A Marketing Blog by Marketing Journal

What Is The Average Bounce Rate?

2012-01-07T16:45:00.002+10:30

Many customers and people have asked me these questions before: “What is the average bounce rate of websites”? “Is my bounce rate good or bad”? In fact, I don’t really know what is the exact answer to the first question. First of all it really depends on what type of websites you have and the industry you are in. Also, where they are coming from and also what source or keywords they found you and enter your site. If it is brand keywords, then I would think most websites definitely have a bounce rate of less than 10%. If not, your brand is either a generic word, there are other companies with the same brand name or you have a serious problem with your brand. if it the source is broader or more generic, then a high bounce rate is definitely understandable. On average, I would think that a 30 to 40% bounce rate is acceptable across all sources.

Actually, what is exactly bounce rate? This is also one question that I have been asked many times before as well and I bet most people don’t exactly know what is bounce rate and how it is measured. Bounce rate as defined by Wikipedia is:

The percentage of visitors who enter the site and "bounce" (leave the site) rather than continue viewing other pages within the same site.

A bounce occurs when a web site visitor only views a single page on a website, that is, the visitor leaves a site without visiting any other pages before a specified session-timeout occurs. There is no industry standard minimum or maximum time by which a visitor must leave in order for a bounce to occur. Rather, this is determined by the session timeout of the analytics tracking software.

where

Rb = Bounce rate
Tv = Total number of visitors viewing one page only
Te = Total entries to page

A visitor may bounce by:

Clicking on a link to a page on a different web site
Closing an open window or tab
Typing a new URL
Clicking the "Back" button to leave the site
Session timeout

A commonly used session timeout value is 30 minutes. In this case, if a visitor views a page, doesn't look at another page, and leaves his or her browser idle for longer than 30 minutes, they will register as a bounce. If the visitor continues to navigate after this delay, a new session will occur.
The bounce rate for a single page is the number of visitors who enter the site at a page and leave within the specified timeout period without viewing another page, divided by the total number of visitors who entered the site at that page. In contrast, the bounce rate for a web site is the number of web site visitors who visit only a single page of a web site per session divided by the total number of web site visits.

Now back to the question again. What is the average bounce rate? Most online sources I have read have reported an average bounce rate of around 40%. There’s quite a lot of articles on Google that will tell you what is the average bounce rate. Kissmetrics report an average bounce rate of 40.5% and they’ve got a cool infographics and pdf regarding this topic. Enjoy.

Bring Outsourcing Back Home

2012-01-07T16:00:00.002+10:30

Why waste time on something that you are not good at? Outsourcing to many companies and executives definitely looks like a good idea. Outsourcing is a business practice where companies outsource/contract out selected or part of their business operations to other companies that specialise in those operations in order to lower cost and improve efficiency. Outsourcing can definitely help companies save time, money, space and also the need for training. Outsourcing as a business function was first formally introduced as a business strategy in 1989, this practice’s origins began in the aftermath of World War II. Today, countries such as India and China is the world’s leading outsourcing countries.

Many companies today are still utilising outsourcing for the above benefits. However like a coin, there’s always two sides to outsourcing, the good and the bad. On the bad side, outsourcing can bring about bad customer service and poor service or product quality. Many companies and executives today are finding that outsourcing does not really provide the cost and time savings they had hoped for. Many are finding that they are being burdened by the inflexibility of contracts as well as factors such as rising shipping and transportation costs. Most importantly, outsourcing ultimately hurts your economy back home where jobs back home are loss to foreign countries and this is a big and concerning issue in most countries today including back here in Australia.

This is why there’s been call and action by both people, governments as well as businesses to bring the jobs back home. Some have call this phenomenon as ‘backshoring’ and ‘reinsourcing’. To me, I think this is definitely a good idea as companies can provide better customer service, dedicated customer support and also better quality as well. And of course, we get to keep our jobs back home and ultimately, this benefits our economy!

How To Grow Your Brand & Market Share

2010-04-22T21:01:00.006+09:30

Marketers and CEOs, how do you grow your brand or your company's market share & sales volume? A few years ago, I posted on my blog titled 'what is your marketing iq?' which has all the answers. The answer is actually quite simple, so simple that most don't know the answer. Most company would think that the answer is to get existing customers to increase their purchase frequency i.e. buy more from you or by increasing customer loyalty. This is why so many companies allocate a substantial amount of their marketing budgets towards customer loyalty program. But in fact, this is not true. The answer to growth is to actually get more customers or buyers. This is not too hard to understand, imagine there are a 1000 people in your market and you have 700 people who are your customers. This is 70% of the market share and thus making you the market leader. Having 100 out of a 1000 people buying multiples times from you still doesn't change the fact that you only have 10% market share. Simple, isn't it?

If you are interested to know more how about brands grow, you need to visit this website or buy this book from Professor Byron Sharp titled 'How Brands Grow'. There are alot of marketing knowledge from this book where most marketers don't know:

1. Growth in market share comes by increasing popularity; that is by gaining more buyers (of all types), most of whom are light customers buying the brand only occasionally.
2. Brands, even though they are usually slightly differentiated, mainly compete as if they are near lookalikes; but they vary in popularity (and hence market share)
3. Brand competion and growth is largely about building two market based assets: physical availability and mental availability. Brands that are easier to buy - for more people, in more situations - have more market share. Innovation and differentiation (when they work) build market based assets, which last after competitors copy the innovation.

DIY Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

2009-10-20T18:14:00.009+10:30

No need to pay SEO agencies big money to optimise your website or keep searching the internet on how to do Search Engine Optimization (SEO) yourself. Google has now published its own SEO documentation which you can now Do It Yourself (DIY). What a better way to get a SEO documentation from Google instead of paying big bucks to SEO agencies where most of them give you the same kind of information/guidelines that are already widely available out on Google itself. I guess the money paid to agencies is at least they can project manage it for you and make sure that you are doing the right thing and you don't have to worry. This is the same as paying migration consultants where most if not all migration information is on the internet or the immigration government site but yet you want to have the peace of mind paying the expert to do the right thing for you so you don't have to worry about it. You can download Google's search engine optimization starter guide here or directly from www.google.com/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf.

Cost Effectiveness of Search Advertising/Marketing

2009-06-08T20:10:00.004+09:30

Over the years, I have been selling search advertising/marketing and one of the ways necessary to better sell especially to businesses that are new to search is to prove that it is a far more cost effective way of advertising as compared to many other forms of advertising mediums. Not too long ago, I posted a short but important blog post on my company's blog that search advertising is the most cost effective method of advertising. The study done by Piper Jaffray shows that the cost per lead from the search engines is a fraction of the cost of email marketing, direct mail, online banners or yellow pages.

Google Local Business Optimization - How to Increase your Google Local Business Results / Listings

2009-01-16T22:11:00.004+10:30

Recently, I have been spending a lot of my time over the last few months, researching and experimenting, on how to get on the 1st page of the Google local business results. Many of my successful listings are through constant testing & experimentation.

Google’s local business listings is a great opportunity to get yourself up in the rankings of Google for your relevant geographical keywords much easier and quicker than Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and the best thing of all, it is free!

Here are some proven techniques/ways that I have used to get many of my own and clients’ websites successfully on the local business listings:

1. Get as many free listings in the local directories as possible. One tip to find these local directories is to check the ‘web pages’ under the details of the local business listings. Sometimes these web pages will show you the local directories they are listed on.

2. Optimise the title/name in the local directories for the keyword you want, eg if you want to rank for ‘Sydney Widgets’, have this in your title/name.

3. Same with the above, optimise the company/organization name in the local business centre for your keyword. (I got a successful listing for a couple of keywords just by optimizing the name, of which these keywords ranking for don’t even have a website).

4. Under the address information in local business centre, make sure you have the city location chosen as the city you want listing for.

5. Under the description in the local business centre, optimise it for the keywords you want. Of course, don’t spam it!

6. Under the categories of the local business centre, choose the most relevant category. Also, you can add in manually the category. In this case, add in ‘Sydney Widgets’.

7. When you upload your photos, try to optimise it (name of the file) for the keyword as well (I guess all of what I have mentioned are some basics of Search engine optimization (SEO)

8. Make sure you enter in as many details as possible in the local business centre, example hours of operations, payment options, upload photos & videos if you have, and other additional details as well. The more details you put in, the more the Google local business centre’s algorithm will see you as a serious listing and therefore making your listing more successful.

9. Try to add coupons if you can as this will definitely help. As mentioned before, videos will also help a lot.

10. Reviews seem like one of the important criteria that Google looks at when assigning rankings on the local business ads results. Try to encourage reviews from your customers. Don’t fake it! Google can easily find out and you may get yourself booted out from your local map listings. I have seen in many successful listings where there are no reviews. However, try to encourage reviews anyway as reviews does help promote your site to other potential visitors/customers as well.

11. Obviously, example to be successful in the listings for ‘Sydney widgets’, your site content should be ‘Sydney widgets’ relevant.

12. Basics of SEO - optimise the title, meta description and keyword tags for your keywords.

13. There are occasions where your listing may disappear, log into your local business centre again and update it again (example, re-upload photos, re-edit your description etc) and it should come back up again in an hour or so (from my experience)

14. I do believe that part of the local business listings’ algorithm, Google does look at external links going to your site as well. Example, if you have other sites linking to you with the link text ‘Sydney widgets’, I am sure this will help as well.

Below are some other techniques which I have not used listed by others that have said to improve the local business results:

• Include your phone number whenever you write a description of your company on a third party website.
• Include your address and phone number at the bottom of every page.
• Include the name of your city and state in your website’s content, titles, descriptions and page headers (I reckon this is quite an important component, so try to do it although I haven’t done this)

I found these above points from leveltendesign.com & traffikd.com and they have some very good pointers on how to improve/increase your Google local business listings as well.

Google Local Business Ads

2008-12-16T21:00:00.002+10:30

My company e-channel is now no.1 under Google's local business listings for keywords such as: search engine marketing Adelaide, search engine optimisation Adelaide, search engine optimisation Sydney, search marketing agency Adelaide & Sydney. This is indeed some great positions to get in Google and an early Xmas present. After some testing and playing around, I have also managed to get my own home address listed in Google's LBA for the keyword search marketing agency Adelaide. Next posting, I will write up on how to get into the local business results and how to optimise for it after months of experimentations.

Google Brand Value of Search Marketing

2008-12-10T23:10:00.001+10:30

We now all know that there is brand increase by using Search Engine Marketing (SEM). This has been proven previously before a report titled brand lift of search conducted by Enquirosearch.com back in 2007. This year Google in April 2008 together with Media Screen has releases a study titled ' Brand Value of Search '. The study was done on the consumer packaged goods industry and proves that employing search marketing as an advertising vehicle will positively impact a brand's key metrics.

The key takeaways are: Search build brands

Brand presence anywhere on a search results page positively impacts key brand metrics

You have greater control over your message with paid search, especially on a generic search term SERP (Search Engine Results Page)

Paid search as a branding vehicle: --Drives top of mind awareness for your brand and negatively impacts awareness for your competitive set. --Impressions provide “free” brand lift, without the CPC investment.

I do agree that most of its key takeaways are accurate except for the last point where impressions provide free brand lift. My reasoning for that is your ad might record an impression but it does not mean that the search user will see your ad. i.e. He/she might be looking at only the first 5 listings and if your ad is on the bottom 5; the searcher will not see your ad. Therefore, this impression recorded is not true. So if the searcher didn't see your ad, why would it provide free brand lift?

SEO Vs PPC

2008-04-11T17:57:00.001+09:30

While there are differences between Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC). There are in fact a lot of similarities between the both of them. I have come up with a comparison table below during my lunch break today on the similarities of SEO and PPC using Google as an example. It is interesting to see the relevance and the linkage Google is bringing to its natural search results and its adwords advertising program. If we look at the comparison table below and think about it. This will allow us to be better search engine marketers for both SEO and PPC.

The 20 Keys to Online Marketing

2008-02-19T22:29:00.000+10:30

Following are 20 keys to successfully marketing your product, service, and business online.

1. Have a professional, easy-to-navigate, quick-loading design. Hire a professional design firm or at least use a good site template.
2. Have lots of quality related content.
3. Build lots of links to your Web site.
4. Build credibility and rapport.
5. Start an e-mail newsletter with quality content and send it out at least once per month.
6. If you are selling a product, have an affiliate program.
7. Once you have an affiliate program, don't forget to promote it.
8. Do whatever you can do profitably to attract large affiliates and form key strategic alliances.
9. Position yourself advantageously in the search engines.
10. Use cost-per-click (CPC) engines, but make sure you know the lifetime value (LTV) of your customers and that you do return-on-investment (ROI) checks often.
11. Supplement your affiliate advertising with both online and traditional advertising, but track results and always do ROI checks.
12. Advertise using CPM channels to build brand recognition, but put profitability before brand recognition.
13. Offer yourself as a resource to the media as an expert in your niche.
14. Hire a great publicity firm or bring an experienced publicist in-house.
15. Use autoresponders to maintain constant contact with prospective customers.
16. Remember that business is all about relationships and communication. Always work to build more relationships, and once they are built, make sure you are in continuous contact with your prospects, customers, strategic alliances, suppliers, investors, and the media.
17. Encourage word of mouth among your customers.
18. Have superior customer service and have staff to answer all incoming e-mails within 24 hours.
19. Send out periodic e-mail follow-ups making sure your customers are happy and asking them for feedback on your product and the service your company has provided.
20. Blog frequently with quality content.

from the book Zero to One Million by Ryan P. Allis

HEMA website

2008-01-26T23:04:00.000+10:30

You gotta have a look at this Holland departmental store's website. Interesting and innovative web marketing. Take a look at HEMA's product page. wait a couple of seconds and watch what happens. Don't scroll... the page moves itself...

HEMA is a Dutch department store. The first store opened on November 4, 1926, in Amsterdam. Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands. HEMA also has stores in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. In June of this year, HEMA was sold to British investment company Lion Capital.

This is a gimmicky promotional website and you probably be puzzle as to how you can view or buy their products. In fact, you can't do your shopping at this website. To do your shopping, you will have to go to its normal website at http://www.hema.nl/

Video Marketing via Video Sharing Sites

2008-01-22T22:10:00.000+10:30

Video sharing sites for example YouTube and Metacafe seems to be the biggest hits in town especially with the younger and modern generations. These video sharing sites have also become the next advertising medium for many marketers. Marketers have been producing commercial videos for the purpose of marketing and promoting their companies' brands and products/services. Google, Apple and many other small to large companies have ride on this wave of utilising this new form of advertising vehicle and most have found it to be an effective marketing tool as these video sharing sites have a phenomenal high traffic circulation. Internet Outsider reports that YouTube now accounts for 28% of total minutes spent on Google worldwide and an astounding 35% of global users; This is indeed an astounding level. The biggest success of video sites such as YouTube is because it 'empowers' users making them feel that they are content producers themselves. Below is a list of video sharing sites that are popular worldwide now.

