August 24th, 2009 
Dean 
If your reading was just restricted to social media, you might think that PR had no more role to play in the marketing arena, that the rise of ”trusted peers’ has so marginalized the communication professions that most agencies are now folding their tents and encouraging all their staff to learn a new trade. (more…)
Posted in Social Media, Tips and How-to Articles 
Tags: PR, Public Relations, Social Media 
Comments Off June 8th, 2009 Dean 
Received an EDM about Search Engine Marketing from Marketing Interactive Magazine. The intro gave a simple, straightforward steps to boosting your online profile (ie. PR). Allow me to shameless cut and paste here so that the knowledge can be shared:
THE ISSUE
There are myriad methods to help boost your presence and build your brand via online search engines, but which is right for your business? When do you focus on optimising your site’s content, when is it more effective to engage paid or organic search, and how much should it really cost you? As the online battle for top rankings in search engines really starts to heat up, marketers need to be as informed and prepared as possible of their options in order to accomplish what’s really important: achieving greater lead generation and online conversions.STOP STABBING IN THE DARK
1) Identify your issues – Key challenges marketers face maximising their online spend and ROI
2) Get the data you need - Enhance your knowledge of free product offerings
3) Know your audience – Understanding general search engine usage behavior
4) Be informed – New trends for managing your SEM campaign
5) Make more sales – How to optimize & convert your website traffic to real $$
6) Make it easier for your audience to find you – Incorporating offline-online integration into the marketing mix
May 7th, 2009 Dean 
If you are a Singaporean, you probably would have been following the Aware saga (unless you are a totally apathetic citizen). On 4th & 6th May, we had the story of a designer who came up with quirky slogan t-shirts taken from memorable and mostly infamous quotes from the AWARE EOGM. Vicki Lew, design director at Bionic Creative, was featured in almost all the major newspaper and radio and TV news. So how did all that happen?
Here is the story.
On Sat, 2nd May, at around midnight (the night after the results of the no confidence vote against the ex ‘new committee’) I was checking out my Facebook posting my elation at the results and reading what my friends are saying about it. And there was Vicki’s post on her Aware t-shirt.
Now, I have always known Vicki to be a damn good designer. But I was pleasantly surprised at what she had done! Who would have thought of such a clever idea of making commemorative t-shirts from the most memorable quotes? And very nicely done too.
So I started chatting with Vicki who happen to be online also and found out that she was doing it as a means to raise money for AWARE. Wow! I immediately saw this as hot news, and told her that the media must be notified. Poor Vicki had been cracking her head to get publicity for her design work for some time. Ironically she didn’t seem to realise she actually just created the perfect PR opportunity!
So I had to do what a real friend must do. I jumped into action, got her to give me all the necessary info and in 15 minutes wrote a press release (see below) and then had it sent off to my media contacts. It was already past 1 am by then.
Monday came and her phone began to ring off the hook from all these interested media. Walah! You go girl, Vic!
At the time of this post she was already featured in Channel News Asia, 938Live radio, My Paper, The New Paper, Straits Times Online. Her design will be featured in 8 Days. Her t-shirt featured and her design firm name mentioned. Good Stuff!!
Lessons we can all learn:
Sometimes you don’t have to try so hard to get publicity. Do what you do best and the opportunity might just come to you…but of course having a friend who does PR would help 
So if you want to be my friend, add me on Facebook. Click here. Or you can search for me: Dean Shams
Here’s the press release.
April 28th, 2009 Dean 
I came across this blog post by Elaine Fogel about gift coupon, or commonly known as vouchers in Singapore. She wrote:
I was a gift card virgin – until recently. Now, I will not use them anymore. Number one – they aren’t worth the trouble. Number two – they aren’t worth their full face value. There’s hidden info that consumers don’t know about until they try to use them, which brings me to number three – they’re aggravating!
It reminded me how true it is even here in Sg. I remember getting a $20 coupon with my credit card for one of them restaurants only to find that there were so many conditions to use it, i might as well throw it away. No way am I going to arrange my schedule to fit their requirements so nicely!
