This a pretty cool video rap. Insane rhyming. And unlike traditional gangsta rap like 50 cent, this actually feels meaningful.

Some lines from the rap:

you use CSS, you page will load quicker
your client satisfied like they eating on a Snicker

they stuck on your page like you made it with a sticker
and then they convert now that’s the real kicker

make you a lil’ richer, your site a lil’ slicker
design and code right, man, I hope you get the picture
what I’m telling you is true, man, it should be a scripture

The full rap lyrics is available at the youtube video link.

credit: roland

Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.com once voiced this sentiment:

“We want to be the world’s most consumer-centric company… We focus incessantly on trying to get the customer experience right… See we’re not a book company. We’re not a music company. We’re not a video company. We’re not an auctions company. We’re a customer company.”

That was back in 1999 during an interview with BusinessWeek. Amazon is now an undisputed leader in online shopping and the reviews on their website make Amazon the world’s most trusted source.

The traditional mass marketing funnel looked like this: Create an an ad broadcasted to one million people.  Get a 1%  response on a $100 product. Then collect $1 million dollars. Finish.

This is what mass marketers do – throw as large a net as possible. The Internet would be perfect for such a model, right?

Wrong. If you are a small business, can you afford to spend the average of $1 million dollars per website by Fortune 1000 companies to market online? The answer is a resounding No.

If you want to differentiate and ensure that price is not an issue between you and your target market, you need to deepen your relationship with them. They need to trust that you are the in-depth expert on what they want. You never abuse the relationship so when you talk, your customers listen.

The deeper your relationship with customers, they will pull from you more products, services and information at higher and higher prices. They will not care that someone else in another country is pushing the product / service at 10% less.

Trust is your most powerful tool and abusing that for a quick buck will undermine your long-term business.

In this Harvard Business article: Why Small Companies Will Win, it becomes clearer that the company that does business with people rather than with organizations will win. Perhaps it is a new trend, but what is clear is that people will do businesses with people – and all the better if it comes from people that they know are passionate about what they do.

Remember the most ultimate product you can produce is a satisfied customer.

credit: Engin Erdogan

Though this blog focuses on generating leads for your business, but I will be sharing on what bosses want in employees. Getting a good employee is hard to come by, getting a great one is like you found a diamond out of nowhere. Why do I say that?

Recently I was having lunch with one of my female friends who owned a printing company that her employee had worked there for almost 3 years now but still do not know some of the basic terms in printing. My friend had to teach her employee over and over again. She shared that it was very tiring and frustrating to do these unnecessary teaching again and again.

I can understand her feeling, where I too saw this situation in one of the companies where I worked before. The worst thing that happened was when this colleague of mine shared our database to a business partner for FREE! That was a very serious mistake, and thank God he was not sacked.

What makes a good employee, or should I rephrase it – what is it that a employer is looking for in a employee? Below are some of the points:

1) Teachable – without this characteristic, you will not be able to go far in the company. Teachable also means that a employee must be humble as well, so that the employee will not have a big head or become an Indian Chief, doing what he/she thinks its right. Always listen and learn from an experienced colleague who is willing to teach you.

2) Learnable – this will actually show your employer that you are willing to learn and interested about this business. So how do you show your employer that you are interested in the business? By asking on how, where, why, when questions. Its just like courting a lady or man, if you are interested in the lady or man, you will be asking questions about them, knowing them more in depth.

3) Think about the company – there are two areas that your employer will notice you very fast and quickly, if you understand them. They are in the areas of generating sales and cutting cost for the company. As most of us know very well, a  top sales person who sells very well for the company will be rewarded by huge commissions. Cutting cost and generating sales are what businesses are looking for – which in turn results for profit and reward for outstanding employees.

4) Be flexible – there are sometimes limits what a employee can do, but if he/she is able to to demonstrate resourcefulness, and still preform a task out of own initiative it will be a great thing for the company.

5) Leadership – this will be the stage where most companies wants every employee to be. A company is willing to pay for an employee that shows great leadership – that is why most CEOs are paid millions per year. Because they can lead the company to a whole new level.

