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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. Read the rest of this entry »
5 Lessons on Marketing for the Recession
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:
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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:
- They essentially invented audience research. When they heard a lot of people listening to “Amos and Andy” on the radio, they bought it straight away. They put a Pepsodent spot on and sales went through the roof. They worked with George Gallup. They listened to customers. This was new stuff.
Lesson: Marketers who listen to their customers in new and powerful ways will win the battle for fewer dollars.
- Radio was the newest new media at the time. Basically, they were investing like crazy into stuff that the big agencies didn’t understand yet. They were young–late 20s–and didn’t know any better.
Lesson: Those who master the next wave of media will rise above the fray. Mobile? Social? Something we haven’t seen yet??
- Once into radio, they perfected “audio illusion”. Example–they cast two people in one role on “Showboat”, a program to promote Maxwell House Coffee. A sexy singer for the audio, and a known actress for the voice. They also started adding in sound clips of the coffee brewing and pouring. Sales doubled and quadrupled, crushing store brands. The other agencies were angry because it was improper to do these things at the time.
Lesson: Just because things are done one way, don’t fear doing it a totally different way. Thinking outside the box is critical.
- Once this guy had a lot of money, he was able to buy businesses at bargain basement prices. He bought Muzak for next to nothing and built it into a national behemoth.
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.
- He also comments on how he was able to add incredible talent at low prices because of the glut of labor supply. His salesmen improved every year as they could screen more and more applicants for these jobs.
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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The 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
Tangs reaches out to consumers in Second Life
January 2nd, 2009 Dean 
Local retail store Tangs becomes the first retailer in Asia to set up a store in a virtual world Second Life, to be launched in March ’09. This is amazing! A 76 year old retailer embracing Web 2.0 means that they are plugged into the changes in consumer habits.
In Tangs virtual store visitor will be buying clothes, hairdos and different looks for their avatars. As Straits Times reported:
Shoppers can expect to see items from Tangs’ ‘signature lines … but with a tinge of fantasy’, in line with players’ desire for a ‘larger than life’ appearance for their online personas. They can pay for their purchases in Linden dollars, the game’s currency, or via a virtual credit card. Credit card bills are paid monthly in Linden dollars, which can be traded for real money. More floors, ‘stocked with usable and desirable items by well-known Second Life designers’, will be added over time, said First Meta co-founder Aileen Sim.
I am sure many small business owners and retailers are not even aware of the power of using Second Life to reach out to their consumers. Before you say you are just too busy running your shop, note the statistics:
- There are 16 million registered users from all over the world in Second Life
- There are many shops in Second Life set up by individuals
- It has amassed a gross domestic product of US$402 million.
You might be saying to yourself that it is too much of a hassle. Here are three reasons why you should seriously consider it:
Do it for brand recognition
With people buying stuff from virtual Tangs for their characters it becomes a brand people will recognise and grow to trust. Tangs is a local retailer and has been for a long long time. But with Second Life, people from all over the world will get to know the brand. Should they visit Singapore, they will go “Aha! I know this store.” They are more likely to step into the store. Should Tangs want to expand overseas, the brand recognition gotten in Second Life would definitely be beneficial.
Abacus, a Singapore based travel agent, already has a virtual store. I doubt they are a big company.
Do it for brand loyalty
If you want your retail brand to achieve a cult status, with strong consumer following, you can’t achieve it in a few months. With more and more people getting an avatar in Second Life you can expect their virtual experience to affect their buying decisions in real life.
Do it to get another cash register
Buying and selling on Second Life is done using their local currency, Linden dollars, which is really pegged to the real dollar value. Your virtual store might be another revenue generating machine too. Who knows?
Start small
If you are a B2C kind of business, don’t think too much. Get your toes wet in Second Life. Get yourself an avatar. Play around a little. Once you are comfortable, start working on your virtual store. It will take a while, but who is keeping score…..Of course, you can always hire a techy undergrad to do it all for you.
Till then, hope we bump into each other in Second Life!
Or maybe you are just happy being an old school mom & pop store like this below. Discovered along River Valley road.
(the pic is rotated to the left) It’s no surprise that I found the old lady sleeping in the middle of they day…you can see her leg sticking out
Two PR Benefits of a Money Back Guarantee Policy
December 29th, 2008 Dean Came across this letter sent in to Straits Times (27 Dec) about Botak Jones, the restaurant that serves ‘damn good American food’. The letter reminds me once again how easy it really is to build an authentic business and in so doing win the admiration of our customers. What better way to build customer loyalty!
Lessons we can all learn from this:
Consumers love to deal with authentic business. One that has a ‘heart’. To be an authentic business, all you really need is (a)passion for your business and (b)to provide service with sincerity. When what you delivered is below expectation, like what happened to Edwin Neo in the letter, then let your sincerity guide you to take the necessary action.
If you are proud of the quality of food (or any other product) that you sell, it makes complete sense to provide a complete refund and, like what Botak Jones did, take a step further and give them something better at no charge.
