Now more than ever it is important to market and communicate your business in the right way, ready for when the world gets back to normal.
As much as you take care of your health, you also need to take care of your business. This includes being mindful of marketing scams and financial scams.
Unfortunately many will try to take advantage of current world events for their own benefit, especially for financial gain. There will be scams pretending to help you with marketing or offering their services to put through claims for financial payments. But there are ways to take steps to make sure you never get caught in these traps.
Don't give out details over the phone
One common way these traps are set, are over the phone calls that pretend to be established companies or popular services. To protect yourself, follow one simple rule, NEVER hand out personal details especially bank details to sources you are not sure about. If you receive a phone call from an unknown caller, it may be worth not answering. Research the number if displayed to see if the number has been reported as dangerous on sites like Who Called Me?. If a phone call is important and from a genuine source they will leave a voicemail!
Junk Email
Because phone calls are not always successful, the next popular form is Email. Emails can be very deceiving and some do a good job of impersonating companies that lead you to believe it is from a genuine source. Examples of these are Banks, Paypal and HMRC. Many email programs such as Apple Mail and Gmail provide junk filters which move emails they deem as junk to a separate folder, preventing you clicking dangerous links which could result in your security being penetrated. Companies like Paypal and banks have guidelines to help protect you from scams, many will have a disclaimer stating they will not contact you by email or ask for details. Researching these would be beneficial if you are concerned. If it looks suspicious DELETE!
Business Listing
If you get contacted by a company you have never heard of or not familiar with, one quick way to check the authenticity is to do a quick Google search and look for a Google Business Listing. If the business is authentic, a listing should be displayed on the right of the search results, displaying opening hours, contact information and a link to their website if they have one. If the business does not have a business listing, it may be worth doing more research.
Check Reviews
A great way to find out about a business is by looking at comments that people have left online. On a Google Business Listing, reviews are one thing that are included along with contact information. Researching telephone numbers is also a useful way to find out if other people have had communication with a business, these comments can be the difference between you answering the phone call. Other places that reviews can be looked at are Facebook and employment websites such as Indeed.
Website
Does the business have a fully functional and professionally designed website? The look and feel of a website can say a lot about a business, especially if it can be trusted.
Does the website have a SSL certificate? One simple check you can do for this is to check the domain has "https://" in-front of the web address. You can learn more about SSL and HTTPS here at SSL.com
On the website do they have case studies or examples of existing clients? If the business has no problem displaying their work, clients and help they have provided through their services, it shows a good level of transparency and is trustworthy. One question you should ask yourself is if the business hasn't benefited anyone, why would they benefit you!
On the website, is there a phone number, email address, and registered office displayed clearly? If contact information is openly displayed and encourages communication, this is a good sign of a reputable company.
Social Media
Social Media is a great way to help businesses market themselves, on the other hand it also is a great way to find out what kind of business it is. You can check human interaction on posts to see how they conduct themselves by the words they choose, does it give across the right attitude?
Reviews on Facebook are a good insight to see if people have had any problems or good experiences with the business. Feedback is the best way to get any indication of how a business is operated.
However one tip would be to not let the number of followers and likes deceive you at a glance. Many businesses, especially those who intend to run scams, will buy their followers / likes to perceive a positive and trustworthy reputation which can cause you to believe they are authentic. What is important is the mission statement of the business and the message it tries to send through their content.
Those are a few steps you can take to be more aware.
Thank you for reading. We wish you, your family, friends and colleagues to keep safe and keep healthy and for businesses to bounce back even stronger when we have conquered this battle.