So if you are in the retail business and you have used (or thinking of using) coupons to get sales going, think carefully. Are you setting too many conditions on the use of that coupon such that it seems you were not being sincere? Are your coupons an extension of your brand’s core values or will your customer see it as just another $$ deal?
“A national survey [in USA] of 1,500 consumers done last spring by WSL Strategic Retail, based in New York, found gift-card fees and expiration dates were among the top causes of frustration. And that’s just among people who attempted to use them. Earlier this year, TowerGroup, a research firm in Needham, Mass., estimated the value of unused gift cards in the U.S. at $8 billion for 2006. And in its fiscal 2006 annual report, the retailer Best Buy revealed a $43 million gain from gift cards that were unlikely to be used.”
Consumers like to deal with authentic businesses. If your marketing tactics involves giving away coupons, you might as well make it another vehicle to promote your brand values and use it as a means to get customers to like you. It shouldn’t just be about getting them to come back. It should also be about getting them to interact with your brand more so they can get to know more. After all, true friendship comes from constant communication.
Have you gotten a coupon and thought it was pointless to use it because of all the restrictions? What are your thoughts on it?
April 9th, 2009 Dean 
I got this interesting piece of insight on customer behaviour from Marketing Profs.
If you offer a sale, say 10% on a coffee maker, for a limited period. If a customer just missed the sale dateline and you wanted to be kind and extended the offer to her, there is a 87% chance that she will reject the offer. But if you told her that the sale for the coffee maker has ended and you offer her a 10% discount on another brand of coffee maker (probably as a ‘peace offering’) there is a 40% chance that she will accept your offer. Isn’t that interesting?
Possible reason:
“The researcher suggests that consumers may transfer the “negative affect” (regret at missing a sale) to the promoted product itself, leading to a lower opinion of the product.”
Lesson we can learn from this:
“time sales of different brands, or even of different items in [a] product line, to ensure that a consumer who misses a sale on one product can find another sale on a different yet similar product,” this researcher suggests….When one item goes off sale, consider offering similar products at a slight reduction, to keep latecomers happy.”
Now isn’t that easy way to make build a good reputation with your customers?
If you are offering services, would you be able to apply the same principles? get back to the drawing board, friends…
Posted in General, Just-In-Time lessons, Tips and How-to Articles Tags: customer behavior, Reputation Management, Sales tip Comments Off January 23rd, 2009 Dean When I come across a good article, I love to share it. I got one yet again from Cision. Written by President of Eisen Marketing Group. He mentions very aptly that a good publicity and marketing plan involves not only a realistic plan but also a sustained committed action plan. This is where many business owner falter. Being “multi-taskers”, they always end up giving preference to ‘working in the business’ to ‘working on the business’.
The author tells us to base goals on realistic market research rather than just plugging numbers out of thin air or based on assumptions. This can lead to frustration when your efforts don’t produce the expected results.
I particularly liked these lines:
…good public relations and marketing activities take time and are not a quick fix to your business ills…
…Regardless of whether your marketing program is grand or modest, continue to do at least something…
Yes, indeed! Don’t wait for your plan to be perfect, just do it and fine tune along the way.
Here is the article:
New Year’s Resolutions and Marketing Activities: Success or Failure Exactly the Same
By Rodger Roeser
Eisen Marketing Group
Here it is just a few weeks into the new year and already those resolutions are fading away. Well intentioned efforts to lose weight, get into better shape, quit smoking, stay in touch with family – perhaps already things of the past. It got me thinking how similar resolutions are with marketing and public relations. Regardless of the economy, marketing activities are not flash in the pan, quick fix options, but rather long-term, sustained programs and campaigns that actually yield positive results.
Experts will tell you that the reason most resolutions fail is because they involve sustained commitment and effort. Also, they are often unrealistic in nature – leading folks to give up altogether. Similarly, good public relations and marketing activities take time and are not a quick fix to your business ills. Finding good publicity angles, creating image and article opportunities, reaching out and sharing a company story or profile all take time, patience and stick-to-itiveness.