Google Video
BrightCove
PhotoBucket
YouTube
DailyMotion
iFilm
Myspace
Vimeo
BuzzNet
Flixya
GoFish
Kwego
Lulu 6
MyHeavy
PutFile
StupidVideos
Vmix
ZippyVideos
CastPost
Dotv
Famster
MeraVideo
Porkolt
VideoWebTown
Vidmax
Metacafe
Blip.tv
Blinkx
GodTube
Ourmedia
Vimeo
Tudou.com (Chinese)

Brand Lift of Search

2008-01-15T17:19:00.000+10:30

For us marketers, we all do know or speak about as to how search marketing helps in increasing brand awareness or ‘lifting’ your brand. For the sales guys, this has been used constantly to get prospects to advertise in the search engines. However, there has never been any research to prove that “Yes, search marketing does lift your brand”. Finally, Enquiro has proven this last year. The research company ran an online survey and interact with a mocked up Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP) in order to test the effects of branding through Search.

The results were staggering:

• A 16% increase in Unaided Brand Recall by having a brand presence in both the top sponsored and top organic listings of a SERP.

• Users are 5% more likely to recall your brand if you have a top sponsored listing in addition to your organic listing (for non-branded queries).

• The gap between your brand and a competitors grows if your brand is in both the top sponsored and organic positions and theirs is not.

• When the brand was in top sponsored, subjects spent 22% of their total sponsored fixations time on the brand.

• When the brand was in the top organic position, subjects spent 37% of their total organic fixations time on the brand.

• When a brand is in both the top sponsored and top organic listings a subject is 10% more likely to recall the brand when asked specifically whether or not they would consider it as a purchase.

• There is less brand lift from the top sponsored listing amongst subjects with a natural affinity for the brand; however, having the brand in the top sponsored listing garners a 10% lift over not having the brand anywhere on the SERP.

• There is a higher purchasing intent for the brand in the group with an affinity, by nearly 7% - and this gap is carried forward until the top sponsored listing is factored into the equation.

• A branded query seems to have a 50% brand lift effect - making the query itself the largest contributor to any brand lift via the SERP.

• There is no statistical difference between the brand recall - whether or not the brand was in both the top sponsored and top organic or top organic only - so long as the query is branded.

Advertising Frequency Part 2

2007-10-20T01:16:00.000+09:30

In my previous post, advertising frequency: how many times is it effective? I've discussed the number of times a user needs to see an ad before he/she will take action. In this case, the best action would be a purchase. 3 times, 7, 10 or 20 times? you debate. At marketing studies, they would argue/prove that consumers were, on the average, exposed to the ad creative 16.9 times (17) before making the purchase.

The study was for a 1 month period, which included advertising on 85+ web media and 50 different ad creatives. The campaign reach was 100,000+ internet users and standard IAB ad creative sizes were used (728x90px and 160x600px; static .jpg files).

In banner ad campaigns, it would take 17 times. What about search marketing campaigns?

10 secrets of the stinking rich

2007-07-18T22:57:00.000+09:30

Wanna get stinkin rich? SmartCompany.com.au has an article today telling you the 10 ways to get dirty stinkin' rich by learning from the some of Australia's richest entrepreneurs. SmartCompany is Australia's online magazine for entrepreneurs & SMEs and it's worth subscribing to their email newsletter.

Be prepared to work and work and work
The secret of most successful entrepreneurs is not that they are particularly smart or insightful. Rather, most have an incredible capacity for work. Most successful entrepreneurs still work seven days a week, even when they have made their millions. Gerry Harvey even turned his favorite holiday spot at Byron Bay into a luxury resort – money never rests.

Be a serial entrepreneur
Few of Australia's richest business people strike it lucky on their first try. Queensland billionaire Terry Peabody, who now runs waste management business Transpacific, has successfully floated three companies, including a cement business and a truck company.

Seven Network boss Kerry Stokes tried everything from trucking and property development before becoming a media mogul. Perth billionaire Stan Perron has tried his hand at earthmoving, ice rinks, airlines and car retailing.

Even when they find a particularly successful venture, the stinking rich always keep their fingers in a number of pies.

Be prepared to take at least one big risk
Every stinking rich person had at least one moment early in their career when everything was on the line – all their money, all the bank's money, their house, their reputation and their future.

Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond put everything into his first business, Mortgage Acceptance Group, and lost $10 million, his home and his marriage when it collapsed. He's now worth almost $600 million, which goes to show you can survive, and prosper, even if your big gamble fails.

Follow your passion and skills
Can't decide which type of billion-dollar business you want to be in? Start by thinking about the things that you really love. Love fashion? Then start a fashion label, just like Sass & Bide founders Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton did.
Bruce Gordon followed his love of entertainment (he was once a stage magician) into the film industry before building the WIN regional television empire. Tasmanian Allen Hansen loved diving for abalone, so he built one of Australia's largest seafood companies.
Cool, dispassionate analysis is important in building a business, but some good old-fashioned enthusiasm is also essential, particularly to get you through the tough times.

Build networks
It is incredible how many of Australia's most successful business people are old friends. John Singleton and Gerry Harvey? They backpacked together through Europe. Solomon Lew and Lindsay Fox? Old friends. Jack Cowin and Brett Blundy? They know each other well and are co-investors in Sydney Harbour Bridge tourist attraction BridgeClimb.

Networking can sometimes be a time-consuming (and even boring) process, but having influential friends is always an asset.

Go it alone
When you are trying to grow your company quickly, there is a huge temptation to sell a slice of the business in order to fund expansion. Don't do it.

People like Richard Pratt, Lindsay Fox, David Hains and Harry Triguboff are billionaires because they have resisted the temptation to sell out to venture capitalists or investment bankers.

If you do have to float or sell shares in your business, make sure you keep a majority stake. The stinking rich don’t manage by committee.

Anticipate future trends
One of the richest men in the world, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, built an empire by knowing what consumers want before they know themselves. The Australian business scene is full of similar examples.

"Crazy" John Ilhan picked the mobile phone boom better than anyone else. Paul and Andrew Bassat started the online job ads business Seek when the majority of employers were placing newspaper ads. Eddy Groves built Australia's first corporate child-care company, ABC Learning Centres, and now dominates the sector.

Sell when the price is right
Timing is everything, and if you want to get stinking rich, you've got to know when to cut and run. Retail king Solomon Lew is a genius at picking the top of the market and has recently locked in big profits on his stakes in Coles Group, Colorado and fashion chain Witchery.

In the 1990s, recruitment industry veterans Andrew Banks and Geoff Morgan sold their recruitment company for a big price and bought it back, netting them more than $100 million. Kerry Packer famously did the same with the Nine Network.

Go global
The Australian economy is relatively small and mature, so many local entrepreneurs have been forced to go overseas to build their empire. For money managers like hedge fund guru Michael Hintze (worth $600 million) being based in London means ready access to European clients and capital markets.

If Paul Stoddard tried to base his aircraft spare parts business in Australia, he simply wouldn't have enough customers, but over in Europe he has as much work as he can handle.

Get into mining or financial services
If you want to get rich quick, find a patch of dirt with some minerals in it and start digging. If that's not an option, start an investment bank or funds management business. Resources and financial services will continue to be the hottest sectors in the Australian economy.

Social Marketing – Marketing For Good (CSR)

2007-07-15T01:22:00.000+09:30

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in its marketing form is call social marketing. CSR is about doing all the good things for the good of the organisation. Looking at it this way, it is really another form of marketing where the organisation is marketing and conducting business for the social goods. Social marketing has 3 major components: proactive CSR activity, promoting charities and good causes, and encourage others to give support to charity as well as participate in projects, communities or group for the good of society and environment.

The emergence of social marketing comes about with the rapid increase of the global market and the increase in global competition. Marketers and businesses are finding harder and harder to find points of differentiations to distinguish their offerings. The difficult task of differentiating both products and services thus lead to the path in differentiating through CSR or social marketing. Social marketing allows an increase in its brand value as well as sustaining competitive advantage.

Social marketing works very well in today's societal conscious consumers. Consumers are trying and doing more good things for both society and environment. Organisations that actively does social marketing are thus able to 'engage' these consumers and achieve a higher brand share within its market.

Communication is Everything

2007-07-11T23:23:00.000+09:30

Bad communication is a problem. No communication is unforgivable.

Productive and long lasting client relationships are nourished through frequent client communications.

As an account/project manager like myself, communication is the only way to find out if you are doing a great job or if there are areas where you can improve. Remember that each and every you communicate with a client, you are doing essentially one of two things - increasing trust or decreasing trust.

Trust with a client can be very difficult to obtain, especially when things don't go exactly as planned during a project. But nevertheless communication with a client can be the easiest and smartest thing you can do to help you build the trust desired. First, always provide a periodic status update to the client. This can be as simple as a phone call, face to face meeting, or through an email. Even if there is no job progress, the client will be kept in the loop of where the project is at that point in time, increase the potential to build your trust with them.

Next, whenever there's an important meeting, do a recap of the conversation or meeting and then emailed to each person on the communication, to ensure everyone is on the same page and that you have not left anything uncovered. If you send some documentation, make sure to sit with them (in person or on the phone) and answer any of the questions they may have. Not only will they be able to garner the knowledge needed, but also will be building a trust with you.

Without communication, no relationship stands a chance in any aspects of our life and work.

*The above communication cartoon is taken from Grantland - communication comics. They have a great collection of communication related cartoons.*

Yahoo! SmartAds

2007-07-07T02:29:00.000+09:30

For too many years, Yahoo is always second, behind search giant Google. Yahoo has always been the follower of Google such as its successful adsense and adwords program. However, it looks like Yahoo is finally leading a new way in its recent launched of SmartAds, an advertising product that will allow marketers to offer custom and relevant advertisements on the fly based on a user's behaviour.

Here's how it works, for example, if a user is browsing for hybrid cars in Yahoo Autos and had previously selected San Francisco as his or her default location in Yahoo Weather, Yahoo's SmartAds platform can assemble and deliver a display ad in real time to showcase a hybrid vehicle from a major auto brand, as well as local dealer information and current lease rates.

Yahoo SmartAds will utilise demographic, geographic and behavioral targeting to create more relevant advertisements for the user. Using the new technology, ads will be created on the spot, utilising several known factors about a user, including recently-visited sites, location, age, and income. The search engine's recent $680 million acquisition of Right Media will allow SmartAds to appear on the ad provider's extensive advertising network

For a complete overview, visit the Yahoo! SmartAds web site and check out it's demo.

Here's Yahoo's Press Release on SmartAds.

Ambush (Guerilla) Marketing in Search Engine (Google)

2007-06-21T22:46:00.000+09:30

Ambush (Guerilla) marketing as defined by brandchannel.com is a term for when one brand pays to become an official sponsor of an event and another competing brand attempts to cleverly connect itself with the event, without paying the sponsorship fee and, more frustratingly, without breaking any laws.

Wikipedia has many good examples of famous Ambush marketing.

We've seen ambush marketing happened in events and games. Now see ambush marketing in the context of search engine marketing:

See Toyota's sponsored ads on the bottom right when you do a search in Google for the brand keyword' Holden'.

Megaglobe - a new search engine

2007-05-30T00:01:00.000+09:30

Search engine marketers, look out. There's a new international search engine that is going to be launched soon. It's call Megaglobe.

Megaglobe has developed the "Pay per valid click" technology and promise click fraud protection for its advertiser.

"After having advertised extensively on major search engines, I have personally experienced the scale of click fraud that occurs," says Naima Moore, CEO of Megaglobe. Megaglobe was born out of that experience, to offer advertisers the best value for their money.

Megaglobe will be Google's direct competitor, protecting its advertisers from fraudulent click frauds on their sponsored advertisements. Megaglobe will offer a revolutionary 0 per cent click fraud rate for sponsored ads. With click fraud accounting for at least 30% of all sponsored advertising costs, megaglobe's 0 click fraud promise will definitely be welcome by many advertisers. Advertisers will be able to verify clicks by comparing Megaglobe's online reporting with their own server logs. Megaglobe's sponsored listings will also be cheaper than Google adsense & Yahoo search marketing.

It also has its own unique ranking algorithm call "Megarank" and this ranking system evaluates the quality of a particular search result by analysing the quantity and quality of the pages that link to it. The search engine will also display relevant information about a web site without the user having to visit the site.

Sales People are the Voice of the Market

2007-05-24T22:09:00.000+09:30

Today I finally truly understand why salespeople in the sales department are always in conflict with the marketers within the marketing department. It's because one is out in the market and the latter is not. Sales people are the voice of the market, they are the one that truly understands what the market wants and needs. They are actively listening and have a full understanding of the market. It is this understanding that allows them to sell. In contrast, marketers are not out there. In many cases, they base their understanding from information gathered by their sales guys or from their market research team. When marketers truly think that they know the market inside out; no! often they are wrong. They only know from the outside. Put it this way, salespeople are the insiders and the marketing guys are the outsiders so to speak. Of course, I am not saying that marketers do not understand. All I am saying is that the really good marketers are the ones that listens and work together with their salespeople. It is those bad ones that will always have ever conflict because both do not think alike. Sales guys, don't get too cocky just because you can sell. You still need the marketers to provide you the marketing ammunitions to help you do your job. At the end of the day, its about integration and collaboration of both expertise.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

2007-05-19T13:32:00.000+09:30

The primary goal of any business is to make money and in today's world, it is not just about making money and profits. More and more large organisations are beginning to understand that there needs to be a good balance of both evil and good. Evil in the sense of making money and good where the organisation consider the interests of both environment and humanity.

Why CSR? Here are some benefits of CSR:

1. Enhanced reputation and brand image:

Reputation is an important sustainable competitive advantage, because it is very hard to build and cannot be easily mimicked by competitors. A organisation's reputation results from trust by its stakeholders. A strong reputation in ethical environmental and social responsibility can help a organisation build this trust. Several major brands, such as The Body Shop & the Co-operative Group are built on ethical values

2. Increased profit and customer loyalty:

Several academic studies have shown a direct correlation between socially responsible business practices and positive financial performance:

A 1997 DePaul University study found that organisations with a defined corporate commitment to ethical principles do better financially (based on annual sales/revenues) than organisations that don't.

An 11-year Harvard University study found that "stakeholder-balanced" organisations showed four times the growth rate and eight times the employment growth when compared to organisations that are shareholder-only focused.

According to the Millennium Poll on CSR, the majority of 25,000 people interviewed in 23 countries want organisations to contribute to society beyond making a profit.

Research has shown that there is a growing desire by consumers not only to buy good and safe products, but they also want to know that what they buy was produced in a socially and environmentally responsible way such as “sweatshop-free” and child-labor-free clothing, smaller environmental impact.

3. Creating new business opportunities:

Experience gained through addressing CSR challenges also provides opportunities for organisations to create new business opportunities.

4. Increased ability to attract and retain employees:

A organisation's dedication to CSR can be an important aid to recruitment and retention compared with competitors. People want to work for a organisation that is in accordance with their own values and beliefs.

