I read on Channel News Asia this morning that prices for TELCO services are tumbling, and that it’s good for consumers, but is that all there is to competition? Well, of course not. Competition is what happens when you have scarce resources which have alternative uses. This means whoever purports to provide those services is […]
In Cold Blood? We have a great penchant for putting the cart before the horse. The movers and shakers of this world need to recognize that we have to turn the world right side up, not upside down! Buyers and sellers need to understand that we have a great need to buy and sell in […]
Sharing and Giving IS Caring! I attended an interesting talk on “The Socially Savvy Organization” organized by the Direct Marketing Association of Singapore (DMAS) on 30 Jun 2016. Former CEO of Vocanic, Ian McKee, shared about the power of relationships and permissions-based postures in marketing. The point that social media is for sharing, not selling, […]
What comes to your mind when “viral” is thrown across your path? Do you see wildly popular content shared by millions of people across the web? Do you wish that you could create similar content? Are you anticipating millions coming your way, so that you can retire to a life of ease? Or do you […]
I watched a recording of a webinar that occurred three years ago. The main speaker was Bernard Marr, someone whose posts I read a lot on LinkedIn. The recording is about one-and-a-half hours long. Yes, I watched it all. Twice. My personal summary of it is that we need much more strategic clarity. I would […]
Somebody shared this on Marketing Weekly. I was intrigued and watched the whole video. Yes, all 55 minutes of it. Twice. Mark Ritson does make a lot of sense. With our Hellenistic mindset, we have again divided digital marketing from “traditional” marketing and so on. “TV and radio are dead” and similar catchphrases are trumpeted […]
“If there is no pain, there is no business.” ~ Attributed to a prominent regional, (meaning around Singapore), Venture Capitalist. ~ “Before you build a better mousetrap, you’d better see if there are any mice out there.” ~ Has been attributed to Yogi Berra, rightly or not. ~ Have you had the above and/ or […]
“Top of Mind” has been foisted on us for too long. We need to get to the heart.
This doesn’t say that branding isn’t important – it is VERY important! Why get so concerned about it? Become your brand, and it then becomes unconscious. No effort required. After getting there, of course!
I have the military to thank for this concept. That is, when you’ve been assigned a mission, you are expected to assume that all resources necessary for the successful prosecution of the mission have been allocated. If you request for more resources, that request is always predicated on the assumption that it will accelerate the […]
We are all encouraged to tell stories. Which is a good thing, for not many are adept at the telling, and it is a skill that comes in very useful indeed. Stories are a very good way of enhancing the messages we continuously radiate. There is, however, the flip side. And the flip side is […]
Imagine two pairs of great-looking leather shoes. The first pair are of high quality and not branded. The second pair are not-as-high-quality but branded. All other things being equal, which pair would you be inclined to buy? If all other things are not equal, what would be the one factor that would influence you either […]
The TSA was birthed in the US because of concerns over the changing security landscape. However, a different TSA had already existed long before that – the Terminally Self-Absorbed. This is a class of people for whom Self has taken the preeminence. This class has been growing, and is the main reason why I find […]
We are enamoured of highly-sculpted bodies, rippling with high-definition muscle. Even couch potatoes secretly wish they could all be like that to some degree. We may not all want to have the huge muscle mass, but most, if not all of us, would certainly like a well-toned, fit and healthy look. We want to be […]
Would you agree with that statement? Of course you would! Great salespersons are always the rock stars, aren’t they? More pay, more incentives, maybe not so much more benefits, but which great salesperson needs those, anyway? You see books about great salespersons, you might have attended courses about selling like one of those great salespersons, and […]
Yes, you read “without”, not “within.” I have been told that one way of getting people interested in what goods and services you have to offer is to tell them all the great stuff they can have without the sweat, inconvenience, effort or similar sacrifice they don’t want to make. It facilitates living the Philosophy of […]
That’s something along the lines of “Four legs good…two legs baaad!” Think about it! I’m not saying that we should avoid quantity-based businesses or reduce quantity for the sake of reducing quantity. What I am saying is that large volumes, quantity businesses, may have a greater tendency to have very thin profit margins. Therefore, even […]
Many people writing in the online literature seem to advocate that, in marketing and in negotiation, it is ok to lie in order to get the sale, or get the project or get the contract. They might not say it so explicitly, but things like “over-promising” so as to “get the sale” and then “worry […]
“I’m serious”. “No, I’m not”. “Yes, I am”. “What ARE you really saying?” “Well, research has shown that people who exercise three times a week are twice as likely to die suddenly as people who exercise five times a week”. “Egg white has nutrients you don’t know about yet”. Welcome to the strategic art of […]
Download the pdf. This is not a word-for-word transcript, but is essentially the same content. Anyone who is in business is automatically in Sales, Marketing and Customer Relations. If you’re not into all these three, you aren’t really in business. Sales and Marketing are closely related. You could call Marketing the Strategy and Sales the […]
Semper moronis. No, you won’t find that in the Latin dictionary, I made it up. “Always moronic.” I was at a Roundtable for Customer Service yesterday. One of the observations shared was that people seem to trust their social media to the nth degree, going by the numbers. It seems that people are more likely […]
Sin is a monster of such awful mien That to be hated needs but to be seen But seen too oft, and full in face We at first wonder, then pity, then embrace This familiar poem reminds us of the power of repetition, the power of reinforcement, the power of inoculation. Being creatures of habit, […]
Big Data. It has become a household word. Some are excited by it. Some dread it. Some feel that it invades their privacy, as though privacy were not the preserve of the War Councils of nations, or in corporate planning rooms, or in the homes of people. What comes to your mind when you see the […]
If you are used to me by now, you will know that I don’t mean “Public Relations” in the first “PR.” So what do I mean? Personal Responsibility, of course! If you are a Public Relations honcho and depend on that to pay your bills, lower your hackles and read on! Of course, “PR Campaigns […]
What is your USP (Unique Selling Proposition)? Heard that before? So what if you’re an employee – heard that before? I’ve always had this nagging thought at the back of my mind that if 6.5 billion people are unique, then who is? Besides, why do you want to be unique when you already are? Remember that […]
It seems that everyone is being encouraged to be a marketer these days. The Net’s a stage where each plays a part, and mine a blog one. I just checked – there are about 68 million WordPress blogs alone, not counting the many others. Each one is a marketing tool by default. Of course, quality […]
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