Unfortunately, from my interaction with many business owners in Sg, a complete refund and free replacement is such a bizarre concept! They are very resistant to implementing a money back guarantee policy. I find this strange.
Two PR benefits of a money back guarantee policy
When you offer a guarantee like what Botak Jones does, then
1. it lowers the risk to the customers and therefore they are more likely to buy your product than your closest competitor
2. the bad experience of getting a bad product/experience will be downplayed by the sincerity of your response. Customers will more likely to say good things about your company despite the bad experience.
I understand that many business owners in Sg are too afraid that customers will take advantage of their money back guarantee and that their profit margin will be lowered.
People are generally nice and sensible. Customers who exploit money back guarantees are always in the minority. If you experience such a customer, would you want to hold on to him? I will rather drop him and never deal with him again.
As for lowering profit margin, this can only happen if a significant percentage of your customers are asking for refund. If this happen then all signs points to a poor service/product quality. It’s time to do a business review or drop the product altogether.
I managed to get my hands on Botak Jones’ brochures. I was not surprised to see them proclaiming their guarantee. The owner even wrote a personal letter to the reader and signs it off! How nice! What an easy way to show their sincerity and providing “damn good food”. I bet he didn’t need to pay branding consultants to do that. It’s just common sense.
Your comments please:
What is your opinion on money back guarantee? Is it worth while? Is it effective in fostering a good reputation for business?
Sample Work: International Feng Shui Conference
December 22nd, 2008 Dean We did this project in 2006 but I felt that it is worth a mention here.
Client: TTG Asia
The idea: Client is holding the annual International Feng Shui Conference, the third of its kind. So fat they never had media coverage, other than mentions in the Chinese newspapers.
They want some publicity for it because they Feng Shui to be seen as something that can be integrated into the modern lifestyle. It is not something superstitious or old-fashioned astrology like how most people approach it.
The challenge: The Media Development Authority of Singapore do not allow the mass media to touch on the principles of Feng Shui and predictions it usually dishes out because MDA sees it as being superstitious. So we had to find some way to get around the hurdle. We didn’t have much leeway to work with.
The strategy: We don’t know much about Feng Shui to start with. But after having a good discussion with our client, we realised that principles of Feng Shui (FS) can indeed be applied to a wide variety of everyday modern life. And it is not necessarily confined to the Chinese culture.
We worked out a few unique angles, some of which are:
1. Application of FS to a) fashion and styling b) website design
2. Non Chinese adopting FS principles in their living environment and life
3. Caucasian’s who have studied FS and are now respected FS Masters in their countries
4. A FS master who is also a scientist and a gong fu master
Due to the short time line we were given, the pitches were focused on dailies and weekly magazines.
The outcome: The media bought our unique pitch angles and both English and Chinese newspapers picked up our stories. A lot gave full page to have page coverage on the stories. CNBC Asia got wind of the story and featured one of the Masters to do a forecast on the coming year’s economy.
Coverage Summary:
- Total Broadcast (TV) coverage: 1
- Total Print (newspapers & magazines) coverage: 10
Sample Work: Book Publicity for ‘Invisible Trade 2′
December 18th, 2008 Dean 
Client: Monsoon Books
The Book:
As a sequel to the first volume, Invisible Trade, journalist Gerrie Lim unravels and demystifies two major aspects of the sex industry in squeaky clean Singapore:
- the secretive double lives led by the beautiful, upscale escorts, and
- the reason why men habitually need to spend money to pay for sex.
In Invisible Trade II Gerrie Lim delves deeper into the workings of the sex industry here bringing out nine more evocative and haunting stories of his subjects based on their true lives and vivid memories. In his own smart and sardonic style, he is able to humanise an industry that is often misunderstood and chastised.
The strategy:
To get a bigger media interest, we looked beyond the book and focused on the subject matter instead. We pitched Gerrie Lim as someone who understands the sex industry and will be able to give expert opinions on sexual issues to journalists.
Given the nature of the topic, we specifically targeted women and men magazines that like to write on the topic of sex. Different topic ideas and interview opportunities were offered for the different magazines according to their editorial focus. Her World, Citta Bella, Playeur, Maxim and FHM were among the magazines that picked up on the pitch. All articles mentioned the book
We send copies to newspapers and other magazines for the possibility of reviews. Shin Min Daily newspaper did excerpts of the books that ran for 20 consecutive days.
The Outcome:
We managed the whole media liaison that included pitching and arranging for interviews. Coverage were gotten in the following media:
Broadcast Media:
Interviews on
- Get Real, Channel News Asia
- Asia Uncut (talk show), Star World
- Passion People, 938Live radio
- The Duke (talk show), AXN
Print Media:
- Total Features & Interviews: 8
- Total Reviews & Excerpts: 3 & daily excerpts on Shin Min Newspaper over 20 day
Want to know more? Contact me
How to use PR to Brand Yourself
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:
- how to get a PR opportunity
- steps you should use take to get coverage
- How PR has help you brand yourself
- How you can brand yourself using traditional media
- PR is a long process, how to speed it up the process
- PR secrets that can increase your chances of getting covered
Do you think personal branding is important? Pls comment
Smart Tips for Newspaper Advertising for the Small and Medium Businesses
December 18th, 2008 Dean I always discourage small and medium sized (S-M) businesses from plunging into an advertising campaign as a means of publicity. The reasons are simple enough: the advertising space is too cluttered and almost all S-M businessess don’t have deep enough pockets to fight the big boys.