78% of employees would rather work for an ethical and reputable organisation than receive a higher salary. (The Cherenson Group, www.csreurope.org)

In interviewing 150 top employees in 24 organizations, the UK consulting firm, Stanton Marris, learned that employer reputation was a key factor in accepting a job offer.

76% of those polled by the Cone/Roper Corporate Citizenship Study said a organisation's "commitment to causes" was an important consideration in deciding where to work.

5. Increased productivity and morale:

Committing CSR internally to improve working conditions, lessen environmental impacts can lead to increased productivity and staff morale where the workforce are more reliable, enthusiastic and efficient.

6. Attracting investors and business partners:

Organisations addressing ethical, social, and environmental responsibilities have easier access to capital through investors and better conditions for loans on international money markets. It is also easier to do merger/acquisition negotiations, finding business partners and suppliers as well as smoother workforce integration.

A 2001 study showed that 12% of total investment in the USA was of a socially responsible nature. Likewise, there are were 313 green, social and ethical funds operating in Europe in June 2003, showing a 12% increase in the last eighteen months.

6. Managing risk:

The more an organisation is committed to CSR, the better it is able to manage risk. Large corporations and well-known brands are the first target of litigation for CSR misconduct such as the highly publicised "Nike sweatshops". The consequences could be huge in terms of market share or capital loss. A tarnished reputation might require years to rebuild and cost a large sum of money.

7. Preferential government and regulatory treatment:

Governments and regulators are more lenient with organisations that are more committed to CSR. Preferential treatment may be given when applying for permits or permission to do something and less intervention in their business through taxation and regulations.
Some believe that CSR programmes are often undertaken in an effort to distract the public from the ethical questions posed by their core operations. Some that have been accused include British Petroleum (BP) and British American Tobacco (BAT).

8. Increased operational efficiency and reduced operating costs:

Operational efficiency can be increased by reducing waste production and operating costs can be reduced by less water usage, increasing energy efficiency and selling recycled materials. At a broader scale, such CSR actions can result in environmental, social and economic benefits.

9. Innovation in market through cooperation with local communities:

CSR requires cooperation with the local communities and relationships can be improved. This can help organisations in tailoring products and services as well as more rapid acceptance to local markets.

Now, how do you implement a CSR plan/model?

There a few things to think about before you begin a CSR plan. Begin with a big picture, can you do a better job in making our planet, its environment and its inhabitants a better world to live in? If yes, think about how your organisation can impact our world; its people and how you as an organisation can create a better, fair, just and compassionate world.

To achieve success, such ethical social and environmental values need to be embedded in your business culture: business practices, vision and plan which begin at the highest level.

To begin, you need to do a self assessment of what priority areas you need to implement based on your unique business strengths. Key stakeholders should be involved in the process where discussions can happen so that everybody can buy into the concept. First, identify any risk that may cause reputation and/or financial risk to your organisation. Second, identify those socially responsible initiatives that are the most cost effective to implement. Once you have developed your CSR priorities, you need to establish a code of principles conduct, clear value statement where the whole organisation needs to commit. You then need to develop policy to formalise and articulate this commitment, and create programs to implement this policy. To make the programs meaningful, organisations need to provide training and education, and plan visible, memorable activities. The CSR plan should be implemented across the organisation. It should be localised for different markets and it should have measurement techniques. Open communication with stakeholders (community, employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers and the environment) is also vital as they need to feel that they can respect and trust a company's values. Finally, report the success of the programs and measure the progress as your CSR investment needs to be justified to shareholders.

The Truth in Ad Sales

2007-03-26T22:43:00.000+09:30

You gotta have a look at this funny ad if you are in the advertising or marketing industry. It's all over the internet now and it's really hilarious.

The truth in ad sales - A day in the life of a media agency

Isn't it good if your customers pay on time?

2006-12-26T00:03:00.000+10:30

The best Christmas present for my company this season is the collection of a big amount of money from various projects which had been owed to us for quite some time. Some of these overdue have been more than 90 days. While the collection of this money has been a big cash present for us; there are still a couple of bad debts which had yet to be recovered.

As stated by the Australian credit management, there are typically 3 reasons why customers don’t pay.

• The customer can’t pay
• The debt is disputed
• The customer had no intention of paying

When you have customers like them, it will affect your cash flow and as we all know, cash flow is king. So what steps can you take to speed up the collection of your money and not to have bad paying customers?

1. First rule: Get payment first before you deliver. Get at least a portion or 50% up front before you start work.
2. Send out invoices/bills on time. The earlier you send it out, the sooner you can collect your money.
3. Monitor payments/receivables daily. Keep a close eye of this everyday; make sure you know which payments are overdue.
4. As soon as the invoices are overdue (our term is Net 7, which means it is overdue after 7 days), immediately send out reminders. The longer the invoice is not paid, the harder it is to get your money.
5. Call your customers or their accounts department to chase up the payment. The faster you get your money, the better your cash flow.
6. Extend customer payment if they can’t pay but you need them to commit to a formal payment plan.
7. As soon as you have identified a bad customer, stop sales to them and stop servicing them until they have paid or at least make a commitment to pay.
8. Get the professionals to collect your money. When it is way overdue and the customer is not paying, it is time to hire a debt collection agency.

Now I hope this will help you and myself to be better in collecting our money. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone.

Google Click-to-Call

2006-12-09T18:45:00.000+10:30

My company recently tried out Google's new Click-to-Call advertising program and it turned out both a comedy and a disappointment.

3 phone calls were made at a cost of $81.46. This is almost $27 per phone call, bloody expensive! Well, hmm not really if the calls were actually sales leads. Now comes the funny part.

One of the calls was made by a guy who called just for fun. It's the first time he saw a click-to-call ad and keyed his number on our ad just to see how it works.

The second was made from Pizza Hut asking if we want to order a pizza!

Finally, the third call went missing in action. God knows, where the call went.

Advertising Frequency: How many times is it effective?

2006-11-26T19:00:00.000+10:30

So how many times does a consumer need to see your advertisements before he/she will remember, respond and then buy from you? Marketers call this effective advertising frequency.
Well, it really varies depending on whether it is push or pull advertising.

Push advertising - most traditional offline advertising such as magazine, newspaper, TV as well as online banner ads and emails are push marketing.

Pull advertising - Examples are search engine advertising (Google adwords, Yahoo search marketing), directory listings, yellow page ads etc.

I would say push advertising will take many more times than pull advertising to take effect.

Some says around 3 to 5 times; others say the magic 7; while Thomas Smith, a nineteenth century London businessman (1885) says it is the 20th time.

The first of many is known as the 3+ frequency. Research has shown that consumers need to see an advertisement around 3 plus times before it becomes effective (can recall product and brand).

The second is known as the seven times factor. A cardinal rule of thumb in advertising is: potential customers usually need to see the name of a product seven times or more before they're motivated enough to even think about making a purchase.

Finally, Thomas Smith says that it can take up to 20 times!!

The first time people look at any given ad, they don't even see it.
The second time, they don't notice it.
The third time, they are aware that it is there.
The fourth time, they have a fleeting sense that they've seen it somewhere before.
The fifth time, they actually read the ad.
The sixth time they thumb their nose at it.
The seventh time, they start to get a little irritated with it.
The eight time, they start to think, "Here's that counfounded ad again."
The ninth time, they start to wonder if they're missing out on something.
The tenth time, they ask their friends and neighbors if they've tried it.
The eleventh time, they wonder how the company is paying for all these ads.
The twelfth time, they start to think that it must be a good product.
The thirteenth time, they start to feel the product has value.
The fourteenth time, they start to remember wanting a product exactly like this for a long time.
The fifteenth time, they start to year for it because they can't afford to buy it.
The sixteenth time, they accept the fact that they will buy it sometime in the future.
The seventeenth time, they make a note to buy the product.
The eighteenth time, they curse their poverty for not allowing them to buy this terrific product.
The nineteenth time, they count their money very carefully.
The twentieth time prospects see the ad, they buy what is offering.

With all this research and theory shown, does that mean that people will automatically buy your product if they see your ad 3, 7 or the 20th time? Well not really, if you ad is not relevant to what they need, want or searching for. Even if they see your ad a thousand times, they will still not buy a damn thing from you. However, it is still important to know the more places your ad is available to be seen, the greater your chance at making that sale.

Now question time, do you know what is your effective advertising frequency? On average, how many times does your customer see your ads before they buy from you? This is a tough question especially you are advertising offline. However, in the online environment, your web analytics should be able to give you these stats.

Strategy & Tactics: Sun Tzu 孫子??

2006-11-19T19:09:00.000+10:30

'Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat'. In other words, planning without action is futile, action without planning is fatal.

Many people in the west believe that this quote is made famous by the great Chinese general Sun Tzu 孫子. However, when I did a search on the web, there were a number of discussions that this quote is not by Sun Tzu. Neither could I find this quote on the Chinese version of the Art of War 孫子兵法.

Now, this really puzzles me. So who exactly wrote this quote?

The people factor

2006-10-21T16:47:00.000+09:30

In 1997, Steve Jobs, the founder and former CEO of Apple Computer, returned to the company to help revive the ailing personal computer market. One of the first calls he made was to Lee Clow, TBWA/Chiat/Day's legendary chairman and chief creative officer worldwide. Apple was considering a number of agencies at the time, but Jobs cut short the review process and awarded the business to TBWA/Chiat/Day, noting "I don't pick advertising agencies; I pick people."

People are the ones that make up the company. It is people that we deal with in and out each day. When you are marketing or selling to a business, you are actually dealing with its people. It is not about my company and your company. It is about me and you. Most importantly, develop a relationship and make them like you.

It is also important in your business that you emphasise this people factor. Build your people up and build your business around them whenever possible, make them a big part of your business. At the end of the day, it is them that are doing the marketing and selling not your brand!

The condom theory

2006-07-02T05:15:00.000+09:30

Everyone wants to feel that they are important. This is the reason why you have different service/product plan such as silver, gold and platinum or deluxe and premium. There are rarely basic or starter plans nowadays. Customers want to buy or belong to a plan that is of high value and status.

This is the same as what I call the condom theory. Almost all condoms nowadays come in the size of big, large, extra large. Which man wants to buy a small size condom and admit that their penis is small!?

The thing here is even if you are offering a really basic service; named it well where your customers will feel that they are important and of value.

Firing Your Clients

2006-06-12T00:02:00.000+09:30

Recently, I had a client whom I had a number of times would like to say to him: "Sorry S...., I would like to stop doing business with you!" This is a client who constantly raise his voice at you and calls you every 30 mins. Calls you on the weekend and always says the big Fxxx & Bullshit words. In fact, he is happy with our service but because he is such an inconsiderate and a rude man; it makes it so difficult to do business with him. This is one client whom I think deserves to be on a 'firing' list. Here are 11 more that you and I if we come across should definitely fire:

THE DISILLUSIONED consistently expresses disappointment with your work even though it is of good quality and conforms to spec. A client who is constitutionally incapable of appreciating your work is not a client you should be involved with.
THE SUSPICIOUS consistently expresses a lack of trust, disdain for your work, or questions your integrity. A client who is constitutionally incapable of trusting in your expertise is not a client you should be involved with.
THE CHISELER consistently complains about your bill, even though it conforms to the estimate they agreed to. A client who is constitutionally incapable of honoring a deal is not a client you should be involved with.
THE BULLY consistently is verbally abusive or threatening to you.
THE SOMETHING-FOR-NOTHING consistently increases the scope of the project but refuses to pay for the additional work. A client who is constitutionally incapable of offering additional value in exchange for additional value is not a client you should be involved with.
THE SLOW PAY consistently pays invoices late. In any business, cash flow is king. A client who is constitutionally incapable of paying a bill on time for work that was delivered on time is not a client you should be involved with.
THE FLAKE consistently is late meeting responsibilities, but still holds you to the original schedule. A client who is constitutionally incapable of understanding that in order for a project to be delivered on-time, everyone must meet their obligations is not a client you should be involved with.
THE LIAR consistently lies to you. A client who is constitutionally incapable of being honest with you is not a client you should be involved with
THE CLINGER consistently makes unreasonable demands regarding your availability. A client who is constitutionally incapable of applying a "reasonable man" standard to requests for your time is not a client you should be involved with.
THE BLACKMAILER consistently refuses to pay an invoice until you perform additional work at no charge. A client who is constitutionally incapable of engaging in good-faith dealings is not a client you should be involved with.
THE MONEY PIT consistently is unprofitable. A client who is constitutionally incapable of offering you a fair rate for your services is not a client you should be involved with.

Google Trends

2006-06-02T00:35:00.000+09:30

Here's a tool that all marketers and more importantly search engine marketers like myself should definitely have a look - Google Trends, a new analysis tool recently released by Google. (Don't get too obsess with it!)

So what is this new baby by Google? Here is Google's explanation:

With Google Trends, you can compare the world's interest in your favorite topics. Enter up to five topics and see how often they've been searched for on Google over time. Google Trends also displays how frequently your topics have appeared in Google News stories, and which geographic regions have searched for them most often.

Here are some things that we marketers can learn from Google Trend.

Many have said that advertising is dead and public relations is the way for more effective marketing. However, we can still see that advertising is still the most popular marketing medium as compared to Public Relations. [See Trend]
So which is more important? Brand, sales or loyalty? Answer: sales is still the most important. Of course, where is the brand & loyalty with sales? [See Trend]
Something of interest here for search engine marketers. While Google has a bigger market share than Yahoo. The trend shows here that Yahoo is still the more popular search term as compared to Google. [See Trend]
Which is more popular? Email marketing, direct marketing or search engine marketing? Direct marketing is still the more popular one. [See Trend]
Which market research firm is more popular? ACNielsen, Forrester or Roy Morgan? Looks like Forrester is the more popular in most countries. [See Trend]
Asians are more interested in marketing science than the others. [See Trend]
There is an increment on the appointments of chief marketing officer and there are more chief marketing officers in India than in US. [See Trend]
Finally, God is still bigger than us marketers :> [See Trend]

10 ways to break the Trust Bubble

2006-05-25T17:32:00.000+09:30

'Trust' is a big word in both marketing and selling especially if you are a services business. Without trust, they would not buy from you. Not even possibly referring or recommending you. The term I want to use here is the trust bubble. You need to burst this layer of bubble so that your potential customers will have the trust and confidence to buy from you. So what can you do/have to burst this trust bubble and allow them to take this leap of faith? Here are 10 ways to achieve it:

1. Personalise marketing
People do business with people so it is important that your personality and passion come across in your marketing as well as your professionalism. Example, include a picture of yourself/employees on your marketing materials.

2. Good marketing/business language
Avoid bad languages such as "We provide the best technology solutions for progressive companies" or this brain hurting mission statement!
MegaMicroSystems is a key industry player with global tangible assets, strategic allied partnerships, and a information-driven technology base. We utilize user-centric methodologies, grow visionary systems, and orchestrate strategic functionalities in order to generate successful customer and end-user experiences. The ultimate goal for our targeted client base is to allow them to implement world-class synergies, generate end-to-end communities, and launch successful implemented platforms.

