January 10th 2011 - A David and Goliath story has started, as the innovative recommendations site, Trust Mico, aims to break the country’s reliance on the Daily Deals market and place some control back in the hands of small business owners.
By going back to basics, Trust Mico is ensuring that some long term benefit is gained from posting incentives rather than encouraging people to visit a business once for a huge discount, never to return again.

Hailed by industry experts as the ‘antidote’ to online review sites, Trust Mico allows people to search for, find and recommend the businesses they like, and share their recommendations with people they know and trust. It does this by seeing which people are connected to each other through their existing social media sites and email contacts.

Whilst businesses benefit from these powerful personal endorsements, Trust Mico also enables them to offer their prospective new customers incentives, deals and offers like those sold by sites like Groupon, for free.

Alex Small, the CEO and Founder of Trust Mico, believes the platform will provide businesses with more stability in a turbulent and fast moving space, where companies are being forced into economically unsound promotions to draw in huge numbers; often as a loss-leader on the gamble of securing repeat business.

Mr Small warned, “Daily Deals can be bad for small businesses, with many offers running at a loss for the business. Sales promotions are designed to encourage new customers to try a business at a discounted price, with the hope that they will return as a customer paying full price on subsequent visits.

“The reality of Daily Deals is that the customers do not return, they simply move on to the next deal. Worse still, companies are contracted to honour the deal, even if it starts to damage their business. Whilst bigger businesses may be able to absorb the damage, smaller businesses can quickly find themselves in hot water,” he added.

With Trust Mico, businesses are able to change or withdraw an offer whenever they need to, as the deal is not processed until point of sale. This gives them control over costs and sets Trust Mico apart from the better-known operators in the sector.

Businesses offering deals on Trust Mico also stand to gain a lot more than just a short-term sales boost. Every incentive used by a new customer is followed-up with an emailed link to the business’ profile on www.Trustmico.com. From there, it takes just one click for them to recommend the business if they had a favourable experience that they would like to share with others on their network.

Mr Small explained, “It is this ability for us to provide longevity and sustainability to a business incentive, by helping to turn it in to a personal recommendation that sets us aside from others. Also, as it’s free, businesses can be assured that we have nothing to gain financially in the advice we give or the service we offer.”

As Trust Mico provides a platform for customers to recommend a business rather than review it, businesses are protected from the damaging, fake reviews posted by competitors that are becoming increasingly common on review sites.

To find out more about Trust Mico, visit:
www.trustmico.com

For more information, please contact Alex Small:
Tel: alex[at]trustmico[dot]com
Email: 07411 220337

ENDS
Notes to Editor
This company is a member of SETsquared, the enterprise collaboration of the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey. Working through its business acceleration centres across the South of England, SETsquared supports over 250 early stage high-tech, high growth potential businesses. In the past five years, £750million in investment funding has been raised by the partnership’s spin outs and incubated companies. SETsquared also supports student enterprise, helps industry to access academic ideas with commercial potential, and promotes the economic and social impact of its institutions’ research and enterprise activities.
For more information on SETsquared and the support we provide, please visit www.setsquared.co.uk or email karen.brooks[at]setsquared[dot]co.uk
Twitter: @SETsquared

Distributed on behalf of Trust Mico by NeonDrum news distribution service (http://www.neondrum.com)