As most of the people on earth are employees, this why it is hard to be on the top. But not all of us are willing to have the above five qualities. If you do demonstrate these five qualities, then will you be able to go far. Always think for the company. Let’s increase our standards today and step up!

credit: Matt McGee

Giving out discount coupons are so passe. Now to promote spending and prop up the economy, giving out cash is another strategy to increase your customer base and push them to spend more. We see this from the Taiwan government giving out shopping vouchers that are equal to cash to its citizens to promote consumer spending. Economists believes that Asia should spend to push the economy out of the gloom.

I’m all for spending and stimulating the economy. And when I drop by the shopping centres in Singapore, the empty walkways / footpaths plus really great discounts make shopping such a great experience. But the truth is – now the fight is for consumers to open their wallets when in reality – most are keeping it very close to their pockets. Job losses, lack of jobs available – these are worrying times that do not encourage spending.

That was until I came across the Equatorial Hotel advertisement.

I love this great marketing strategy by a Malaysian hotel. It is really a fantastic idea -  I’m thinking of packing my bags to go over this weekend.

For each night you spend there you’ll get RM88 (SGD 36)  to spend at their 7 F&B outlets. If you are staying alone or with another person – this means that your meals are free for the duration of your stay.  I’m not sure whether it is possible for me alone to spend RM88 per day in meals – but for couples I think it is just enough – perhaps just need to top up a bit more.

Appears in The Straits Times
Life(9 March 2009)

Plus even if you don’t spend the RM88 – 50% of what’s left over is refunded back to you upon checkout.

Nah, I rather spend the money fully – and maybe a bit more.

I think giving pure hard cash is better but if you are a hotel looking to make sure your guests spend their money at your hotel – then this ensures they do so.

A competing hotel -  located near shopping centres can easily trump this offer. If you are looking to push up your room occupation rate, do a promotion with your next-door shopping centre neighbour by giving out shopping vouchers to cooperating retail outlets. Why not?

It is all about the perception of value – Value Perceived is Value Achieved.

Host-beneficiary relationships are hard to build though but win-win situations should always be explored. In such an economy the most innovative ideas will triumph and not the largest marketing budgets.

P.S I do think the advertisement can be improved upon. A headline like “We Are Giving Money Away!”  will draw my eyes – the location of the ad at the bottom also doesn’t help much.

photo credit: karla kaulfuss

This post was prompted when I read an article on ChrisBrogan.com about customer experiences. Now this story is based in the US but I think the relevancy is very important back to customer service in Singapore.

Beth Ziesenis from Life on Avenue Z was unhappy about her experience with her SanDisk player which died on her while she was jogging. Using Twitter which is a micro-blogging service, she fired off a less than 140 characters post (also called a “tweet”) about her unhappiness with her brand new Sansa player. Within hours, someone from SanDisk saw the “tweet” and immediately replied. The SanDisk PR manager who saw her tweet managed to get Beth’s Sansa player replaced after exchanging a few emails and trying to understand the source of the problem of the player.

That simple “tweet” got the attention of over 600 people and when Beth shared the news of her excellent customer experience with SanDisk on her Twitter account – the message got retweeted (mentioned again by her followers) thousands of times. SanDisk has clearly understood the power of the Internet and closely monitored the online world for mentions of their products.

Not only that, SanDisk has gone beyond just monitoring but actually reaching out to customers. Its ability to use online tools like Twitter and leverage on it has generated goodwill amongst many in the Twitter-sphere and online world in general. People will remember SanDisk as a customer-oriented company.

Now I’ve been looking for a new smartphone and decided to scan online reviews about user experiences. What I managed to find instead is the large amount of customer dissatisfaction that is written online on the telco companies in Singapore. Most of these posts have their writers seems resigned to their fate, often ending their legitimate complaint that they will never sign another contract with the unfavorable company.

From what I sense is that local companies in Singapore do not really care about what the Internet says about them. It’s a small group of customers who are unsatisfied and air their grouses over the World Wide Web. The impact is currently insignificant. I can see the logic of not focusing on 10% of your customer base that are unhappy.

This may be true… but in the long-run people will turn online to seek the opinions of others before making a decision. In a recent research highlighted in this Wall Street Journal article about online shopping: A whopping 92% of respondents said they had more confidence in information they seek out online than anything coming from a salesclerk or other source.