3. Build a website with personality
Do not build a bad design or overdesigned website. Yes, a clean and professional looking website is great but a website with your company's personality and culture is even better. Dare to be funny, different and do let people know who your employees are which will help to add the human touch.

4. Allow your customer to get in touch with you
Offer toll-free 1800 number, on all of your marketing materials and your website. In the service and virtual world, people want to know who is behind. A phone call will help to create this trust. The fastest email response time is always slower than a phone call. Also, a phone call can often clear up questions that would take multiple emails.

5. Different payment options
Buying over the internet is still an uncomfortable exercise for a lot of consumers out there. Therefore it is important that you have different payment options other than just credit card, eg. Order by fax or phone.

6. Select a market to target
It is definitely easier to build trust and credibility if you are focusing on a target market. My company's main target market is the travel industry which we have travel clients such as Flight Centre, Wotif, Octopus Travel etc. Because of our clients and focus, we are able to market and build trust so much easier in this target industry.

7. Give something free
When you give away something for free to consumers, it is easier to break the trust bubble as there is the opportunity to build the relationship. Provide free information, report, articles, speeches, newsletters, press releases, free workshop & demonstration to build trust.

8. Always follow up
Remember that it takes at least 5 favorable impressions with a potential customer before he/she will trusts you. The people you see and talk to on a regular basis are usually the ones you trust the most. Communication is the most important ingredient for developing trust. Call and follow up regularly and get feedback on what they need and are concerned about.

9. Testimonials
No matter how great your credentials are or how much experience you have had; customers pay more attention to what others have to say about you. Therefore, always remember to have testimonials ready.

10. Case Studies
Create case studies on work you have done before. Use case studies to tell what you did for your clients and the difference it made to their business.

adverlicious

2006-05-15T21:03:00.000+09:30

Here's an online advertising archive that you should definitely have a look - adverlicious . This hobby site was started by James Gardner where he collects, archive, categorise, and tag good, bad, and ugly online advertising. The site has got almost a thousand ads so far... plenty of inspiration for marketers and advertising people.

How our eyes move and see?

2006-05-07T02:27:00.000+09:30

How do you implement a more effective website or marketing material? Or where should you be placing your advertisement on a page? The answers are here at a research done by Eyetrack III on how our eyes move/see when looking at a page.

Here are some important findings:

The eyes most often fixated first in the upper left of the page, then hovered in that area before going left to right. Only after perusing the top portion of the page for some time did their eyes explore further down the page.

Dominant headlines most often draw the eye first upon entering the page -- especially when they are in the upper left, and most often (but not always) when in the upper right.

Smaller type encourages focused viewing behavior (that is, reading the words), while larger type promotes lighter scanning.
For headlines -- especially longer ones -- it would appear that the first couple of words need to be real attention-grabbers
Navigation placed at the top of a homepage performed best
Shorter paragraphs performed better in Eyetrack III research than longer ones.
Ads in the top and left portions of a homepage received the most eye fixations.
The bigger the image, the more time people took to look at it.

Innovation, Creativity and Research & Development (R&D)

2006-04-22T00:04:00.000+09:30

Wednesday 26th April 2006 is World Intellectual Property Day - an occasion to reflect on the role played by intellectual property in stimulating & safeguarding the forces of innovation and creativity. Research & Development (R&D) is the activity of both innovation and creativity. R & D is an extremely important activity as this is where you gain the edge and differentiate against competition. At its peak, a whole new market can be created –

"Value innovation is about making the competition irrelevant by creating uncontested market space. We argue that beating the competition within the confines of the existing industry is not the way to create profitable growth." W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, Blue Ocean Strategy

So what sprouts innovation and creativity? and what drives R&D? The simplest and hardest answer is this year’s WIPD theme: ‘It Starts With An Idea’.

Mistakes

2006-04-12T21:20:00.000+09:30

A question to think about here. When people make mistakes in their work, do you blame the people or do you blame the company system? Is it a case that the mistake made was due to person’s carelessness, irresponsibility, unskilled or is it that there is not a good system/structure set up within the company to ensure that people work to the best of their capability?

Before you blame the next person because of something that he/she has done wrong; have a think about this question. Can you make the person learn from his/her’s mistakes and become better or can you improve the way people work so that errors are reduced and them producing better work?

Carnival of Marketing

2006-04-01T20:56:00.000+10:30

Its my blog's turn to host this week's carnival of marketing here at marketing journal. Okay, here are my top 7 marketing posts:

1. Mary Schmidt talks about the tyranny of many choices where less choice for the customers can actually lead to more and quicker sales.

2. Jennifer Rice tells you the importance of aesthetics, an important core need that can differentiate you and others.

3. Willie Crawford talks about how you can increase sales by proving to customers that they really have a problem by actually letting them feel the pain.

4. Jack Yoest tells you that commodities and brands are made valuable because of marketing activities. Just as how Peter Drucker said that innovation and marketing were the only competitive advantages the USA needed.

5. Pamela slim asks that if you speak marketing nonsense in your presentation. You should get a gang member coach to remind you how not to bullshit and speak in a language where people understand.

6. Jim Logan asks if you get milk for free, will you still buy the cow? What if you gave your client everything you know? What if you made all what, why, and how information freely available? Does your worth go down or does it go up?

7. Harry Joiner shares with you the top 5 traits you should look for in a candidate for any marketing job.

Next weeks Carnival of Marketing will be hosted at Brains on Fire and you can contact Spike Jones to submit your articles. If you want to submit a post to other future carnival, articles can be entered on the blog carnival submission form.

Carnival of Marketing

2006-04-01T00:33:00.000+10:30

I will be hosting the carnival of marketing starting tomorrow (02/04) for the rest of next week. Well, this is really kind of a late notice (have been really slack!). However, please send me your marketing articles to my email if you have any.

Under Promise and Over Deliver 2

2006-03-27T19:56:00.000+10:30

I haven't posted anything for the last 2 weeks as I have been flat out with so many things. Now that I have some time up my sleeves, I thought why not post something short and to put me back on track for my marketing blog. I just got my new o2 xda atom today from my service provider, Optus. They told me that they will deliver it to me next Wednesday and to my surprise, the phone was delivered to me this morning. This has been one of the best customer service and fastest delivery I ever had. Compared to Telstra, which is the leading communications provider in this country. Optus really leads miles ahead in terms of customer satisfaction. This is what exactly what my work mate, Bill calls it 'under promise and over deliver'.

Who are your loyal customers?

2006-02-02T21:59:00.000+10:30

Ask yourself a couple of questions. Do you know your best customers? Are you doing enough to reward them and keep their loyalty? If yes, you are probably a good marketer. If no, it is time to know who they are and think about how you can keep their loyalty.

So why focus on loyalty? Recent research conducted across industries by consultant Bain and Company indicates that a 5% increase in customer retention yields a 75% increase in customer Net Present Value (NPV). We also know from the pareto principle: 80-20 rule that 20% of your customers deliver 80% of your sales (not true in some cases though). Therefore, it is important that there is a loyalty reward program in your marketing plan.

However, there will be some people who will argue with me here. Especially those marketing science researchers and followers who widely believes that there is not much of loyalty in consumer behaviour. True indeed, however I believe that most of the marketing science researches are done on Business to Consumer (B2C) markets where majority of consumer spending are low and of low involvement products/services. Loyalty marketing is still important in most if not all Business to Business (B2B) markets as well as B2C markets with high spending and requires a high level of involvement.

Here are some random articles I found from the web which might be of interesting read for you:
1.) Customer Loyalty by Jim Novo
2.) Reward your best customers by Joanna Krotz
3.) Centurion Card from American Express by Buildingbrands.com

Good Employees Make The Business

2006-01-30T23:53:00.000+10:30

The old business saying goes: "People are our most important asset" but how many businesses, especially small businesses value this sentence? Tim Whelan, who resides in my hometown Singapore, wrote on his customer service blog:

"I have found that in most cases the employee who is critical to businesses success is the last to be appreciated and the first to go. Customer service includes what I call "The Silent Customer" the employee. Rarely does a business treat its employees with the same respect that it treats its external customers. Recent studies have also shown that most employees leave because of the lack of trust and proper training.........They left for the same reason your employees will leave and that is because they are under valued and under appreciated. Good employees make the business."

This is so true yet so many business owners & managers overlook this important issue.

Global Top Brands 2005

2006-01-28T12:45:00.000+10:30

Another triumphant year for Google in 2005 where the search engine powerhouse was voted the best Global brand. Last year's result was released recently by brandchannel.com. While Google tops the Global list, Sony came top here in Asia-Pacific. Both in Europe & Africa, Nokia were number one. Apple crowned in the US &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; Canada while Corona champed in both Central & Latin America.

Marketing to the Chinese Consumer

2006-01-19T21:46:00.000+10:30

I am a Chinese if anyone hasn't found out from my surname（Ong 翁) yet. Well, not from China but from Singapore/Malaysia. My ancestors migrated from Hainan, China to Malaysia almost a decade ago. My posting today is based on the reason that I am a Chinese.

Here is an article from JWT (the 4th largest advertising agency in the world) about 12 things to know if you want to market to the Chinese Consumer.

1. Chinese people put pineapple, not pepperoni, on pizza. All foods are divided into "heaty" and "cooling" foods, and the two must be balanced at all times. Pizza is heaty, so the pineapple cools it down.

2. In China, "fresh" means "alive." Daoism is still a force in the People's Republic. Daoists believe our natural state is the only "balanced"state. Therefore, Chinese have a deep aversion to manmade preservatives. For that matter, Chinese women get prickly about chemicals in shampoo.

3. Brands used inside the home are locally produced and cheaply made. Brands shown publicly are foreign made and expensive. In a Confucian society, social status is an investment, so consumers will pay a huge premium for mobile phones and high-end alcohol. At home, price sensitivity is extreme.There are no designer bed spreads. Victoria's Secret doesn't stand a chance.

4. Chinese people never have dinner parties. The home is a place of refuge, escape, and, every once in a while, self-expression. Comfort is key. But where you live is paramount, which is why apartment blocks sport such names as "The Gathering of All Heroes Under Heaven" and "Tycoon Court."

5. More than 80 percent of Shanghai couples now get married with an engagement ring, up from practically zero a couple of years ago. In an unsafe world, men have to demonstrate -- not talk about -- their love. Women are suspicious of guys who say, "I love you."

6. A powerful woman decorates her $1,000 mobile phone with Hello Kitty stickers because she wants to be soft on the outside and like iron on the inside.

7. In China, feminine beauty is a tool that moves a woman forward. Cosmetic surgery is all the rage because it helps a young woman land a job,not a man.

8. Soy sauce can save lives. The thinking is as follows: "If my food tastes good, my family will eat more. If my family eats more, they'll get more nutrition. If they get more nutrition, no one will get sick. If no one gets sick, no one will lose a job. If no one loses a job, the family will be in harmony. If the family is in harmony, a new generation can be born." Unlike anywhere else in the world, great taste ladders to good health.

9. In 1995, the Chinese middle class virtually didn't exist. By 2005, there were approximately 100 million individuals in China with incomes inexcess of $4,000 (even in expensive coastal cities, purchasing parity power isat least 2.5 versus the U.S.). By 2010, there will probably be 200 million middle-class folk.

10. The smartest guy in the class is the coolest guy in the class. Girls really and truly go for brains, not bodies. In a dog-eat-dog, hierarchical Confucian world, intelligence is the ultimate weapon. Health clubs will always be niche.

11. Chinese people squirrel away 40 percent of their income, despite making, on average, less than a tenth of U.S. per capita income. The Chinese believe the fickle hand of fate can turn against them at any time. And there's virtually no safety net.

12. Germs are the ultimate evil. A Chinese mother's primary role is to protect the child from harm and shield the family from invasion. That's why air conditioners, washing machines, soap, food, dishwashers, and television sets all scream, "germ-free."

Search Engine Optimisation tailored to your needs

2006-01-13T15:45:00.000+10:30

I am back almost after 2 weeks of slack off! My company has just re-designed its website and with it, a new range of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) product offerings. We recognise that different customers have different needs and wants. So rather than adopting a 'one-size-fits-all' approach for all of our clients, we have developed a range of SEO product offerings. The key determinants of which product offering will best meet your needs are the complexity of your site and the online competitiveness of your industry; it does not matter how big your company is or how deep your pockets are.

Visit our site www.e-channel.com.au now. You can also call +61 8 8271 2934 (international) or call our toll-free number 1800 257 969 (Australia). Alternatively, email me at bryan@e-channel.com.au.

Happy New Year 2006

2006-01-02T00:48:00.000+10:30

It is the first day of 2006 and it is time to gear up for a brand new year. Have been holidaying for the past one week and no serious brain work during then. Now what am I going to post this time? Since I can't think of anything right now, might as well share an interesting article with you all.

From Congitive Daily's High IQ: Not as good for you as you thought - Self-discipline was a significantly better predictor of academic performance 7 months later than IQ. I believe strongly that attitude, passion, motivation and many apects of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is far better off than having a high IQ.

This is the reason why I always like to joke to my friends that I only have an IQ of 70, which is way below average. This is the time when most people will start to boast how high their IQ are. Want to boast your IQ? Better off showing your spirit and gung ho. Happy New Year Everybody :>

Blog 4 Peace

2005-12-22T23:06:00.000+10:30

My friend, Eiso Kant has launched a peace blog publishing service named Blog 4 Peace. Create a peace blog now if you want to voice out for peace.

The blog 4 peace team: “I hope the name says it all, blog 4 peace. Currently in the world there are so many unresolved disputes and issues. Global peace seems an ideal that maybe never reached but with your help we can spread the message. Create your own blog now and blog 4 peace, you can blog about any issue in the world, or just share your opinion.”

Finally, a very Merry Christmas to everyone and peace in the New Year.

What is your Marketing IQ?

2005-12-15T23:20:00.000+10:30

Want to test your marketing IQ? Take a marketing IQ test written by David Corkindale, Professor of Marketing Management, University of South Australia (my uni):

Take a Marketing IQ Test
David Corkindale*

How much do you really know about marketing - and is what you think you know right? Are you trying to make business decisions using some out of date beliefs about marketing? Do the people who advise you on marketing know what they are talking about - are they, possibly unwittingly, using false assumptions or guesses about how customers actually behave or how markets actually work? Can you tell?

Here is a small set of questions that will enable you to find out. Some questions, and answers, will be familiar but others will cause you to reassess some of your long-held beliefs; that is the Test's greatest value.

Some of the answers will surprise you. However, if learning of the right answers to these questions causes you to re-assess some other things about marketing you thought true then this could enable you to spend your marketing money more wisely in future. Some of the answers can also give you a basis for comparing the results you get with your marketing activity with what you could expect. They give you a norm to compare your results against. For example, if you raise prices by 4 % and sales volume declines by 8% that is actually quite to be expected and you can re-assure your colleagues of that, as you'll see below. Now you may try to compensate for your price increase in other ways. If you still lose 8% of volume you know that they were in vain. If you lose only 3% you know that your extra efforts saved you 5% of greater decline.

