Have you wondered what works (and doesn’t) in Facebook?
Or how you can undo an ill conceived tweet let loose in a fit of anger?
Tag: marketing
9 Elements of Japanese Aesthetics
I love Japanese art and culture.
Almost everything about the country – from buildings to gardens, displays, products, advertisements, food, shops, train stations and people (especially people) – are enchanting.
While Japan does have its share of woes (don’t we all?), few countries around the world are able to balance age-old tradition with modernity in such a harmonious fashion. This is especially true in the field of aesthetics and design, where almost everything in Japan is well conceived. You could hardly find anything that is an eyesore there!
Book Review: Small is the New Big
Are you feeling the entrepreneurial (or intrapreneurial) itch lately? If so, Small is the New Big may be the right up your alley.
With 184 “riffs, rants, and remarkable business ideas”, Small is the New Big by uber marketing blogger Seth Godin is a collection of management mantras for entrepreneurs. Written in his usual snappy style, the book isn’t organised into sequential chapters. Instead, entries are written in an alphabetical manner without following any particular logic.
Cheap Advertising
Singapore is not just a “fried rice paradise”. It is also a “hard sell paradise”.
If you flip through the papers on any single day, approximately 80% of the advertisements scream “DISCOUNTS”, “SALE”, “FREE”, “PROMOTION” and other words aimed at tugging at your wallets. Because we’re such avid bargain hunters, anything priced at the normal rack rates or list price will fail to trigger any immediate (or impulsive) purchase decision.
As I was about to enter my car a few days ago, I spotted this bright colourful flyer on my window.
The Pros and Cons of Lower Cheaper Discounts
One of the most common forms of ‘marketing’ is what I call the L.C.D.
It translates into 3 universally embraced words:
We Are Still Living in a 1.0 or 0.0 World
Got clued in to this brilliant revelation by Steve Rubel on how most of us are still living in the Jurassic Age when it comes to staying constantly connected via a myriad of digital tools and networks. Yep, that’s right, according to the chart below (courtesy of Nortel), only 16% of us are truly hyperconnected and about 48% are either passively online or hardly at all.
Source: IDC/Nortel White Paper – The Hyperconnected: Here They Come!
This shows that despite what some of the pundits say, we are still living largely in an old-fashioned, traditional media oriented, physically based world.
Telemarketer from Hell!
Courtesy of Cayusa (via Flickr)
This incident which happened five months ago riled me so much that I still remember it to this day. I guess it was triggered from the recent spate of telemarketers assailing my private space. Yet again.
Ordinarily, you would think that telemarketers wouldn’t bother selling to public officers. After all, most of us are bound by certain rules and regulations to ensure proper governance. There are certain procedures to follow to ensure that public funds are well spent.
Good PR and Marketing Reads
Decided to follow the illustrious examples of some of my friends in highlighting the worthy reads in PR and marketing this week, focusing on those in Singapore’s blogosphere.
First up is Daniel’s excellent analysis of the Prima Deli debacle and how the company could have saved itself more heartache by harnessing the media and public opinion. Let’s hope and pray that they will survive this one.
Melvin Yuan of the PR2.0 Universe has a good take on the PR 2.0 bubble. Read it and see if you agree or disagree whether new media is a fad or will eventually exist side-by-side with other more mainstream forms.
Too Much Love
This follows an earlier post on Love Trails, which spoke about allowing your customers to create their own paths and destinations. Perhaps the occasional path beater tracing his or her way to your organisation’s products and services would be fine. After all, this is the age of individuality where every customer is unique and different.
What happens though if one bends over backwards to one’s customers so much that the following start to suffer?
1) Employees
7 Steps to Great Writing
Copyblogger, one of the world’s most popular for writing aficionados like yours truly, featured this excellent post on writing effective copy by Brian Clark. I have read plenty of copywriting tips in my lifetime, but this is probably one of the best I have come across. Read it, apply it to your writing, and voila! Watch those customers come queueing at your doors…. (if only it was this simple)
- Beneficial Topic
Is what you’re writing of interest to the reader? Does it solve a problem they have and add value to their lives? If not, nothing else you read here matters.
- Magnetic Headline
Likewise, nothing else matters if your prospective reader never makes it past the title or headline. Your content could be amazing, but if no one is compelled to invest the time to read based on a boring or vague headline, all is lost.
- Strong Opening
The purpose of the headline is to get the first sentence read, and each subsequent sentence needs to keep the reader rolling towards to the close. The momentum you create with your opening can make your job easier the rest of the way.
- Helpful Structure
Are your transferable lessons easily digested via bullet points and numbered lists? Are you providing compelling subheads that act as encouraging signposts for the diagonal reader to dig in deeper?
- Smooth Transitions
Good writing uses transitional words and phrases to help the content read more smoothly. But good copy also uses psychological connectors to persuade and keep the reader engaged. We’ll talk more about that soon.
- Instant Understanding
Orson Scott Card once said that metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space. The same is true of stories, and being highly specific facilitates understanding, holds attention, and enhances credibility in ways that general assertions cannot.
- Actionable Close
How you close a piece is determined by what you are hoping to accomplish. If you’re not sure what you’re trying to accomplish, you might ask yourself why you’re writing it at all. That actually helps you to determine whether to revamp the content or to put it out of its misery.