Now SanDisk has gotten it right but trying to have a semblance of control of its image on the Web. It will matter what people think about companies online. It also means that it is time to start moving from traditional media to the Web. Online advertising will grow and it is up to you to decide when to jump ship.

Yes, your current group of customers may comprise of people who rarely go online to get information. But Gen Y will grow up and be a major marketing force to be reckoned with. Marketers will need to consider their needs to research online first before making a decision to buy. That unhappy 10% will gain greater spending power, and in a few years’ time will be the other 90% customer base.

Companies that are quick enough to catch this trend will benefit.

It used to apply only for big purchase decisions, but now they do research before even buying that bottle of shampoo. It is a trend that is spreading down the product chain.

It will be a broad shift in the marketplace and local Singapore companies may have to start playing catch-up. What does the Internet say about Your Company?

photo credit: myhsu

Many companies say they are already on top of Google rankings. This is true – but only for their company names.

If someone were to type in their company name, they will be the first on the search results. But if searchers were looking for their products or services, they won’t be on top or maybe even the first page. When you look at your analytics, find out what type of keywords they use to find your website.

If most of the search terms are using your company name, it means that the current traffic on your website are visitors who already KNOW you. You’re not getting new customers who are looking for your type of category and products but unaware of your existence.

By using PPC, you are able to make additional sales – provided the cost of acquiring a new customer is within your PPC limit. PPC allows you to place ad with your company name / product name in front of the searcher. Your ads must be written to catch the buyer’s eyes and by being placed on top of the search engines – it will usually be clicked on.

Since the ads are displayed based on what the searchers type, you can be sure that these people are highly qualified customers who want to buy.

There are 3 types of searches:

• Searches for the official site: These searchers already know the organization name, be it a government agency, official website of a company, a city or person.

• Informational searches: These searchers are looking for particular information Eg: how to cook chicken curry, how to get to Esplanade, how to install a computer software etc.

• Transactional searches: These searchers are looking to to a transaction. It can be buying a product or service, downloading music/software and so on. This might be the broadest category as they are not really looking for information, but looking for something.

So how can you use PPC for these type of searches?

• For searches for the official site: You can use PPC to redirect visitors who have misspelt the company name to ensure they still able to find your site. If they are several key people in the company or organization they might look, you can also add in their names to the PPC ads. Again refer to the analytics results to see what type of information is used to find your website.

• For informational searches: People who are in the research phase of the buying cycle are looking for information. They are usually looking at product reviews, information comparison websites and so on. By using PPC to place ads at these informational websites you are able to reach your target audience and engage them easily.

• For transactional searches: PPC can be used to reach products and services to people who are already in the “purchasing” mode. Usually ranking priority is given to the manufacturer of the product, so if you are a reseller, you need to use PPC to make sure your ad appears at the top. Some ways to entice them to click on your ad is to offer items like that include Free Shipping, No Sales Tax, etc.

photo credit: myuibe

As the world becomes more and more dependent on the internet: Searching, finding information, knowing the latest results, latest news, and even buying products online. You can say that the future will be with the internet.

Of course, we cannot forget the traditional marketing like, newspaper ad, radio, banners and T.V commercials etc. But in all ways – they are much more expensive than using online marketing. I have a friend who provides painting services for houses and offices. This means his business is a local industry and depends on how big your country is.

You might only focus on the state that you live in only. My friend Alex has been in business for over 30 years and he offers the lowest and professional painting services in our country.

But the thing is that he has to advertise on the newspaper everyday, to get leads for his business. For your information, a small little advertising spot in Singapore, like 2cm x 4cm classified advertisement cost you SGD $80, and he is doing it daily. Let’s do the math, SGD $80 x 30 days = SGD $2,400 in a month.

If you use Pay Per Click Marketing or Search Engine Marketing, the cost would have dramatically decrease in advertising fee, and still get targeted client for your service. Pay Per Click Marketing can be a double edged sword: it can help you and it can also hurt you if you do not know how to use it. That is why you will need an expert to help you in this area.

Pay Per Click marketing can give you the clear and measurable data of the numbers of searchers and how many clicks you are paying. This is way much better than using newspaper advertising, as you will not know what are the actual numbers.

Search Engine Marketing is a way to get free traffic from the web. A lot people misunderstand that with a website -  you are already penetrating the online market as you can promote your services or products online. They is a very wrong misconception.