What is the basis for claiming that the answers to the Test questions are the 'right' ones? Many of the conventional wisdoms in marketing can be traced to one example, often quoted by a guru at a conference or in an article. For all we know, the example was a chance, one-off event or applied only to a special set of circumstances. Such is the case with “it costs five times as much to win a new client as to keep one." One example in one set of circumstances does not make a universal, reliable, reproducible truth. The only principles worthy of setting down as a reliable guide - and, ideally, as answers to our Test questions - are those that have been found to apply in many examples across a range of circumstances. In academic language these are 'empirical generalisations'. An example would be that it has been found in many circumstances that, on average, sales volume goes down by 2% for every 1% that you put up prices. It is different for known, particular circumstances; for example, if you were a small brand and your price increase took you past the price of the market leader then the price drop percentage would be double the 2% norm.

Some Marketing questions are given below. Answer all the questions first and then turn to page XX to find the answers, and the explanations for them. The questions have two possible answers both of which are plausible, and might have validity in certain circumstances, but you must choose which answer is most right, most of the time.

Q1. The best way to significantly grow sales volume is to:
a. increase the loyalty of existing customers
b. find new customers
Q2. Brands that decline in sales, compared to those that grow:
a. lose a greater proportion of their customer base in a period
b. lose much the same proportion of their customer base
Q3. Significant overall sales growth can be achieved if:
a. you cut the number of products you offer by as much as 50%
b. you increase the number
Q4. When selling to a potential customer it is better to:
a. use a soft, relationship-selling approach
b. be very direct and straightforward about your offer
Q5. Building credibility with customers is most effective if you offer:
a. a product or service demonstration
b. testimonials from satisfied customers
Q6. Forced to choose, buyers prefer sales people who are:
a. highly dependable
b. highly competent
Q7. Breakthrough, unique new products have a better chance of success if you use:
a. a new brand name for it
b. an established and trusted brand name
Q8. The best way to introduce a new version of your product or service is to;
a. introduce it at a discounted, lower price to encourage trial
b. keep you price at the intended, required list price from the start
Q9. In industrial marketing it is 9 times more important to focus upon:
a. performance and quality advantages
b. price advantages
Q10. With a breakthrough, innovative product or service you can usually tell:
a. you have a winner within 12 months
b. it usually takes as much as six years before you can tell you have a winner

The Answers to the Marketing I. Q. Test

The questions set are just a sample of the many that could be posed for this exercise. They relate to a range of marketing circumstances: consumer goods and services, industrial B2B marketing and the marketing of new products and innovations. Some of the questions and basis for the answers come from a recent book: Meaningful Marketing**. It reviews the findings of some 2000 marketing studies and articles as well as using data that was specially collected. Other questions and answers come from the extensive work of my colleagues in The Marketing Science Centre at the University of South Australia.

Q1. The best way to significantly grow sales volume is to: b - find new customers.
This will surprise many as it is opposite to much conventional wisdom. However,
there is a huge amount of evidence from many countries including Australia that
backs this answer, particularly for repertoire markets. However, it is contrary to
what American consultants and academics believe - by armchair theorising - and so
does not appear in US marketing textbooks. The book cited above is rare in this and
quotes a study of 9800 brands where those that grew did so mostly by b.

Q2. . Brands that decline in sales, compared to those that grow: b – they lose much the
same proportion of their customer base, as do brands that grow. Those that grow
are much better at gaining new customers. This will surprise some marketing folk.

Q3. Significant overall sales growth can be achieved if: a -you cut the number of
products you offer by as much as 50%. Many studies quoted in the book show this.
In one example an Internet retailer cut out the bottom 54% of products across 42
categories. This resulted in an average 11% increase in sales. In general, it seems
that doing or offering one or a few things well rather many things poorly leads to
greater success.

Q4. When selling to a potential customer it is better to: b - be very direct and
straightforward about your offer. This result comes from a major study of 901 new
products where success was assessed by whether a product survived more than five
years. It is also explained that for most customers the more difficult or obscure the
message is the more likely they are to fail to appreciate what is in it for them and
not purchase it.

Q5. Building credibility with customers is most effective if you offer: a - a product
demonstration. The basis for this answer comes from the study of the success of
new products. Using a testimonial was 29% more effective than just using the
company name alone but a demonstration was 47% more effective. Nothing is
more credible than seeing, touching, feeling and experiencing a product or service
yourself. A personal demonstration offers good evidence that you will deliver on
the benefit and your promise.

Q6. Forced to choose, buyers prefer sales people who are: a - highly dependable.
This comes from a study of 187 industrial buyers. Likeability was a desirable
characteristic of a salesperson and competency was 30% more important than it but
dependability was 320% more important. Buyers can manage their expectations if a
salesperson is incompetent and/or lacks knowledge but what they can't manage is
non-dependability. What they can't manage is a salesperson's stability and
reliability. Also, dependability builds sound trust.

Q7. Breakthrough, unique new products have a better chance of success if you use: a -
a new brand name for it. One study examined 4000 new products. For a low level
of uniqueness, using an established, well-known brand name was more effective.
However, for those with a high level of uniqueness and innovation it was found
that a new-to-the-world brand name was more effective.

Q8. The best way to introduce a new version of your product or service is to; b - keep
your price at the intended, required list price from the start. We all know that the
price set communicates what value you think the product offers versus that of the
competition. Most customers do not want what is second-best.

Q9. In industrial marketing it is 9 times more important to focus upon: a - performance
and quality advantages. This based on a study of 1209 industrial manufacturers and
showed that in explaining differences in market share, quality was 9 times more
influential than price difference. Products and services that offer no meaningful
difference compared with competitors are a commodity and have to be sold usually
by lowering the price with, usually, consequent low profit.

Q10. With a breakthrough, innovative product or service you can usually tell: b - it
usually takes as much as six years before you can tell you have a winner. Studies
that have tracked the history of such major innovations over the last century as
TV, cars, VCRs and PCs show that on average it was six years before sales hit a
'take-off' point and started to climb significantly. At the six-year stage such
innovations had sales on only, on average, 1.7% of their eventual customer base
and a price that was 63% of the original, launch price. The more unique and
novel the offering, the more time it takes. You need to be patient. This is probably
what is the case with GM foods. Most people are happy with what they know and
trust; there is a natural inertia in the market. Your marketing plan had better build
patience in.

What score did you get?
10 out of 10? You are well informed and probably a wise marketer. If you got 6 or more out of 10 you are better than the average. Less than 6? You had better read the book from which many of the questions came** and/or attend a marketing course to catch up on what's actually known now about marketing.

* (Copyright) Dr. David Corkindale is Professor of Marketing Management at the University of South Australia.
** Meaningful Marketing. Doug Hall and Jeffrey Stamp, BrainBrewBooks, Cincinnati, 2003, available via MarketingSherpa.com.

Get your own personal MBA without spending a fortune

2005-12-14T22:32:00.000+10:30

I like what ChangeThis is doing - spreading out new ideas (manifestos) on PDFs for free. One manifesto which has caught my attention is the personal MBA by Josh Kaufman.

If you are thinking of pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) and you are contemplating (I am thinking of doing one in the future). Perhaps, you might want to get your own personal MBA by reading the following 42 books and periodicals recommended:

mastery by George Leonard
now, discover your strengths by Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton
getting things done by David Allen
the 7 habits of highly effective People by Stephen Covey
what the ceo Wants you to know by Ram Charan
profitable growth is everyone's Business by Ram Charan
on competition by Michael Porter
blue ocean strategy by W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne
seeing What's next by Clayton M. Christensen, Erik A. Roth, Scott D. Anthony
re-imagine! by Tom Peters
the essential drucker by Peter Drucker
first, Break all the rules by Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman
the essays of Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett & Lawrence Cunningham
poor charlie's almanack by Charlie Munger & Peter Kaufman
the Mcgraw-hill 36-hour course in finance for nonfinancial Managers,2nd edition, by Robert A. Cooke
essentials of accounting, 8th edition,by Robert Newton Anthony and Leslie K. Pearlman
how to read a financial report by John A. Tracy
getting to yes by Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton
the goal: a Process of ongoing improvement by Eliyahu Goldratt & Jeff Cox
lean thinking by James Womack & Daniel Jones
the substance of style by Virginia Postrel
the design of everyday things by Donald A. Norman
the art of Project Management by Scott Berkun
the Marketing Playbook by John Zagula & Richard Tong
the art of the start by Guy Kawasaki
the Bootstrapper's Bible by Seth Godin
on Writing Well by William Zinsser
flawless consulting by Peter Block
how to Win friends and influence People by Dale Carnegie
crucial conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler
the little red Book of selling by Jeffrey Gitomer
influence by Robert B. Cialdini
economics in one lesson by Henry Hazlitt
the economist
american Business, 1920-2000 by Thomas K. McCraw, John H. Franklin, and A. S. Eisenstadt
brand new by Nancy F. Koehn
law 101 by Jay M. Feinman
a Primer on Business ethics by Tibor Machan & James Chesher
the 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch
principles of statistics by M.G. Bulmer
the little Book of Business Wisdom by Peter Krass (Editor)
swanson's unwritten rules of Management by Bill Swanson

Why Customers Leave (Part 2)

2005-12-13T21:44:00.000+10:30

The second and final part of why customers leave. So why do customers leave your website? Jupiter Research studied the habits of web surfers and came up with the below reasons why customers leave web sites.

Why Customers Leave (Part 1)

2005-12-09T21:56:00.000+10:30

Why do customers leave your company? There are many reasons but the single biggest reason your customers leave is the 2 C reason – Caring and Customer Service. A study by RightNow Technologies shows that 73% of customers leave because of poor customer service, while the Rockefeller Corporation shows that 68% of customers leave because they think that you do not care about them. So, most of your customers really want is you being caring and you providing good customer service.

Now, this makes it really easy for us to remember how to retain our customers (Customer = Caring + Customer service).

Under Promise and Over Deliver

2005-12-07T20:42:00.000+10:30

We all know that the formula for success is "under promise and over deliver". The simple equation here which I borrowed from Hello World's blog is that: If you make a promise of '2', and a delivery of '7', you have delighted your customer by a score of '5'. Far better than your competitor that makes a promise of '6' and a delivery of '8' as they have only achieve a score of '2'. Does that mean that we should start with a promise of '1'? If that is the case, how are we going to sell and market with a promise of '1'? or even a '2' when your competitors is promising a '6'? Ha ha ha, my point here is that you should never over promise and under deliver. Alternatively, you can over promise and over deliver.

The Logo Game by Logoku

2005-12-01T21:45:00.000+10:30

Feeling bored? Try playing a game at Logoku and test how logo smart are you. Pretty interesting game where you have to guess the name of the company behind a given logo using clues such as corporate kin, slogan, number of employees, location of global hq and their ad agency etc. I only manage to get a low 9 points. I am sure those branding and logo geniuses will beat the hell out of me.

By the way, I saw their site when an anonymous left a comment on my blog asking me to check out their site. When I search for 'logoku' in Google, I realise that this anonymous had left the same comment on many other sites/blogs. I wonder if this anonymous is from Logoku? If yes, pretty smart (spam) marketing.

Leaders are Salespeople Extraordinarie

2005-11-24T23:36:00.000+10:30

Tom Peters in his book, essential leadership says that leaders are great salespeople. Leaders know that it's ...ALL SALES, ALL THE TIME. He quoted: If you don't LOVE SALES...find another life. And don't pretend to be a "leader." (Harsh... but true.) Yes, I agree too. Do you? I am sure every salespeople will be happy to hear this.

Design = Differentiation

2005-11-16T23:34:00.000+10:30

Today, one of my workmates who is a web developer and designer was talking about how many bad design websites there are on the web. He added part of good marketing is good design which I totally agree. For me, good design plus good content are a huge component of a good website. Companies and websites who want to stand out against their competition should value design as part of their marketing. Just as Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind and A.G. Lafley, CEO of Procter & Gamble have pointed out where design is the key differentiator against competition. Ageless Marketing has an excellent article about design being the competitive difference.

Google Analytics - free web statistics for your site

2005-11-15T21:56:00.000+10:30

Marketers can now analyse and measure their online marketing activities for free using Google Analytics; part of Google's Urchin division.

An important part of marketing is to measure the effectiveness and return on investment of your marketing spend. With Google Analytics, marketers can do just that for free. However, the downside is that it is only free for up to 5 million page views per month. It is completely free only if you are an adwords user.

By providing this tool for free, Google is indirectly marketing its Google Adwords program so as to get more people to sign up its service. A smart move indeed.

For more information, look at our posting on my company's seo blog.

How to Market Services Successfully?

2005-11-14T23:16:00.000+10:30

To market services successfully, first we need to understand the nature of services. According to Wolak, Kalaftis & Harris, the characteristics of services are intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity and perishibility.
So what are the 4 characteristics of services?

Intangibility the service cannot be touched or viewed, so it is difficult for clients to tell in advance what they will be getting:
Inseparability (simultaneity) of production and consumption, the service is being produced at the same time that the client is receiving it (eg during an online search, or a legal consultation)
Heterogeneity (variability): services involve people, and people are all different. There is a strong possibility that the same enquiry would be answered slightly differently by different people (or even by the same person at different times). It is important to minimise the differences in performance (through training, standard-setting and quality assurance)
Perishibility unused capacity cannot be stored for future use. For example, spare seats on one aeroplane cannot be transferred to the next flight, and query-free times at the reference desk cannot be saved up until there is a busy period.

Marketers also need to understand the services marketing mix framework. The services marketing mix is an extension of the 4Ps framework. The essential elements of product, promotion, price and place remain but 3 additional elements - people, physical evidence and process are included to the 7Ps mix. The need for the extension is due to the high degree of direct contact between service providers and its customers, the highly visible nature of the service process, and the simultaneity of the production and consumption. Although it is possible to discuss people, physical evidence and process within the 4P framework (for example people can be considered part of the product offering) this extension allows a more thorough analysis of the marketing elements necessary for successful services marketing.

People - because of the simultaneity of production and consumption in services the company’s staff occupy the key position in influencing customer’s perceptions of product quality. In fact the service quality is inseparable from the quality of service provider. An important marketing task is to set standards to improve quality of services provided by employees and monitor their performance. Without training and control employees tend to be variable in their performance leading to variable service quality. Training is crucial so that employees understand the appropriate forms of behaviour and trainees adopt the best practises.

Physical evidence - this is the environment in which the service is delivered and any tangible goods that facilitate the performance and communication of the service. Customers look for clues to the likely quality of a service also by inspecting the tangible evidence. For example, prospective customers may look to the design of learning materials, the appearance of facilities, staff, etc.

