Due to its rapid growth and ongoing success, Xero has on numerous occasions been dubbed the Apple of accounting by the media. And while the company is going through a rocky patch at the moment with reports showing its annual loss widening and speculation that the Australian Stock Exchange might investigate the company on account of failing to disclose information to stock holders, it remains a major Kiwi success story, which has already made strong headway in the Australian market and is also getting noticed in the US. And despite having his hands quite full at the moment with international conquests, the company’s chief marketing officer Andy Lark recently chatted to StopPress’ sister publication Idealog about taking on the US and why marketing cannot be a substitute for a great product or sterling service.
Author Yoke Har Lee-Woolf
According to Yellow’s Business Confidence Survey of small- to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in New Zealand, 34 percent of business owners regarded digital marketing as an essential area to upskill in, placing it only behind marketing and IT and technology (both on 41 percent).
MYOB’s chief technology officer Simon Raik-Allen has in his publication, Future of Business Report – New Zealand 2040, speculated on what the future will look like—and, apparently, there are quite a few surprise on the horizon.
Social crowdfunding platform Givealittle has seen a stunning rise in money raised recently, with average funds raised per month having grown by about 20 times from levels seen two years ago. And now the platform is all spruced up for greater growth, with a revamped web engine ready to take on higher traffic with the rising popularity of social crowdfunding.
Richard Conway, founder of Pure SEO, came to New Zealand from the UK in 2008, and could not get any work because most employers won’t hire without any New Zealand experience. Those who were willing to give him jobs wanted to pay him peanuts.
The tendency of diners to take snapshots of their meals has become almost ritualistic in its frequency. It has become the pre-meal prayer of the digital age, an unwritten rule that no food will be touched until the formality of prerequisite photography has been completed. And although this does little more than annoy those who go to restaurants for food rather than photo shoots, one Auckland restaurant is experimenting with the concept in an effort to drive online engagement. As part of its birthday celebration, Miss Clawdy is offering (ends after Sep 28), every diner a free cupcake when they show proof of an Instagram post of its birthday cupcake (check out our other Miss Clawdy article).
Mobile content aggregator Snakk Media plans to tap into social conversations to build a sense of how to sell at the right time, to the right people.