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Archive for the ‘General’ Category
YouTube becoming a powerful PR tool
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 OffThe persuasive power of “Low-Fat” Nutrition labels! It can make you fat
January 8th, 2009 Dean 
I came across this an extract from Journal of Marketing Research website that caught my attention. It just validates what we have suspected all along. Eating ‘low-fat’ labeled food product can actually make you fat! This is something food retailers might want to know:
In this era of increasing obesity and increasing threats of legislation and regulation of food marketing practices, regulatory agencies have pointedly asked how “low-fat” nutrition claims may influence food consumption. The authors develop and test a framework that contends that low-fat nutrition labels increase food intake by (1) increasing perceptions of the appropriate serving size and (2) decreasing consumption guilt. Three studies show that low-fat labels lead all consumers—particularly those who are overweight—to overeat snack foods. Furthermore, salient objective serving-size information (e.g., “Contains 2 Servings”) reduces overeating among guilt-prone, normal-weight consumers but not among overweight consumers. With consumer welfare and corporate profitability in mind, the authors suggest win–win packaging and labeling insights for public policy officials and food marketers
Posted in General, Opinions Tags: brand, Consultant, Low Fat label, Marketing, PR, Public Relations, publicity, Reputation Management, Small Medium Business Comments OffWhat is Social Media? Here, in plain english…
January 2nd, 2009 Dean Posted in General Tags: brand, Consultant, Marketing, PR, Public Relations, publicity, Reputation Management, Small Medium Business, Social Media Comments OffWhat you say can make you a PR disaster
December 10th, 2008 Dean It’s bad enough that Sarah Palin got so much flak for saying all the wrong things during the election campaign. It seems like she has yet to learn her lesson. In this interview, in an attempt to sound diplomatic she ends up winding her words into a tight noose. A walking PR disaster, indeed!
The questions were simple, yet with a convoluted explanation she makes herself look like she wants rape victims to bear their pregnancy just because being pro-life is better position to take…
What can we learn from here:
1. First off, understand your position/angle and explore its weaknesses even before you go for the media interview. there is no position without flaw, so you might as well be prepared to admit it or have a defense for it instead of stumbling and looking foolish in front of the camera.
2. If you are caught off guard with a difficult question, pause to think. You don’t have to rattle off something just so that you have something to say. You are more likely come across as a sensible person by just admitting that the position you took does have its short comings.
3. Don’t rehearse your answers. Media usually will give the talking points before an interview. Prepare the points you will want to make for each issue/questions. Don’t ever memorize! You will only come across as very mechanical in the interview. Nobody likes to see a living robot.
4. You may not be as high profile as Palin, but saying all the wrong things because you can’t think on your feet will make you a disaster as big as Palin…
How do you know that what you said is really really silly? When others repeat it verbatim and it is actually funny.
Posted in General Tags: brand, Consultant, how to approach a media interview, Marketing, PR, Public Relations, publicity, Reputation Management, Sarah Palin, Small Medium Business Comments OffAll the buzz…. then it fizzles
December 3rd, 2008 Dean Came across this blog post that nicely describes the danger of building up too much hype.
Nokia build up so much hype about its N97 before it was launched that media and blogosphere was abuzz with speculations. Then it was released and…..duh! nothing new there!
Here’s an excerpt:
Everyone was guessing about Nokia’s big announcement. All the heavyweight blog sites were weighing in with speculation. Some of the blogging elite even flew all the way to Barcelona for Nokia week just to find out what it was — but even they were sworn to secrecy….
…if you get everyone hyped about a launch (they had a massive countdown clock that countless sites had embedded in posts) is that you better have something spectacular to show when the time comes. Apple are masters of this tactic, but could Nokia pull the sme lever?
Umm, this is Nokia we’re talking about, remember. This is the company that is in a death spiral, shedding market share faster these days than Wall Street sheds investment bankers.
So at the appointed hour, Nokia unveiled the most underwhelming phone of the year:
The N97. It’s got a 16:9 screen, a slide out qwerty keyboard, a great camera, gps, accelerometer, 64Gb of memory, etc.
Whoop-ti-doo. We’ve seen all these things on so many other phones this year.
Talk about being late to the party!
Even the interface looks like they stole the “panels” concept from the Sony-Ericsson X1. And the “tactile touch screen” looks like a BlackBerry Storm ripoff.
Lesson we can learn:
If you must build up hype about your latest product. the reality of your product better live up to the heightened expectations, if not it is going to be received so poorly by the consumers are just going to react extremely negative to whatever good there is in your product.
Posted in General Tags: brand, Consultant, hype, Marketing, PR, Public Relations, publicity, Reputation Management, Small Medium Business Comments OffAfter the subprime mortgage bubble comes The Brand Bubble
November 20th, 2008 Dean Here’s a vodcast of John Gerzema, Y&R Group chief insights officer, talking to Marketing Magazine on his book The Brand Bubble.
