As an airport transfer company, we have always relied on airports for passengers. In April 2010 when the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted, things changed. As I stated in an earlier blog, we actually saw an increase in our turnover as a result of airport closures and passengers booked journeys to ports or train stations like Holyhead, Hull, London and Dover. Eyjafjallajökull is expected to be classed as dormant later this year as its activity ceases but fifteen miles to the east is another volcano called Katla.
Katla erupts every 40 to 80 years and causes some disruption. Historically it has had a major eruption following Eyjafjallajökull (that is three times in the last millenium). The difference between the two volcanoes is vast. Eyjafjallajökull is just a baby in comparison to Katla and the disruption caused in April 2010 is nothing compared to what could happen if Katla blows. Some people are even suggesting Katla could trigger a mini iceage for the entire northern hemisphere causing crop failures and famine for years!
Since April 2010, I have been monitoring Katla through anything broadcast on it. I began by watching the Channel 4 documentary about Eyjafjallajökull “The Volcano That Stopped Britain” with Geologist Nick Petford and how that tore through 700ft of glacial ice. I have been tweeting about the developments too, including Iceland’s president Olafur Grimsson announcing a Katla eruption is imminent. At the moment, a Katla eruption seems 50/50 with no obvious data to suggest anything substantial but there are plenty of subtle indications to suggest something could be building.
It is hard to get good quality data and educated opinions on the Internet but basically earthquake swarms are a good way to monitor early activity. I’ve been using this site to watch Katla - Iceland Meteorological office - Earthquakes Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland. There have been up to 16 quakes within a 48 hour period at times and they continue to grow - the time between swarms has been decreasing too. This shows that Katla is worthy of attention! The depths of the quakes are important as most are at the surface (and can be attributed to glacial shift activity) but a blog from one scientist reported an epicentre 27km below the ground. The magnitude of the earthquakes are another indicator and most are reading around one or less on the Richter scale but last week one earthquake measured 2.5. The next thing to watch for is deformations in the ground or venting of steam clouds as this would indicate something is going to happen with Katla.
For now though it is interesting to note that airline experts are meeting in September 2010 to discuss how to respond to another eruption. For DrivenByQ, we have already examined our business plan and discussed if we need to do something special in preparation for airport closures or in penetrating new markets sectors as an alternative income. For now though we will keep watching the Global Volcanism Program website before panicking too much!
Friday, 20 August 2010
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
DrivenByQ – The Web Site
When we recently researched Social Media, it became clear that our web site (or shop window) drivenbyq.co.uk offering “Chauffeur-Driven Cars” needed updating to compliment our profile. We knew colour changes or photo updates would not be enough to differentiate DrivenByQ from other airport transfer providers.
Our site needed something better than that! When we first published a web site many years ago, our rivals were virtually non-existent on the Internet - customers still used Yellow Pages in 2005! If you search on the Internet today though, it seems everybody has an on line presence with Airport Taxi, Airport Transfer, Airport Chauffeur or Airport Shuttle services all easy to find – even some of our corporate chauffeur service rivals are starting to catch up!
We looked long and hard at our competitors both locally and nationally. We examined what their web site and marketing said about them. We asked how customers perceived them and more importantly, we researched how customers perceived us. What we found was very revealing because as a company, DrivenByQ reach out and connect with customers both psychologically and emotionally!
Our new shop window needed to mirror this. We wanted to express our values, our passion, our vision, our dedication; the commitment we give and we also wanted to echo the quality of service we provide. So, we redesigned the layout to be more tactile; we reduced the words on each page and then took photos in great locations such as Lake Vyrnwy, Porthmadog, the Horseshoe Pass and Snowdonia.
The images reveal our personal, one-to-one approach; they replicate how open we are, the reassurance we deliver and most importantly, the value it delivers to our clients. We have more pages to add to the new site but for now, we are really happy with what we have achieved.
Our site needed something better than that! When we first published a web site many years ago, our rivals were virtually non-existent on the Internet - customers still used Yellow Pages in 2005! If you search on the Internet today though, it seems everybody has an on line presence with Airport Taxi, Airport Transfer, Airport Chauffeur or Airport Shuttle services all easy to find – even some of our corporate chauffeur service rivals are starting to catch up!
We looked long and hard at our competitors both locally and nationally. We examined what their web site and marketing said about them. We asked how customers perceived them and more importantly, we researched how customers perceived us. What we found was very revealing because as a company, DrivenByQ reach out and connect with customers both psychologically and emotionally!
Our new shop window needed to mirror this. We wanted to express our values, our passion, our vision, our dedication; the commitment we give and we also wanted to echo the quality of service we provide. So, we redesigned the layout to be more tactile; we reduced the words on each page and then took photos in great locations such as Lake Vyrnwy, Porthmadog, the Horseshoe Pass and Snowdonia.
The images reveal our personal, one-to-one approach; they replicate how open we are, the reassurance we deliver and most importantly, the value it delivers to our clients. We have more pages to add to the new site but for now, we are really happy with what we have achieved.
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Social Media
Last summer I attended a conference in Llandudno. Various people spoke and attempted to impart something useful upon the audience. By mid afternoon my frustration at the content was building until, somebody spoke about Social Media. In particular focussing on Twitter and Tweetdeck.
Up until this moment I honestly thought Social Media was just for teenagers or it was an extension of instant messaging. Once I realised though just how powerful Twitter is in connecting with people, I was consumed with enthusiasm and began investigating where it could fit in our organization.
I engaged with business leaders, web designers, gurus and marketing professionals and in particular, a PhD student from Glyndwr University. His analysis was concise and very clear. It suddenly put everything in perspective: Social Media isn’t something weird or tricky but simply a way to connect with people by using Internet technology as an extension of a brand or a service.
From this point on I had the confidence to start using Social Media in Ernest. We now have channels to connect with our consumers in a more virtually tactile way. Take this blog for instance; it is a great way to share technical knowledge, thoughts, feelings, experiences and issues affecting our business.
Then there is the Facebook page for sharing images from some of the places we go and things we do. Next is Twitter for posting useful information, important alerts or relevant stories and finally there is LinkedIn. This helps us to stay in touch with the business community and professional networks we build as part of our operation.
After doing all this, we realised our DrivenByQ web site was a bit out of date and needed a make-over but that is another blog for another day..
Up until this moment I honestly thought Social Media was just for teenagers or it was an extension of instant messaging. Once I realised though just how powerful Twitter is in connecting with people, I was consumed with enthusiasm and began investigating where it could fit in our organization.
I engaged with business leaders, web designers, gurus and marketing professionals and in particular, a PhD student from Glyndwr University. His analysis was concise and very clear. It suddenly put everything in perspective: Social Media isn’t something weird or tricky but simply a way to connect with people by using Internet technology as an extension of a brand or a service.
From this point on I had the confidence to start using Social Media in Ernest. We now have channels to connect with our consumers in a more virtually tactile way. Take this blog for instance; it is a great way to share technical knowledge, thoughts, feelings, experiences and issues affecting our business.
Then there is the Facebook page for sharing images from some of the places we go and things we do. Next is Twitter for posting useful information, important alerts or relevant stories and finally there is LinkedIn. This helps us to stay in touch with the business community and professional networks we build as part of our operation.
After doing all this, we realised our DrivenByQ web site was a bit out of date and needed a make-over but that is another blog for another day..
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