If they do not know how to maximize the power of online marketing, then it is better to stick with the normal way of advertising. The actual keywords to use for Search Engine Marketing has to be derived from Pay Per Click Marketing, as it will give you the actual data of online demand – which then allows you to carry out an online campaign with great accuracy.

Here is the breakdown for the different types of marketing:

Here you can see that you must use internet to advertise and leverage on its low cost and broad reach.

Of course you still need to stick to the traditional method if your marketing budget can afford it: they are the effective way of anchoring the people in your area of service. But advertisements must earn and justify itself i.e. be able to show proven and measurable results – by all means do advertising to anchor yourself are the first thing they will think of when they need your service – but this can be very expensive.

There was one particular ad that caught my eye. The headline was “You can now bring your own price tag.” It was from Citroen with the car prices slashed and replaced with the words “Your Price?”.

Fantastic. Does it mean if I asked for $1 – would they give it to me? I’m quite sure the answer is NO, but it does make me wonder that flexibility and negotiating car prices has become a whole lot easier.

Marketing that works are marketing that get a response to do an action. This was a good ad that was better than most – as it has a call-to-action. Not a clear call but nevertheless a call to come down to the showroom to negotiate your price with them.

In a business, where are the greatest sources of new leads generation? Usually through advertising and promotions. If car dealers are doing their sales followups right, referrals will be the next greatest source of new leads (about 20%).

There is actually a very simple way for car dealers to make their advertisements or promotions stand out. Make the advertisement appeal to potential buyers. Remember it is not about car dealers anymore but it is ALL ABOUT THE CUSTOMER.

You have to be at the top of the customers’ long lists of brands, features and benefits. And give a compelling reason for them to follow your call-to-action.

As I write this I think about what it will take for me to buy a car. Basically what car dealers can do is to remove obstacles that stop me from buying the car.One of the biggest deterrents for me (and anyone really) is cost and affordability. How will I make the monthly payments, how much is the COE, projected petrol costs etc.

So why not do this: An advertisement that gives a breakdown of monthly costs and show how the benefits outweigh the costs. No pictures of cars, just a table showing costs breakdown. Definitely the advertisement will stand out in the classified sections. The cost-conscious buyer will be moved to come down to the showroom to have a discussion with the salesperson.

Examples of call-to-actions:

• Get a FREE tailored report on car payments affordability. Make it like a meeting with their financial planner instead of the “busy-closing” salesperson.
• Our staff will watch your kids while you discuss with us.
• Any other “calls” you can make that will make potential clients to get off their bums and turn up at the showroom.

The recession is a great development. This is the time for dealers need to be completely transparent to get the trust back from the market and this helps them do that. Becoming more open about maintenance and repairs that they usually overcharge for.

There are many things that happen after the initial purchase that dealers should also be sure to improve to show they value the customer. It will be an opportunity to overtake your competitors and the most innovative and persevering will win.

What if there is a way to get instant traffic from your top 100 competitors using Pay Per Clicking Marketing, and you only pay 1 ~ 3 cent per click. Yes it can be done only with Google Adwords.

Google Adwords offers placement of content ads on specific areas. Let’s assume that your product or service is globally. You will first key in the main search term that is related to your product or service in Google, then you will find that there may be over 1,000 websites related to your website.

All you need to do from here is to find out one website at a time, do they have Google Adsense in their website. Take note of their URLs if they do have it. Once you have collected 100 URLs from the searches, you will need to transfer them to the Adwords Placement under “List URLs”.

Why use 100 websites? It’s because nobody knows how much traffic you will be actually getting, it also depends on your daily budget and cost per click as well, and lastly the placement only allows a maximum of 100 URLs too.

A word of warning is that the targeted websites will not always have Adsense on their websites, so you may only find less than 20 targeted sites with Adsense. Another solution is to look into the secondary keywords, or keywords phrase and use the above way again to add in the targeted URLs.

Last time I checked with Google Adwords that CPM (Cost Per 1000 Impressions) was retired on the 26th Jan 2009. But I think CPM is still available – do check the Google Adwords Blog. You will save much more on your cost using CPM. But the above way seem good enough to drive traffic to your new website.

When you are getting enough traffic from other forms of marketing, you may want to decrease or stop your Adwords Placement Campaign.