Process - this means procedures, mechanism and flow of activities by which a service is acquired. Process decisions radically affect how a service is delivered to customers. The service in organisations includes several processes e.g. first contact with customers, administrative procedure regarding delivery, preparation and evaluation of service offerings. The following guideline can be useful for successful services management:

ensure that marketing happens at all levels from the marketing department to where the service is provided
consider introducing flexibility in providing the service; when feasible customise the service to the needs of customers
recruit high quality staff treat them well and communicate clearly to them: their attitudes and behavior are the key to service quality and differentiations
attempt to market to existing customers to increase their use of the service, or to take up new service products
set up a quick service recovery system to customer problems and complaints
employ new technology to provide better services at lower costs
use branding to clearly differentiate service offering from the competition in the minds of target customers

Due to the nature of services, potential customers will always face various forms of risks such as functional, financial, temporal, psychological, social and sensory risks. Risks can be reduced in the form of:

provide as much information as possible
references & testimonials
firm's reputation
provide guarantees or warranties
standardise the service
internet search
be visible. Give speeches, write articles, attend functions where you will meet prospective clients.
offer the first one or two hours of service for free
offer trial or pilot project

When marketing services, marketers must keep in mind that reputation, value, delivery of service and follow-through are keys to keeping a customer satisfied and thus achieving a successful services marketing.

13 Useful Marketing Theories

2005-11-10T21:38:00.000+10:30

Top Tech News has a list of 10 marketing theories that are useful for marketers and businesses. I have added 3 more to make it 13.

1. Value Innovation and The Value Curve
Identify what customers value most and innovate change to provide this value.
2. Porter's Five Forces of Competition Framework
Understand industry competitiveness and market entry strategy.
3. Market-Oriented Ethnography
Understand consumers by observing their behaviour not by researching their attitudes.
4. Brand Personality Dimensions Framework
Measuring and comparing brand personality.
5. Hierarchy of Effects Models
Understand the various effect of advertising on consumers.
6. Service Mapping
How to improve customer service
7. Brand Relationship Spectrum
How to manage different branding strategies.
8. Change Equation
Changing the internal culture to match the brand promise.
9. Balanced Scorecard
Understand performances of a business by measurements.
10. Doyle's Five Criteria for Segmentation
Criterias for effective market segmentation.
11. Conjoint Analysis
Understand what attributes or factors are the most important to consumers.
12. Dirichlet
Marketing Benchmarks.
13. Bass Model: Diffusion of Innovations
Forecasting and using it for word of mouth marketing.

28 Reasons to use Interactive Advertising

2005-11-03T20:31:00.000+10:30

As our world goes digital, interactive advertising is growing in both popularity and demand. Interactive advertising is fast becoming a mainstream medium and is now an important element of the marketing mix. Here are 28 reasons by the Interative Advertising Bureau (IAB) as to why marketers need to use interactive advertising - Link.

Marketing and Selling to Customers

2005-10-27T00:15:00.000+09:30

Successful marketers will carefully consider each stage of the consumer decision (buying) process. By understanding the level of cognitive dissonance at each stage, a marketer and salesperson can develop and utilise successful techniques and strategies to allow them to market and sell better to their customers.

PRE-PURCHASE

Need recognition - Consumer perceptions formed and reinforced by marketing. Salespeople find customers' needs and wants.

Information Search - Provide as much information to customer.

Evaluate Alternatives - Customer has many alternatives and thus need to tell and remind them the benefits.

PURCHASE

Values & Attributes - Communicate value-added attributes that are in line with customer's expectations.

Convince - Convince the customer that this is a purchase that needs to be made will reduce the development of dissonance.

Reassuring & Confidence - Reassure customer that the relationship does not terminate with the purchase. Offer trials, warranties, return policies, no-cost repairs, and other programs, customers will have more confidence in their decisions.

Personalise & Sincere - Personalise selling techniques and sincere in assisting with the decision-making process.

Relationship - Refer to customer's first name and give respect. Build relationship and establish rapport thus creating trust which will lead to higher acceptance.

POST-PURCHASE

Manage - If cognitive dissonance is not properly managed in this stage, it can result in customer dissatisfaction and loss of customers.

Follow-up & customer service - Salesperson follow-up calls and letters, surveys, and superior customer service. Example "Thank you" letter. Establish customer-focused attitude among employees.

Minimise anxieties and doubts - 7 approaches to minimise customers' anxieties and doubts: (1) summarise the product's benefits after the purchase; (2) repeat why the product is better than the alternatives; (3) emphasise how satisfied the customer will be; (4) provide toll-free numbers to encourage communication; (5) offer liberalised return and refund policies; (6) engage in staff training to handle complaints; (7) implement a follow-up program. By implementing these strategies, a company communicates to the customer that they have made the right decision and that the company will commit to his/her satisfaction.

Measure - Measure customer satisfaction through surveys.

Reference source

Top 10 Web Design Mistakes of 2005

2005-10-23T23:29:00.000+09:30

What are the worst ways to market your website? Jakob Nielsen's Useit.com list the top 10 web design mistakes of 2005:

1. Legibility Problems.
2. Non-Standard Links.
3. Flash
4. Content That's Not Written for the Web.
5. Bad Search.
6. Browser Incompatibility.
7. Cumbersome Forms.
8. No Contact Information or Other Company Info.
9. Frozen Layouts with Fixed Page Widths.
10. Inadequate Photo Enlargement.

What Makes a Successful Salesperson?

2005-10-13T19:54:00.000+09:30

Continuing from my earlier posting of Successful Sales People Tell Stories; MarketingProfs recently release another article by Nido Qubein about what makes a successful salesperson?

Lately, I have been doing lots of selling and sales related articles have started to catch my attention these days.

So what makes a successful salesperson? Here are some important points:

1. Salespeople have to stay on top of their markets. They have to be knowledgeable about their products and services. Moreover, they have to be honest and sincerely interested in helping their customers find value and derive satisfaction.

2. You have to offer something that sets you apart from all the other salespeople who are trying to get your customers to buy from them. You have to provide quicker service, more up-to-date product knowledge, and better follow-up. Your success in selling depends less on the product you're selling, and more on your skills as a salesperson.

3. To be successful as a salesperson, you must find ways to distinguish yourself from the inexpensive clerks and the commonplace peddlers. You must rise to the challenge with proficient skills, depth of knowledge and a positive attitude.

4. Selling Savvy: Selling savvy is understanding the selling process well enough to approach it as a highly educated professional. Selling savvy is understanding people well enough to influence them to buy. Selling savvy is knowing how to execute. Selling savvy means developing street smarts. Selling savvy is having the self-discipline to carry out every detail of your strategy all day, every day.

Web 2.0 and Its Importance

2005-10-08T18:39:00.000+09:30

As internet usage increases and more web technologies made available for and by individuals and businesses. The internet becomes an important market or tool for marketers and is a critical component of the strategy and infrastructure of every successful organisation today. At its most disruptive, it redefines markets and creates entirely new opportunities. Therefore, modern marketers must better understand and utilise the web and to integrate it with its other marketing activities. To facilitate a quick understanding and overview; Web 2.0 serves as the big picture. For a quick knowledge of Web 2.0, refer to Wikipedia.

The General Principle of Web 2.o and its tangible value:

The Long Tail: Small sites make up the bulk of the internet's content; narrow niches make up the bulk of internet's the possible applications. Therefore: Leverage customer-self service and algorithmic data management to reach out to the entire web, to the edges and not just the center, to the long tail and not just the head. Amazon and eBay used this idea to build companies worth billions and billions. This is how. Web 2.0 provides both the audience and the services.
Data is the Next Intel Inside: Applications are increasingly data-driven. Therefore: For competitive advantage, seek to own a unique, hard-to-recreate source of data.
Users Add Value: The key to competitive advantage in internet applications is the extent to which users add their own data to that which you provide. Therefore: Don't restrict your "architecture of participation" to software development. Involve your users both implicitly and explicitly in adding value to your application.
Network Effects by Default: Only a small percentage of users will go to the trouble of adding value to your application. Therefore: Set inclusive defaults for aggregating user data as a side-effect of their use of the application.
Some Rights Reserved: Intellectual property protection limits re-use and prevents experimentation. Therefore: When benefits come from collective adoption, not private restriction, make sure that barriers to adoption are low. Follow existing standards, and use licenses with as few restrictions as possible. Design for "hackability" and "remixability."
The Perpetual Beta: When devices and programs are connected to the internet, applications are no longer software artifacts, they are ongoing services. Therefore: Don't package up new features into monolithic releases, but instead add them on a regular basis as part of the normal user experience. Engage your users as real-time testers, and instrument the service so that you know how people use the new features.
Cooperate, Don't Control: Web 2.0 applications are built of a network of cooperating data services. Therefore: Offer web services interfaces and content syndication, and re-use the data services of others. Support lightweight programming models that allow for loosely-coupled systems.
Software Above the Level of a Single Device: The PC is no longer the only access device for internet applications, and applications that are limited to a single device are less valuable than those that are connected. Therefore: Design your application from the get-go to integrate services across handheld devices, PCs, and internet servers.
Small Pieces, Loosely Joined: Monolithism is dead, we can't build big stuff like that any more. It's not agile nor can what you build be aggregated, deliver sustained value, or even survive for long.
Self-Service and Participation: Fostering this lets you capture new value in your Web 2.0 apps 24 hours a day. Examples: Tagging, ranking, trackbacks, reputations.
Radical Decentralization: Single sources of function are single sources of failure and are unacceptable now. And they don't scale to either deliver or capture significant value.
Emergent Behavior: Your Web 2.0 functionality can be reused, remixed, aggregated, and syndicated and the resulting value reintegrated back into your application.

What Every Good Marketer Knows

2005-10-06T21:49:00.000+09:30

Not too long ago, Seth Godin came out with a list of what every good marketer knows. I added 2 of mine to his list:

Good marketers listen more than they speak.
Online marketing is an important part of your integrated marketing mix as more and more people are using the internet.

Below is the list from his blog:

Anticipated, personal and relevant advertising always does better than unsolicited junk.
Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand.
Your best customers are worth far more than your average customers.
Share of wallet is easier, more profitable and ultimately more effective a measure than share of market.
Marketing begins before the product is created.
Advertising is just a symptom, a tactic. Marketing is about far more than that.
Low price is a great way to sell a commodity. That’s not marketing, though, that's efficiency.
Conversations among the members of your marketplace happen whether you like it or not. Good marketing encourages the right sort of conversations.
Products that are remarkable get talked about.
Marketing is the way your people answer the phone, the typesetting on your bills and your returns policy.
You can't fool all the people, not even most of the time. And people, once unfooled, talk about the experience.
If you are marketing from a fairly static annual budget, you're viewing marketing as an expense. Good marketers realize that it is an investment.
People don't buy what they need. They buy what they want.
You're not in charge. And your prospects don't care about you.
What people want is the extra, the emotional bonus they get when they buy something they love.
Business to business marketing is just marketing to consumers who happen to have a corporation to pay for what they buy.
Traditional ways of interrupting consumers (TV ads, trade show booths, junk mail) are losing their cost-effectiveness. At the same time, new ways of spreading ideas (blogs, permission-based RSS information, consumer fan clubs) are quickly proving how well they work.
People all over the world, and of every income level, respond to marketing that promises and delivers basic human wants.
Good marketers tell a story.
People are selfish, lazy, uninformed and impatient. Start with that and you'll be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
Marketing that works is marketing that people choose to notice.
Effective stories match the worldview of the people you are telling the story to.
Choose your customers. Fire the ones that hurt your ability to deliver the right story to the others.
A product for everyone rarely reaches much of anyone.
Living and breathing an authentic story is the best way to survive in an conversation-rich world.
Marketers are responsible for the side effects their products cause.
Reminding the consumer of a story they know and trust is a powerful shortcut.
Good marketers measure.
Marketing is not an emergency. It's a planned, thoughtful exercise that started a long time ago and doesn't end until you're done.
One disappointed customer is worth ten delighted ones.

Word Of Mouth versus Advertising

2005-10-04T21:45:00.000+09:30

The difference between word of mouth and advertising? Presented by Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA):

Thanking Your Customers

2005-09-28T18:18:00.000+09:30

Well, Christmas is coming and it is time to think about what Christmas presents to give to clients in appreciation for their business.

Customers are the lifeblood of any organisation. Without customers, after all, you have no revenues, no profits and no market value. So it is important that you let your customers know that you are thankful during this festive season.

Customer Service Experts say that people complain more than they praise. Taking the time to show customers how much you appreciate their business is important. It can build and reinforce relationships - both business and personal. It can promote growth, encourage teamwork and express your commitment or caring. It's a subtle expression of the desire for an ongoing relationship.

Most companies have a budget, marketing plan and goals for the year. But does your budget set aside money for customer retention and recognition of loyal customers? What strategies have you added to your marketing plan to strengthen the relationship you have with your customers? What goals do you have to improve the experience your loyal customers receive when they call or visit your business?

It costs six to eight times as much to attract a new customer as to keep an existing one. Most business owners agree that a customer can be worth anywhere from a couple thousand dollars to tens of thousands, or more. Yet most companies fail to incorporate into their budget the basics for a customer recognition and retention plan. Why, then, is it so difficult to invest money to retain your existing customers when they clearly are the lifeblood of any company?

Well, below are 3 links that might help to generate some ideas on how to 'Thank You' your customers.

The Ad Conceptor

2005-09-27T23:05:00.000+09:30

Running out of ideas or budgets for your next advertising campaign? Check out the Ad Conceptor by Deutsch Inc. The guys there have added humor into their site where it automatically generate ideas based on your selection of product, tone and target.

The 5 Es of Branding

2005-09-25T16:59:00.000+09:30

Dustin Staiger of Casual Fridays talked about the 5 Es of Branding:

Management must Establish the brand.
Employees must Extend the brand.
Customers should Experience the brand.
The public should Experiment with the brand.
Time will Evolve the brand.

Successful Sales People Tell Stories

2005-09-22T20:06:00.000+09:30

Why are some people so good at selling while others so blatantly bad? The reason is that successful sales people tell stories and the not so successful don't. Seth Godin has already highlighted the power of telling stories in his book: all marketers are liars where successful marketers tell stories. Gentle Rain Marketing also highlighted the importance of telling stories:

In the early 1990s Fortune magazine decided to do an article on selling. The question they set out to answer was; why were some people so good at selling while others so blatantly bad? To arrive at the answer the writers interviewed two-dozen top sales performers across a broad spectrum of industries. Among those who were interviewed were financial advisors, insurance producers, executive recruiters and a wide variety of consultants and high-value services providers. Here's what they learned.

The most successful sales people sell without it ever being apparent that they are in fact, selling. There's nothing obvious or obnoxious about their presentation. No Trial Close, Ben Franklin Close or Take Away Closes. They sold, but they sold invisibly.Moreover the Fortune article concluded that the more you are marketing and selling high-value services, the more important it is to be able to sell invisibly. So what exactly does this mean? How did the top performers go about building trust and credibility? How did they overcome often deep-seated skepticism? How did they persuade others to their point of view?

The one thing in common was...they all told stories.

Lots of stories. Stories that demonstrated how others had successfully achieved results by using their services. Stories that preemptively addressed objections or concerns. Stories that made it easy for others to refer them to their friends and colleagues. Stories that built credibility and reduced skepticism.

Thanks to Scott Jones at Revolutionary Marketing and Sales Strategies as I first saw the article by Gentle Rain Marketing on his blog.