According to its website:
Customer surveys show that the number of high-performance value-creating brands is diminishing across the board. Yet at the same time, businesses and financial markets keep raising brand valuations. The result? A brand bubble that could erase large portions of intangible value in your company and send another shockwave through the global economy.
The Brand Bubble provides both analysis and solution.
Posted in General Tags: brand, Consultant, Marketing, PR, Public Relations, publicity, Reputation Management, Small Medium Business Comments OffA winning brand goes straight to the heart
November 19th, 2008 Dean 
ST, 19 Nov, reported:
ELECTRONICS giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) decided to go straight for the heart, to stand out in an industry constantly looking to outdo rivals with whiz-bang gadgetry and high-tech specifications.The company has marketed the personal computer as an extension of the individual – to make it more than a machine.
‘The connect that we wanted to make was not based on benefits, but an emotional connect,’ said Mr Ajay Mohan, HP’s vice-president of marketing and small- and medium-sized businesses in the Asia-Pacific and Japan.’And the emotional connect that we wanted to establish was that the computer is an extension of yourself. It is something which you work with on a daily basis; this is where you put your ideas, this is how you operate. This is a very personal thing, and you do not look at it as an impersonal object.’
He was outlining HP’s successful three-year branding strategy to the audience at a marketing conference, the Brand Couture Congress, which opened at Suntec City yesterday.
HP got it right with their 3 year branding strategy “HP Personal Again”. Personally, I loved the campaign, it made PC fun. I particularly liked the TV ads that had famous people talking about their love of their PC but their face was never shown. How clever is that!
Here’s one with Pharrel the famous rapper:
The lesson here:
Don’t be to overly concerned with the visual branding of your product. Think about how your branding is connecting to your target consumers at an emotional level. After all, isn’t true that we are really emotional animals. A large percentage of buying decision is made based on emotions rather than logic. If not why else would you be wearing that watch on your wrist (since all watch does the same function of telling time)?
here’s the making of the TVC, if you are fascinated:
Posted in General Tags: brand, branding, Consultant, HP, Marketing, PR, Public Relations, publicity, Reputation Management, Small Medium Business Comments OffJust-In-Time Marketing – is your marketing plan flexible enough for it?
November 19th, 2008 Dean 
I came across this article recently and it made me realise that while business must take pains to map out marketing plans over months or years, it is always a good idea to keep it a little flexible to allow your business to capitalise maximally on any unexpected opportunities available. If your brand unexpectedly got a positive mention by a celebrity or a public figure that’s a powerful endorsement in itself! Don’t just sit there and smile at the free PR your brand is earning. Grab the emergency marketing kit and quickly launch a quick targeted campaign.
The story in New York Times mentioned that Michelle Obama went on Jay Leno show and promoted J. Crew brand that she was wearing. The company had no idea that she was going to do this. They only realised it when they saw her in one of their design during the teasers of the show.
What did they do? The marketing team went into action by 1. buying keywords for “Michelle Obama” on the search engines 2. setting up a page on their website promoting the outfit Mrs Obama wore 3. told their call centres how to handle enquiries…Phew! quite a lot of action in an instant!
The outcome: “J. Crew said it was pleased with the sales..”
You never know which public figure might be endorsing your brand. But if they do, are you ready to cash in on it?
Posted in General Tags: brand, Consultant, Just in time marketing, Marketing, Michelle Obama, PR, Public Relations, publicity, Reputation Management, Small Medium Business Comments OffR is for React and Respond
November 2nd, 2008 Dean For many of us business owners, we would long to have our businesses featured in the media. Many think that the way to getting media attention is through a new product launch, an interesting event or even a publicity stunt. The truth of the matter is, we need to look at PR as a long term, never ending process.
One simple way is to push your brand message through the current topic in the media. Today, we don’t need to only just react to news of the day that affects us we can also very easily respond to it by sending letters to the editors of the local newspapers with emails.
Here’s an example of someone who knows how to work the media to his advantage. Kenny Yap, responded to a comment by a Straits Times reader and at the same time managed to subtly remind everyone that his company, Qian Hu is (a) part of the world capital for ornamental fishes (b) wants to be part of the huge Gardens by the Bay project; (c) the company’s branding is “about bringing fun and happiness to the environment”.
Here’s a Tip for You:
Keep an eye on the current affairs, especially within the local news. If there is an issue that will affect your industry or your target consumer’s industry, don’t just react, respond to it! Write a letter to the Forum pages, editors or journalists. Who knows, one day your letter will be published, but if it doesn’t, so what? The next time journalist needs an expert opinion they might just come to you.
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