireland – Saving The Irish Economy

May 24, 2009

Spend Ireland - Saving The Irish Economy

Spend Ireland - Saving The Irish Economy

Your Country Needs You
Spend Ireland – Saving the Irish Economy

Are we all totally helpless faced with the current recession or is it just possible that each of us could make a difference and pull us out of the hole that we find ourselves in?

I believe that we can all take personal responsibility in both our personal and professional lives and really make a difference to our economy.

The simple principle that drives the whole economic wheel is ‘Spend Ireland’, which is encouraging money to be spent in Ireland and on Irish products and services. We need to fuel the economic spend wheel by putting our euros back into it and ultimately it will come back to us somewhere along the line. It is time to be very patriotic and spend our euros where it will have a direct Irish benefit.

The recent budget is an excellent example of how lack of spending in Ireland can affect all of us – the tax take is down, unemployment is up so we get increased taxes: Would you prefer to spend and enjoy your money rather than it being taken from you at source by the taxman?

How can I play my part in my personal life to contribute to the Irish economic recovery?

• Firstly if you have disposable income don’t be afraid to spend it – there is great value to be had and you can contribute to our economic recovery. Only spend what you can afford and by the way enjoy spending it!
• To oil the Irish spend wheel try to spend your income in Ireland and on Irish products – this can’t be done in every instance but as much as possible make those little choices to ‘Spend Ireland’ and they will all add up.
• These small personal choices can make a huge difference when we all make them:
o Buying Irish products when shopping, everything from fresh food and other product choices – avoid the imported option if possible, it will do nothing for the Irish economy
o Buying that CD in the music store instead of online – the music store could do with that margin
o Eat out instead of buying that ready made meal in the super market – the early bird specials offered by restaurants are great value and they could do with your business. If you but the ready made meal make sure it is Irish!
o Buying your holiday clothes before you leave instead of when you get there
• The big personal choices can make an even bigger difference when we make them:
o If you are in a position to buy a new car and would normally change around this time then buy your new car – your motor dealer could do with the business
o If you have been planning that extension or that redecorating job then go ahead and do it – you will get great value and the builders could do with the work right now
o Holiday in Ireland if you can or choose Ireland for those weekend breaks instead of breaks abroad. Like most of us there are probably loads of special places in Ireland that we have never visited. There is fabulous value to be had as well as terrific quality. The hotels, restaurants, bars and tourist attractions could all do with Irish euros at the moment.
• If the Irish option is more expensive don’t be afraid to ask for a discount and explain that you are trying to spend on the Irish option

I was chatting through all of this recently with friends and they were quite angry with me explaining that the Irish have been ripped off for years and why shouldn’t we shop where it is cheapest?

Of course there is an onus on the Irish service and goods provider to offer good value and this ‘idea’ will only work where this actually happens. We should at least give the Irish supplier the chance to offer the value – the economy needs us to ‘Spend Ireland’.

The much bigger part of the whole Irish spend wheel is the effect of our personal choices in our professional lives, as employees, managers, developers, landlords, business owners, bankers and yes even politicians.

For the business person – buy Irish products and services wherever possible and really work hard at trying to make the Irish option work – if you need to grind out a viable option with your Irish supplier then try to make it happen. Keep as many employees working as possible. If you have the financial strength and performance to see out this downturn sacrifice ‘super’ profits for ‘average’ profits and maintaining employment. You will need your best and experienced staff in better days. Be open and honest with staff and avoid taking advantage of the current circumstances.

For the employees – times are tough so appreciate what it is like at the moment for your employer. Roll up the sleeves, deliver excellent service and go the extra mile whenever possible – this is now an expectation. Be prepared to be flexible if necessary – be fair as long as you are being treated fairly.

For the developer – the previous business model is broken, the same buyers are not there due to banking rules. Look at your sales model and be creative, with some flexibility and other options such as Rent2Buy you will find new buyers and the wheel can start turning again.

For the landlord – your tenants are bleeding and you have many empty properties. Work with your tenants in a partnership way – adopt a new way of working that is fair for both of you and not the usual confrontational model. Full units are better than empty units.

For the banker – you need to start taking reasonable risks again so that the wheel can keep turning.

For our politicians – for God’s sake show real leadership and lead us positively from this awful mess. While you have to do the accounting job you also need to take positive initiatives that encourage business in a real way and encourage the Irish to start taking risks and spending again.

So, there it is. A possible solution to the mess we find ourselves in. Let’s show our colours and play our small part in fuelling an Irish recovery and let us not forget the painful lessons we are learning now in a hurry.

Greg Canty is a partner in Fuzion Communications, providing Marketing Consultancy, PR and Graphic Design services.
For a consultation contact greg@fuzion.ie

Web: http://www.fuzion.ie Phone :(021) 4271234

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