Small Funny Ad

2005-09-15T20:49:00.000+09:30

We have seen the hilarious big ad from Carlton Draught earlier. Now see the equally funny muscle beer small ad from the guys at Studio Muscle.

8 Marketing Mistakes

2005-09-12T20:09:00.000+09:30

The worst thing about making mistakes is not to learn from it. Here is a list of 8 marketing mistakes already made and it is time to learn from it.

Relying on Market Research results
There are potential problems with research such as not asking the right questions or non-customers completing the survey. Yes, companies must perform market research to gain information needed to make informed marketing decisions. However, marketers must understand its limitations and weigh all available information to make their decision.
Advertising and Promotion will increase sales
I have made many postings on my blog earlier that advertising and promotion does not necessarily lead to an increase in sales. Empirical results have proven this over and over again.
We have the Best Product on the Market
The customers determine who has the best product; Not the marketers.
The Boss knows what's best
For many small businesses; while it is very likely the boss knows a lot about the market, it is unlikely the boss knows everything about the market. Making marketing decisions when refusing to undertake research or not listening to employees’ ideas, will lead to poor decisions.
Customers care only about the Lowest Price
No they don’t. They care about the best value for their money.
We know who our Competitors are
Know not only your current competitors but also your potential competitors. This allow marketers to expand their understanding of potential influencers in the market as well as providing insight and ideas for product innovation, new markets and new channels for communication.
Only ROI matters
Old school marketing shows that marketing is more than just ROI. Example, brand equity etc.
Impressive logos, packaging and ads build a brand
It takes more than the above to build a brand. It is about the emotional connections and experiences your customers have with you.

Source: Knowthis & Marketingprofs

Idea Generation Methods

2005-09-07T21:34:00.000+09:30

A big part of marketing is about ideas and creativity isn't it?

Check out Martin Leith's website for a great list of idea generation methods.

Donate Your Advertising Space To Help Hurricane Katrina Victims

2005-09-05T23:16:00.000+09:30

Please donate your advertising space and help the hurricane katrina victims.

The American Red Cross is turning to online marketers to donate advertising space. They have set up a site at http://www.redcross.org/psa/bannerorder/all/ with 8 different banner sizes to help the fundraising efforts for Hurricane Katrina relief.

Please show your help now if you have a website!

The most important word in marketing?

2005-09-05T22:57:00.000+09:30

What is the most important word in marketing? Scott Ginsberg of Hello, my name is blog states 5 of the most common:

1. YOU - your marketing needs to convey very clearly what's in it for the client or customer.
2. WHY - why you are original, special or unique, or WHY you are better, different or superior than competitors.
3. COMMITMENT - When people see that you are maintaining consistency in your marketing, they'll assume you're just as committed to quality and service.
4. NEW - Introducing new products on a constant basis is the best way to get attention and invaluable free publicity for your business.
5. FREE - attracts eyeballs.

I agree with Scott that FREE is indeed the least important marketing word. Not just the least important but never use it if possible. If you really need to use free in your marketing; give your customer service, smile, passion, commitment for free then. What other things in marketing can you give it free for a good reason?

Difference between traditional and modern marketing

2005-08-31T23:14:00.000+09:30

The difference between traditional marketing and modern marketing put forward by the authors at Passionate:

Another difference they have highlighted is that modern marketing is about attracting customers and not about marketing to customers which I totally agree. Now that we know creation attraction is the key; how do we go about doing it? Try searching for 'attraction marketing' in Google to start with:>

Big Funny Ad

2005-08-27T01:07:00.000+09:30

This must be one of the biggest and funniest advertisement I have ever seen: Carlton Draught Big Ad. I wonder if people will now go buy a Carlton Draught after seeing this ad? Well, I saw this ad yesterday but I still bought a different brand (Toohey's in fact because there was a promotion) when I went to a pub with Ken earlier today. I didn't even thought of Carlton Draught when I was in the pub. This must be one of those big ad that will win prizes but will it really help to increase sales? Brand awareness maybe?

Another Advertising Question!

2005-08-24T00:24:00.000+09:30

I have made a few postings on the questionability of advertising on my blog. Here is another one for food for thought from The Hidden Persuader.

"The only industry in America that doesn't believe in advertising is the advertising industry itself. Because they don't do any. Well, hardly any. And certainly nothing like the volume of advertising they convince their clients to spend." – Al Ries

Now for the next question, why don’t they advertise themselves? Maybe they are too busy making advertisements for their clients instead for themselves?

Advertising = Increase Sales + Increase Customers?

2005-08-20T16:48:00.000+09:30

What is the answer to the question of, “Sales are down, customer counts are falling … what can we do?” For many marketers, the answer is to spend marketing dollars on an advertising campaign. In fact, this is not true to a large extent. Too many marketers are obsessed with advertising and they think that the solution lies within advertising. Well, they can’t be blame isn’t it? Advertising has always been thought of the BIG creative medium that will capture the attention of the mass market and most marketers have been brainwashed with this math equation:

Advertising = Increase Sales + Increase Customers

Well, this is not true at all where many empirical research have proven such generalizations where an increase in advertising spent does not lead to increase in sales and doubling advertising expenditures for established products increased sales just 1% - 2%.

So what should be the replacement for Advertising in this math equation? Perhaps it should be:

Better product/Better Experience = Increase Sales + Increase Customers

which John Moore at Brand Autopsy’s original posting points out. Of course, this is too simple of a math equation for an answer to the above question but it is definitely not:

Advertising = Increase Sales + Increase Customers

Well, for me, my simple match equation would be:

Integrated Marketing Communication = Better product/Better Experience = Increase Sales + Increase Customers

What’s your math equation?

How to be creative

2005-08-19T23:21:00.000+09:30

Excellent posting from Hugh Macleod at Gapingvoid about how to be creative:

1. Ignore everybody.
The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you. When I first started with the biz card format, people thought I was nuts. Why wasn't I trying to do something more easy for markets to digest i.e. cutey-pie greeting cards or whatever?

2. The idea doesn't have to be big. It just has to change the world.
The two are not the same thing.

3. Put the hours in.
Doing anything worthwhile takes forever. 90% of what separates successful people and failed people is time, effort and stamina.

4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being "discovered" by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.
Nobody suddenly discovers anything. Things are made slowly and in pain.

5. You are responsible for your own experience.
Nobody can tell you if what you're doing is good, meaningful or worthwhile. The more compelling the path, the more lonely it is.

6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.
Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with books on algebra etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the creative bug is just a wee voice telling you, "I’d like my crayons back, please."

7. Keep your day job.
I’m not just saying that for the usual reason i.e. because I think your idea will fail. I’m saying it because to suddenly quit one’s job in a big ol' creative drama-queen moment is always, always, always in direct conflict with what I call “The Sex & Cash Theory”.

8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.
Nor can you bully a subordinate into becoming a genius.

9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.
You may never reach the summit; for that you will be forgiven. But if you don't make at least one serious attempt to get above the snow-line, years later you will find yourself lying on your deathbed, and all you will feel is emptiness.

10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.
Meeting a person who wrote a masterpiece on the back of a deli menu would not surprise me. Meeting a person who wrote a masterpiece with a silver Cartier fountain pen on an antique writing table in an airy SoHo loft would SERIOUSLY surprise me.

11. Don't try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.
Your plan for getting your work out there has to be as original as the actual work, perhaps even more so. The work has to create a totally new market. There's no point trying to do the same thing as 250,000 other young hopefuls, waiting for a miracle. All existing business models are wrong. Find a new one.

12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.
The pain of making the necessary sacrifices always hurts more than you think it's going to. I know. It sucks. That being said, doing something seriously creative is one of the most amazing experiences one can have, in this or any other lifetime. If you can pull it off, it's worth it. Even if you don't end up pulling it off, you'll learn many incredible, magical, valuable things. It's NOT doing it when you know you full well you HAD the opportunity- that hurts FAR more than any failure.

13. Never compare your inside with somebody else's outside.
The more you practice your craft, the less you confuse worldly rewards with spiritual rewards, and vice versa. Even if your path never makes any money or furthers your career, that's still worth a TON.

14. Dying young is overrated.
I've seen so many young people take the "Gotta do the drugs and booze thing to make me a better artist" route over the years. A choice that was neither effective, healthy, smart, original or ended happily.

15. The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do, and what you are not.
Art suffers the moment other people start paying for it. The more you need the money, the more people will tell you what to do. The less control you will have. The more bullshit you will have to swallow. The less joy it will bring. Know this and plan accordingly.

16. The world is changing.
Some people are hip to it, others are not. If you want to be able to afford groceries in 5 years, I'd recommend listening closely to the former and avoiding the latter. Just my two cents.

17. Merit can be bought. Passion can't.
The only people who can change the world are people who want to. And not everybody does.

18. Avoid the Watercooler Gang.
They’re a well-meaning bunch, but they get in the way eventually.

19. Sing in your own voice.
Piccasso was a terrible colorist. Turner couldn't paint human beings worth a damn. Saul Steinberg's formal drafting skills were appalling. TS Eliot had a full-time day job. Henry Miller was a wildly uneven writer. Bob Dylan can't sing or play guitar.

20. The choice of media is irrelevant.
Every media's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. Every form of media is a set of fundematal compromises, one is not "higher" than the other. A painting doesn't do much, it just sits there on a wall. That's the best and worst thing thing about it. Film combines sound, photography, music, acting. That's the best and worst thing thing about it. Prose just uses words arranged in linear form to get its point across. That's the best and worst thing thing about it etc.

21. Selling out is harder than it looks.
Diluting your product to make it more "commercial" will just make people like it less.Many years ago, barely out of college, I started schlepping around the ad agencies, looking for my first job.

22. Nobody cares. Do it for yourself.
Everybody is too busy with their own lives to give a damn about your book, painting, screenplay etc, especially if you haven't sold it yet. And the ones that aren't, you don't want in your life anyway.

23. Worrying about "Commercial vs. Artistic" is a complete waste of time.
You can argue about "the shameful state of American Letters" till the cows come home. They were kvetching about it in 1950, they'll be kvetching about it in 2050.It's a path well-trodden, and not a place where one is going to come up with many new, earth-shattering insights.

24. Don’t worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.
Inspiration precedes the desire to create, not the other way around.

25. You have to find your own schtick.
A Picasso always looks like Piccasso painted it. Hemingway always sounds like Hemingway. A Beethoven Symphony always sounds like a Beethoven's Syynphony. Part of being a master is learning how to sing in nobody else's voice but your own.

26. Write from the heart.
There is no silver bullet. There is only the love God gave you.

27. The best way to get approval is not to need it.
This is equally true in art and business. And love. And sex. And just about everything else worth having.

28. Power is never given. Power is taken.
People who are "ready" give off a different vibe than people who aren't. Animals can smell fear; maybe that's it.

29. Whatever choice you make, The Devil gets his due eventually.
Selling out to Hollywood comes with a price. So does not selling out. Either way, you pay in full, and yes, it invariably hurts like hell.

30. The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it.
If you have the creative urge, it isn't going to go away. But sometimes it takes a while before you accept the fact.

A free PDF version can be found at ChangeThis.

Free Marketing Tools

2005-08-15T22:59:00.000+09:30

Check this out. An excellent list of marketing tools and calculators from Larry Chase's Web digest for Marketers.

You can find other free marketing tools in My Linkblox which is located on the left navigation panel of this blog.

Top 5 marketing skills in demand now

2005-08-15T19:16:00.000+09:30

Looking for a new marketing job? Harry Joiner of Marketing Headhunter.com in a recent article by Marketingsherpa, listed the top 5 marketing skills in demand by CEO now.

o Niche market development
This includes knowing how to research and identify them. Reliable niche market research breeds an understanding between the marketer and different customer subcultures. When marketers don't have these skills, they can't discover how customers make purchase decisions.

o Analytical bias
Marketing managers who don't have an analytical bias and a multichannel orientation are at a disadvantage, Joiner says. The ability to accurately analyze campaigns can make or break a marketer.

o Classic direct marketing skills
As marketing skews toward new media, long praised for its "accountability," marketers with traditional direct marketing experience are in strong demand, because they have been trained in catalog merchandising, list selection, copywriting, campaign analytics -- all skills necessary for success in new media. "Even in B-to-B," says Joiner.

o Search marketing
Seems like everyone on both agency-side and client-side is searching for "experts" in search optimization and PPC ads. Problem is, this estimated $4.5 billion marketplace barely existed a few years ago, so there aren't that many experienced marketers out there yet. Most of the old-time experts are running their own shops helping clients who can't find anyone to handle this in-house. You may need to lower your expectations about experience requirements, and instead hire an intelligent marketer who loves numbers and copy, and who's a proven fast-learner.

o Humility
Yes, it's a "soft" skill, but in a changing marketplace, Joiner says the most successful marketers are "channel agnostic," which, he says, requires humility.

Pay-Per-Call: A New Search Marketing Tool

2005-08-12T16:37:00.000+09:30

Pay-per-call search marketing/advertising is the newest marketing tool for businesses and marketers. This new search marketing technique brings together both the internet and the phone.

Pay-per-call works pretty much the same way as pay-per-click advertising. The fundamental difference is that the search ad is designed to entice people to pick up the phone instead of clicking through to a website. A phone call is the billable event, rather than a click. Rather than presenting a sponsored link to click through to an advertiser's web site in response to a query, pay-per-call ads display a toll-free telephone number. The searcher can still click on the pay-per-call ad, but rather than visiting the advertiser's web site, the user sees a brief information page about the business.

Pay-per-call is good news for local & small to medium sized businesses, especially those without websites and for businesses that don't have the time, capital or knowledge base for a fully-optimized campaign. These merchants are still able to leverage a web "presence" of sorts (the pay-per-call ad) gaining highly qualified conversions. As stated on Ingenio, “Pay-per-call is an advertising service that connects online-search consumers with your business by phone. You don't need a website to participate because pay-per-call ads which appear in prominent online search engine results and directories; drive business directly to your phone.”

For businesses with existing PPC campaigns, pay-per-call provides another smart advertising channel. They can reach motivated prospects who are, as Barach said, "looking for a phone number online, not looking for an experience." That is, some people searching for a real estate agent may want to browse through a site and view listings. Other prospects may simply want to make a call and talk to an agent. Mixing pay-per-call and PPC provides the best of both worlds—letting merchants dial into local search marketing in a whole new way.

Most panelists described pay-per-call as a key step in the continuing integration of online and offline marketing, and anticipate that this model will move beyond the internet to become a true cross-medium platform. In the future, pay-per-call ads may appear in print directories, on TV and radio, and across other marketing channels.

In Australia, Pay-per-call has not taken off as yet. However, one company that has started to integrate this idea is e-channel, a search engine optimisation firm based in Adelaide where they have insert a toll free number into their search ads as seen below.

Started by FindWhat (now Miva) and Ingenio, partners with AOL to offer this new advertising method.

