December 14th, 2009 
Dean 
I was invited to Botak Jones‘ new lunch set menu food tasting session last Saturday (12 Dec 09). Didn’t know what to expect, so I went with an open mind. And boy, I was pleased, which inspired this post.
How does a Western food outlet situated at coffee shops get so much buzz when all other similar ones just wither away? The answer is easy when you know how Botak Jones does it. (more…)
October 27th, 2009 Roderick 
A recent survey by Proofpoint revealed that 8% of organizations in the US have fired their employees for their use of social media. One of the reasons for the firing was the sharing of sensitive information across multiple social networks. While the statistics isn’t surprising, it highlighted the upcoming challenges nearly every organization have to face in terms of people, technology and processes as social media fuel the ever changing landscape. Here are some of the challenges we believe businesses must start preparing for right now. If your competitors have not, you better be.
October 17th, 2009 Roderick Business owners know that no product or service can sell without marketing.
But many focus too much of their marketing efforts on the product/service and forget that they need to also market their credibility and build relationship with their customers.
Today, customers choose to do business with a brand not just because of quality of the product/service. They want brands and businesses to relate to them. They want to deal with brands that are authentic.
But as business owners, how can your brand be the one that customers like to deal with?
In this talk, you will learn:
This workshop will benefit:
Feel free to contact Rod @ 9154 1451 if you have any queries. To attend this FREE workshop, please confirm your registration through the form below.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
September 25th, 2009 Roderick 
KinetiqBuzz have compiled a list of interesting PR books that we believe will rock the final quarter of 2009. From the traditional PR books to the new age ‘PR 2.0′, these books will surely bring all you need to know about public relations in the wired, rapid changing environment.
August 25th, 2009 Dean 
Someone at IAS Portfolio must be drunk when they approved this advertisement that can be seen in most MRT stations in Singapore.
When I first laid eyes on it, I thought, Nice layout, but for a book or flyer not for a billboard. You don’t have to be a marketing genius to know that hardly anyone will be so captivated by the artwork that he will stop read all the words plunked into one big paragraph and then smile and continue on his way into/out of the MRT station.
Seriously! (more…)
August 13th, 2009 Roderick 
I have just discovered an instructive lesson for marketers that comes from this study in Psychological Science (via Neuronarrative).
In the study, they found that showing a live example and getting people to relate to it doesn’t have much success when it comes to getting them to do something. Instead, providing someone with a narrative that they can follow, read and mentally envisage works better.
July 24th, 2009 Dean 
You have heard it before: If you want to stand out, you have to do something unique. True, but not always.
I came across this article in RainToday.com talking about how trying too hard to be unique in business and marketing can sometimes be a silly thing. Here are the salient points:
Posted in General, Just-In-Time lessons 
Tags: business owners, consultants, Marketing, unique 
No Comments » 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…
March 16th, 2009 Dean It is a common knowledge among big boys and the branding circle. Once your brand becomes popular and you have a loyal consumer base, you don’t own your brand anymore. After all the effort you have put into building a strong perception for your brand, it would be entrenched in the minds of your consumers, especially the loyal ones. Then if you want to change it, you better seek their advise, or else the backlash might be bad. And as business owners, we can’t afford it.
Here’s an example of a not so small company who changed the look of a well liked product and was met with very unhappy customers.
Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice thought it was time for them to get an updated sleek look on their packaging in early January. But interestingly, their customers were not ready for that and they were not quiet about it either.
…consumers complained about the makeover in letters, e-mail messages and telephone calls and clamored for a return of the original look. Some of those commenting described the new packaging as “ugly” or “stupid,” and resembling “a generic bargain brand” or a “store brand.”
“Do any of these package-design people actually shop for orange juice?” the writer of one e-mail message asked rhetorically. “Because I do, and the new cartons stink.” Others described the redesign as making it more difficult to distinguish among the varieties of Tropicana or differentiate Tropicana from other orange juices.
Technology has made it possible for consumers to make their opinions known quickly, loudly and direct to the companies. If we as business owners don’t respond then we are in for trouble. Remember True Yoga debacle?
But does that mean we have to listen to every complain, comment and criticism? Because it might just hamper innovation. What do you think? Add a comment.
February 11th, 2009 Dean 
Time and again I come across corporate profiles written in a language that don’t seem to be English at all. They are so full of jargons and adjectives weaved into one tight nothing! I keep reading a lot of words which has no meaning to me.
Here is a fine example of ‘talking’ a lot and saying nothing. The business deals with flowers and gifts, but I shall not name the entity, just the initials will do.
HT is a floral design firm acclaimed for its bold attempts to inject vibrancy and excitement to conventional floral creations. HT is inspired to bringing dazzles to bouquets, inspiring emotions and joy to life. HT seeks to give the best by crafting warmth through its flowers to touch your loved ones and creating stunning floras to forge new relations, strengthen corporate ties or simply to brighten a dull day.
Woa! What??
All I can sum up is that HT is just a florist. Everything else is noise.
“acclaimed for its bold attempts to inject vibrancy and excitement to conventional floral creations” – acclaimed? did it win awards? if so, why not mention it?
“inspired to bringing dazzles to bouquets” — What does this mean, really?
“inspiring emotions and joy to life” – Do we need to be inspired to feel emotion and joy?
“seeks to give the best by crafting warmth through its flowers” — So HT craft warmth with its flowers and therefore they are giving their best? I am confused.
Oh dear!!
Here’s my humble attempt to unravel the corporate babble:
What do you want our flowers to say? That is the first question we at HT ask our customers. We all know that flowers are used for a myriads of situations and purposes. We at HT will bend our backs, and our floral arrangements, to give you stunning floral creations that send just the right message.
If it is a loved one that you are giving flowers to, we add warmth into our design. If you want to forge a new business relationship, we will add a touch of class and respect to your name with the right choice of flowers. Tell us the message you want to send, and we will say it with flowers.
Some of our customers are already referring to us as a design firm rather than a florist! Honestly, we can’t blame them. Come find out if they are right.
..…………….
Ah! the joy of simple English.
But that is just my opinion. Which version do you prefer? HT’s or mine? Why?
Posted in General, Just-In-Time lessons Tags: Consultant, copywriting, Marketing, PR, Public Relations, publicity, Small Medium Business No Comments »
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