It also takes time and effort to achieve realistic results. One push-up will not make you thin or build your biceps. All too often, I see business executives simply increasing sales numbers because Excel allows them to plug in a 25 percent increase in widget sales – for no apparent reason. It seems solid research and market realities have given way to just plugging in numbers and storming the gates. This is a bad practice and often leads to frustration and a lack of business clarity and focus among employees. Don’t be that executive who says you want X amount of articles in the newspaper or just any other number that appears to be pulled out of thin air, and when those numbers aren’t hit, you’re disappointed. These types of business mistakes are not productive, and surely not good for morale.
A good marketing executive or agency can offer better, more realistic guidance to those types of numbers, and advise best ways to achieve those goals. And, like a good personal trainer, help keep you motivated and on track. Here are four simple steps to a successful 2009.
1. Get a Plan!
If you don’t have a marketing or marketing communications plan, get one. Do yourself and your business a favor, hire a good firm and get a plan developed. The investment of just a few thousand dollars may be the best investment you make this year. The plan will have realistic goals with realistic prices. You do yourself no favors when you believe you can do a national advertising campaign for $500. A good plan will lay out strategies, tactics, timelines, goals and budgets that will be easy to follow. The firm should be able to implement the plan with skill, or work with you to share in the implementation duties. If you don’t have a plan, this is the first and most important step you can take for your business.
2. Stop with the Magic Bullet
We all play Monday morning quarterback, and surely if you’re the coach you likely know more about football than most. It doesn’t stop people from wanting to share their “ideas.” The same holds true for marketing. Rarely are folks short on “ideas,” but recently it seems there is this great new invention that will revolutionize marketing as we know it and cause all other forms of marketing to wither and die – social media. For some reason, all the Monday morning marketers are jumping on the social media bandwagon and putting up any manner of information on Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo, MySpace and others, and waiting for the sales to roll in. While having a good social media plan is important, it is not THE answer. It certainly can be integrated into an overall marketing plan, and blogging and tweeting and friending and updating are all smart – just be realistic about it. If I hear one more time, “we’re not going to do much marketing this year, we have a blog now,” I may have to send out the Marketing Police.
3. Keep at It
Regardless of whether your marketing program is grand or modest, continue to do at least something. While you must be smart and you should certainly scrutinize every dollar invested, now is not the time to “stop.” I recently had a client that, for all intents and purposes, stopped their proactive marketing outreach last June. Now, they have no pipeline, no leads and no revenue. The lack of consistency in their outreach has likely caused yet another business to go under. So invest wisely, be proactive and keep at it.
4. Change up the Routine
Just like working out, changing things up a bit can yield some quick and dramatic results. Now may be an excellent time to do something different – perhaps an event, a new sponsorship, a cause marketing initiative or a podcast. Properly positioned and integrated, new programs can attract entirely new segments of consumers or prospective business partners in a fresh way. When was the last time you wrote a thought leadership article or submitted an opinion piece? Take a look at where you may have some holes and where opportunities may exist, and then capitalize.
By taking some simple proactive steps, businesses can look forward to a bright 2009. Now is the time to get out there, stay focused and be aggressive. Ideas and options are a good thing. Now, go make some waves.
Posted in Tips and How-to Articles Tags: Consultant, Marketing, PR, Public Relations, publicity, Small Medium Business Comments Off January 19th, 2009 Dean I was having a discussion with one of my client, a learning programmes business owner. I told him he neededto record a video of his best classes and upload it to YouTube. And his response was, “You Tube is for entertainment, not for real business”. I was speechless!
I wish he knew that even world leaders are using You Tube to get votes. World-class trainers and speakers are using it to promote their programmes. Chefs are using it to promote their recipes and books.
If you don’t know it yet, You Tube is becoming a major How To resource centre. I myself have gone onto the portal to check on how to do this and that, especially new exercise routine. Here’s a article on Straits Times to proof my point (Sunday 18 Jan).