My advise, always work with PR first, then use smart advertising strategy to complement your PR efforts. I came across this article which I think all S-M business owners would benefit.
source: http://www.businesstown.com/advertising/newspaper-advice.asp
Streetwise Tips on Newspaper Advertising
1. The biggest waste
A huge percentage of newspaper advertising is a complete waste of money. Newspaper advertising can be profitable, but all too often, it isn’t. This is especially true for small businesses.
Many small businesses feel they have to advertise, and without much thought or research toss ads into the local paper. Typically the only reason they have chosen newspaper advertising as their communication vehicle is because the newspaper ad salesperson was the first person to call on them!
Why don’t newspaper ads always work for small businesses? The most common reason is that they get lost in the paper. Small businesses tend to run small ads with mediocre copy and no illustrative materials, such as photographs or art. And small business people often don’t take the time to measure ad results. Without measuring results, they have no sound basis for improving their creativity, their copy, their offers, or even their choice of media.
2. Product ad dilemma
It is extremely hard to make product ads work. For instance, we placed eighth- to quarter-page ads for different books that we publish in the national edition of the New York Times and regional editions of the Wall Street Journal in cooperation with various book store chains. These chains stock our books in hundreds of their stores, and we are able to track sales through their computer inventory systems and determine whether or not advertising can be linked to a sales increase on any given book. We found that an ad costing in the $2,000 to $10,000 range, not including production costs, typically generates less than ten additional book sales.
These product ads, in effect, caused a 95% to 99% net loss in profitability.
The only “winning” ad that we placed for one of our books, for instance, ran under an extremely clever headline and offered a terrific discount. Still, it covered costs but did not net a profit!
3. Product ad tips
Concentrate your product ad dollars in large ads rather than in frequent ones. Develop a punchy headline and include snappy illustrations or photos. Include sell copy for the serious potential buyer. And don’t forget to tell prospects where they can purchase your product.
4. Service ad tips
Run service ads where prospective customers will typically see them. The service directory of the local newspaper is usually an appropriate spot. Service ads need to clearly state the nature of the service offered. A great headline isn’t necessary because the prospect is generally already interested in obtaining the type of service you are offering. But you do need to convey a powerful competitive message through your ad. This advantage can take the form of a free trial, new customer offer, special bonus, or free estimate. If your competitors advertise on any particularly strong points that have great consumer appeal, match those points. And highlight a unique reason for clients to call on you first. Some service seekers call every service provider for quotes, some call two or three, and some call one. Make sure yours is the first call made.
And also remember, despite what an advertising salesperson may tell you, the most compelling, not necessarily the largest, ads tend to generate more “first calls.”
5. Generous offers
People expect to see “sale” and “specials” advertised in newspapers.
Whether you are advertising products or services, try to offer a special price or bonus to your customers. Make the offer generous. Ten percent off the regular price, especially in this age of national discount retailers and competitive pricing, just won’t cut it.
It costs a lot of money to run ads and response is often iffy, so offer deep discounts on a limited range of products or services. This is a tactic that lures the customers in and, ideally, while they are browsing, they will purchase other nondiscounted items that have a higher margin. In a best-case scenario, they will become regular customers.
6. Special rates
Large metropolitan newspapers and many small local or regional newspapers offer a lower ad rate called the “local” or “retail” rate to local or retail businesses. If you are selling a product through local retailers, you will save money if you get the retailer to place the ad even if you reimburse it for all costs involved. In some industries, however, the retailer typically shares some portion of the ad space with the manufacturer or supplier.
Newspapers also offer volume discounts if you guarantee to place a certain number of ads over the course of a year. Read the fine print regarding penalties for nonfulfillment on any contract you sign that involves a “frequency” rate. Generally, however, the penalty for failing to meet your placement obligations is payment of the “non frequency” rate for those ads you did place.
Still, it can be painful to reimburse the publication for the higher ad rate.
7. Negotiating rates
Generally, you can negotiate rates off the rate card with smaller papers or papers that don’t have the readership edge in their marketplace. And if your ads are particularly clever, you can sometimes negotiate a better rate deal with a larger newspaper.
Several years ago I wanted to run several full-page ads in a newspaper owned by a large U.S. media company. This company was notorious for adhering to their rate card. But I was determined to negotiate a discount. I called my advertising representative’s boss and politely explained to her that I needed to negotiate a lower rate or I wasn’t going to place an ad at all. This creative individual, wanting to keep my business but unable to go against a strict company policy on rates, established a new rate category just for me! I ran my ads for 30 percent less than any other advertiser in the publication!
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Do you own a S-M business? What is your experience in advertising in the newspapers? Are they effective?
Feel free to leave a comment….
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