If you are a consultant, then you need to seriously consider making a presence on You Tube. Here’s how you can do it in 3 easy steps…
1. Get a video recorder of some sort. It need not be super high quality
2. Record something you already know well but might be of interesting to somebody. Your video need not be polished, as long as it has good info. Keep it within 5 min. You might want to add your website link onto the video to encourage viewers to go to your site.
3. Upload, add the correct tags.
4. Sit back, feel proud of the work you’ve done, no matter how poor the quality of your video. You can improve it the next time around.
Many business owners hold back on doing this simply because they are waiting for a time when they can produce a high quality, polished, corporate video. The problem is, that time may never come. And what they dont understand is, the You Tube community dont care for high quality, polished, corporate video. They want reliable, interesting content. It needs to be authentic more than polished.
It is a good way (read low risk way) for your consumers to sample a little bit of you before they commit to a proper programme, product etc.
So what are you waiting for?
Posted in General, Tips and How-to Articles Tags: brand, Consultant, Marketing, PR, Public Relations, publicity, Reputation Management, Small Medium Business, Social Media, You Tube Comments Off January 9th, 2009 Dean Communicating bad news to your employees and stakeholder is not only difficult but a nerve wrecking one. How you do it will affect you and your company’s reputation. Here’s an article that gives you tips on how to do it carefully and with empathy. It might be useful for those who have to make cut backs to your business that will affect your staff. (more…)
January 9th, 2009 Dean 
Are you trying to find a way to beat the recession and boost your sales?
I thought this article from B2B Marketing Confidential could give you something to think about as you revise your marketing plan (if you have one, that is *wink*). I believe that how good your business can be during these hard times really depends on how you view the current economic condition and how you interpret all the bad news you hear in the media.
You have a choice not to participate in the recession. Here is the article:
……………………..start………
Depression Marketing Best Practices
No, we’re not in a depression. But, given all the recent depression buzz (Krugman’s book, non-stop CNBC pundits who won’t shut up about crashes and black Mondays and Fridays,) I pulled Studs Terkel’s fantastic Hard Times down off the shelf the other night. There’s a section in there called “The Big Money” where he interviews people that actually did well during the Depression. Here are some outtakes from William Benton’s interview:
“I left Chicago in June of ’29, just a few months before the Crash. Chester Bowles and I started in business with seventeen hundred square feet, just the two of us and a couple of girls. July 15, 1929–this was the very day of the all-time peak on the stock market.
As I solicited business, my chart was kind of a cross. The left-hand line started at the top corner and ended in the bottom right corner. That was the stock market index. The other line was Benton & Bowles. It started at the bottom left-hand corner and ended in the top right-hand corner. A cross… When I sold the agency in 1935, it was the single biggest office in the world. And the most profitable office.”
Well, this is an interesting case study, I thought. Maybe I should pay attention. The most amazing thing about Hard Times is how familiar it seems. The passages talking about bubbles, business cycles, people’s incredulity at how all this happened is really eerie. So how did Benton & Bowles kick butt in the depression? Here are some best practices:
Lesson: Marketers who listen to their customers in new and powerful ways will win the battle for fewer dollars.
Lesson: Those who master the next wave of media will rise above the fray. Mobile? Social? Something we haven’t seen yet??
Lesson: Just because things are done one way, don’t fear doing it a totally different way. Thinking outside the box is critical.
Lesson: Keep some powder dry. The really good investment opportunities are starting now. Once you buy, own and retool. Pretty good time to be a PE company, even if Carlyle is laying off.
Lesson: Keep hiring channels open and be pickier than ever.
For anyone who hasn’t read Hard Times or any of the Studs Terkel interview compilations, they are an incredible insight into people’s attitudes and behaviors throughout history. I highly recommend them.
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Posted in Tips and How-to Articles Tags: brand, Consultant, Marketing, PR, Public Relations, publicity, Recession, Reputation Management, Small Medium Business Comments Off December 18th, 2008 Dean Here is an excellent post that succinctly explains how PR works. It is an interview by Chris Winfield with Neil Patel on Quicksprout.com. You can learn a lot from it.
Here are the points you can learn:
Do you think personal branding is important? Pls comment
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