Want to know more about pay-per-call search marketing? Please visit the below references for this posting:
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3498311
http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/002342.html
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3484621
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3499356
http://www.isedb.com/news/article/1221

Marketing Effectiveness

2005-08-09T23:43:00.000+09:30

Harvard Business Review (subscription req'd) published some eye-opening statistics on the effectiveness of 500 various consumer and B2B marketing programs:

84% resulted in less market share, not more
Most customer acquisition efforts did not break even
Fewer than 10% of new products succeeded
Most sales promotions were unprofitable
Advertising ROI was below 4%
Doubling advertising expenditures for established products increased sales just 1% - 2%

Ben McConnell from Church of the customer says that “while the article does not tell us explicitly, chances are many of the 500 programs were designed to goose quarterly results. It's the siren's call of immediate customer traffic that steers so many marketers toward one-way advertising programs; as the results show, this usually leads you straight to the rocky shores of poor ROI.”

The stats shown above are also consistent with my posting - Increase in advertising spent does not lead to increase in sales as well as the study done by Deutsche Bank Study where it shows that advertising doesn't work for mature package goods. The study, released on the eve of the TV buying upfront, examined 23 household, personal-care, food and beverage brands using customized marketing-mix analysis from Information Resources Inc. It found only 18% generated a positive return on investment (ROI) in the short term (a year or less) from TV advertising. Less than half (45%) saw their TV investment pay off long term.

Credit to Ian McKee from the Power of Influence as I started this post based on his posting.

How Promotions Work

2005-08-07T21:26:00.000+09:30

Empirical generalisations of how promotions work (Blattberg R, Briesch R, and Fox E, 1995) from my advanced market analysis course:

Temporary reductions in retail price increase sales substantially
Higher market share brands are less deal elastic
The frequency of deals changes the consumer's reference price - loss of brand equity when brands are heavily promoted
The greater the frequency of deals, the lower the height of the sale spike in response to the deals
Cross promotional effects are asymmetric, and promoting higher quality brands affects weaker brands (and private label products) disproportionately - promoting higher tier brands generates more switching than does promoting lower tier brands
Retailers pass through to consumers less than 100% of trade deals
Display and feature advertising have strong effects on item sales
Advertised promotions can result in increase store traffic
Promotions affect sales in complementary and competitive categories
Brand loyalty may (or may not) be affected
New triers may (or may not) be attracted
Promotions interact with other elements of the marketing mix (advertising in particular)
Promotional results interact with production and distribution, affecting inventory levels rapidly and dramatically
Promotional frequency influences promotional effects and is linked to the average length of the products purchase cycle
The type of promotion selected may have differential effects on brand loyalty and promotional attractiveness
Promotion size may have threshold and saturation effects, suggesting an S-shaped sales-response relationship
Firms may experience different levels of success in implementing different promotions

Another interesting observation of objectives' by promotional type from the course material provided:

Nice Advertising Blog - Ad Blather

2005-08-07T02:05:00.000+09:30

Here is one advertising blog that I like - Ad Blather by Gari Cruze. Nice marketing blog with a touch of humour.
Nugget Shoe Polish
The History Channel
Stihl Power Saws

Open and Share

2005-08-06T02:26:00.000+09:30

In a world today where consumer is king: knowledge-filled consumers and information readily accessible anywhere and anytime. It is important that we need to share our knowledge as well as being open in the way we do our business and marketing. There is no point in trying to keep our ‘secret’ of knowledge as well as trying to ‘fool’ the customers that we are the best. Customers today are smart and knowledgeable enough to know who and what is the best for them. In today’s world where building of relationship and emotional connection is the key to success; sharing of knowledge and being open are the building blocks of these two important elements. We need to share our knowledge and be open so that customers would be able to see us as an organization that is more living ‘human’ than rather as just an ‘object’ to do business with or just buy things from. Marketing Playbook and Church of the customer each gave an example of a company understanding the importance of these two elements:

Wal-mart shares its data, knowledge and business procedures with its suppliers and treats them as partners rather than adversaries. This allowed Wal-mart to begin a just-in-time inventory program that reduced carrying costs for both the retailer and its suppliers by implementing a collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) program.

Progressive Direct, in their marketing campaign openly shows their competitors pricing as well as those lower than them. The reason that they are open about this is that they have position themselves as being honest and being more trustworthy.

We don’t lose much in sharing and being open to others but we definitely gain much more in building value and establishing trust and relationship - “You get what you give”.

Most Valued Conferences for CEOs and C-Suite Executives

2005-08-02T23:20:00.000+09:30

If you are a CEO and C-Suite Executives, what is the best conferences for communicating and marketing your organisation? Burson-Marsteller recently released a study on Best Executive Conferences for CEOs and the C-suite executives.

Key findings from this research:
- Besides media interviews (publicity), CEOs rate conferences as the best channel for communicating company messages to key stakeholders.
- Nearly 3/4s or more of corporate communicators report that conferences for CEOs and C-suite executives are more important now than they were two years ago (72% and 85% respectively).
- When asked how many invitations CEO receive a week to speak at conferences, the average is 3.4 invitations per week or 175 per year.
- CEOs consider keynote vs. panel opportunities one of the leading criteria for selection.
- The number one reason for participating in global conferences is to "forward the business," yet only 25% of companies measure ROI.

Most Valued Podiums:

An executive summary can be read here.

Teenage Writers

2005-07-31T18:57:00.000+09:30

Today, a 14 years old boy from Holland by the name of Eiso Kant added me into his MSN contact list and asked me for advice in promoting his site http://www.teenagewriters.com. I really like this boy and the site he started a few days ago. Well, this boy lives in Holland and he attends an international school which holds kids from all over the world. He noticed that many of his friends wrote poems and little stories but were embarrassed to show them to people. Therefore he started this site where his young friends can start to post their pieces of writing. This is really nice work and initiative from this 14 years old and I must give him an applause for his effort in able to let his shy friends to express and post their writings so that people can have a look at them. Also, this site of his will also help to spur and help to encourage more teenagers in developing their writing interests. Way to go, Eiso!

I am not sure that if Eiso knows he is indirectly marketing his site as well. By developing a relationship with me and letting me know his good cause; this really made me wanted to help him in promoting his site. My point here for marketing - build relationships and emotional connections.

Marketing by Gorillas (I mean Guerillas)

2005-07-30T15:44:00.000+09:30

Check this out. 93 examples of guerilla marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson. Here are some inspiration and new ideas in marketing your business or yourself differently from the non-marketing gorillas (sorry, I mean guerillas)

Jay Conrad Levinson is the author of the popular guerilla marketing series.

Best Marketing Blogs 2005

2005-07-28T17:04:00.000+09:30

Another best of 2005...This time: Best marketing blogs from Forbes.

Marketing Vox www.marketingvox.com
Adrants www.adrants.com
Chris Baggott www.exacttarget.typepad.com/chrisbaggott
Church of the Customer www.customerevangelists.typepad.com/blog/
Duct Tape Marketing www.ducttapemarketing.com/weblog.php
Seth Godin www.sethgodin.com/sg/blog.html
Wonder Branding www.michelemiller.blogs.com/marketing_to_women
Ypulse www.ypulse.com

Some of these blogs have been consistently voted the best by others.

Best Global Brands 2005

2005-07-26T23:54:00.000+09:30

Best Global Brands 2005 by Interbrand as seen in Business Week, July 2005

Coca-Cola
Microsoft
IBM
GE
Intel
Nokia
Disney
McDonald's
Toyota
Malboro

For the full list, here is the link

Love is what you need

2005-07-24T03:50:00.000+09:30

William Arruda talks about in MarketingProfs that LOVE is all we need when it comes to branding and building a successful career. We have to be loved by our customers, our bosses and colleagues so as to be successful. However, isn't all this love from others a result from your own giving of love first? Love your customers, job and colleagues and in return they will love you.

Want to be love? Give love to others as well as the things you do first and love will in return come back to you. It is that simple and difficult. Get it? Everything comes from your ownself and within the organisation first - that means love yourself and getting the people to love its organisation first. You get what you give.

Increase in advertising spent does not lead to increase in sales

2005-07-23T16:20:00.000+09:30

I am taking advanced market analysis for my masters of marketing course this term. For this subject, I had to do a presentation on a particular course reading. The reading that my team mate, Shirley and I had chosen is Advertising experiments at the campbell soup company by Joseph Eastlack & Ambar Rao.

The findings for this experiment taken up by Campbell soup was that advertising budget levels with the existing creative executions, generally had little or no impact on the sales of their well established brands (what about non-established brands??). However, changes in copy strategy, media selection, media mix and targetting often produced an increased in sales. The marketing implication is that increase in advertising spending would not lead to an increase in sales. It is the advertising copy, media selection and timing that makes the difference.

These results are also further supported by research at other firms (Anheuser-Busch), marketing research firms (IRI), and by academics. These general findings are:

Decreases in the level of advertising do not lead to an immediate decrease in sales. An increase in the level of advertising by itself does not lead to an increase in sales.
On average, half of all ongoing ad campaigns are ineffective.
Changes in the creative, medium, target segment or product itself sometimes lead to change in sales, even though increases in the level of advertising alone do not.
When advertising is effective, it is effective either early on or never.
When advertising does affect sales, its impact is not large and is much smaller than that of price. In fact, research shows that the elasticity of sales to advertising is .1, while the elasticity of sales to price is –2.5.

Source: MarketingProfs.com

Many of these findings are based on research from mature product categories. Advertising may be more effective in other new or less mature categories. One of the reason that I can think of is that in new or less mature markets; there are less saturation or customers exposure to their product's advertisements. Therefore, consumers would be more receptive to these advertisements of new/less mature products than advertisements of mature products where there are too much saturation of their advertisements.

Aerial Advertising

2005-07-22T02:58:00.000+09:30

I came upon this site earlier: Arnold Aerial Advertising which provides aerial advertising. Well, it seems like this form of advertising or marketing has not been really popular nowadays?? I haven't really thought about it until I saw this site. How often do people look up the sky anyway? Just wondering the effectiveness of using this form of advertising.

I was googling on the topics of 'aerial advertising' and 'aerial advertising effectiveness' and it seems that most results are US based sites. Such form of advertising is mainly used along beaches. Hmm, Australia would be an ideal country for such advertising adoption since it has so many beaches.

Here are some stats on the effectiveness of aerial advertising:
- 79% of respondents recalled the brand correctly - Reference
- 18.3% recall at 6% of marketing/advertising budget; TV, radio and billboards with same or worse recall at 80% of budget - Reference
- Other facts: http://www.arnoldaerial.com/marketingfacts.htm

Perhaps considering aerial advertising in your next marketing campaign?

Don't Go Cheap

2005-07-22T02:25:00.000+09:30

Remember this always: don't go cheap in your marketing strategies. Seth Godin says it best in Purple Cow: “Cheap is the last refuge of a product developer or marketer who is out of great ideas.”

What about K-mart, Target and other low-priced positioned brands? Well, my point is don't resort to cheap pricing when you are introducing a new product/service or brand unless of course you are already positioned as cheap.

The book: Purple Cow

Philip Kotler: Not Internet Savvy enough?

2005-07-14T02:03:00.000+09:30

Most of us will heard or know of Philip Kotler as one of the well-knowns in the marketing field. He has produced numerous books and articles and is the author of 'Marketing Management' which is one of the most widely used marketing textbooks. Most of us will agree that he is truly one of the experts when its comes to marketing. However, while he is really good in most forms of marketing mix but I think he has been lagging behind in terms of newer forms of marketing mix such as the Internet. This is highlight from the excerpt of his new book 'According to Kotler' where he was asked this question:

Question: Will the Internet become an effective advertising medium?

Kotler: A few years ago, the CEO of Procter & Gamble said that he would happily switch a large portion of P&G's huge advertising budget to the Internet if he could find effective ways to do Internet advertising. So far, the Internet has not become a full-blown advertising medium like television, radio, newspapers, or magazines. It is true that the Internet carries banner ads, but they are being opened less than 1% of the time. Advertisers are pressuring popular Web sites to carry skyscraper or pop-up ads, but the Web sites see this as risky. Also, consumers can choose to block pop-up ads. Google has developed a system to align paid-for ads next to topics being searched by consumers. For example, if I type "BMW" on Google, the right side of Google's page will show a BMW ad. BMW will quickly learn whether its ad is leading to sales. All said, it is too early to tell how widespread or effective Internet advertising will become.

The above excerpt shows that Kotler has perhaps not caught up with all the new forms of internet marketing as internet advertising such as paid advertisements and search engine optimisation are one of the most measurable and most effective form of direct marketing or advertising. What I can assume is that Kotler has not really consider the Internet as an important marketing tool alongside other marketing communication mix. He was saying that less and less people are being exposed to traditional marketing tools such as television. So where have all these people been heading? The answer is the Internet. More and more people are using the internet for their everyday use - Clickz has just recently released in July the online population stats. This means that marketers have to consider internet marketing as an important marketing tool now if they haven't done so. Of course, I do not mean that internet marketing is more important. It should be consider seriously together with all the other intergrated marketing communication mix. My assumption on Kotler is only based on the short excerpt and it might not be true on Kotler himself.

A link to the excerpts can be found here.

Attitude and Behaviour do not match

2005-07-13T22:56:00.001+09:30

Behaviour and perceptions (attitudes) don't really match. This is the thing that we have to take note and remember when we are asking people a question, doing an interview, taking a test or when using a focus group in market research.

What you say in the above events may be only what you perceive but not your real behaviour or rather what you really are. The reason is that most of time we just give an answer at the gut level rather than rationalising everything. This is the reason that focus group should be use in marketing research when you want to understand perceptions (attitude) rather than behaviour. This is the same when asking people to do a test. The answer or results given may only be what they perceived (their attitude) and may not be their behaviour. This is further proven by many researchers such as LaPiere (1934) & Sutton (1998) that attitudes (perception) do not necessarily lead to behaviour. However these two do can match when the attitude measure matches the behaviour of interest.

A good example of how attitude and behaviour do not match is that of smoking. Most of us has the perception that smoking is bad yet so many of us are still smoking. An example of how attitude and behaviour will match is when the attitude is measured at the same time when the behaviour is taking place; say when you making a purchasing decision.

This leads us to understand that focus group is good when measuring and understanding perceptions (attitudes) and when you want to measure behaviour; you got to do your research where the behaviour is taking place.

I started to write this post when I was reading Lee Shupp's posting.

Marketing with white papers

2005-07-06T22:14:00.000+09:30

A white paper is a very good way of marketing both your organisation and your products/services as well as generating new leads especially when you have a new technology products/services in line. The reason is that white paper is perceive by people as a quality content paper that are absolutely objective and factual, almost like scientific papers published in peer-reviewed journals. Technology based organisations which release white papers are often perceived as a body of authority in the subject of the white paper. This therefore gives more credibility to the organisations as well as giving customers more trust and confidence in its products or services. Manoj in MarketingProfs.com talks more about why white papers make for great marketing collateral.

What is a white paper? A white paper is an article that states an organization's position or philosophy about a social, political, or other subject, or a not-too-detailed technical explanation of an architecture, framework, or product technology. Typically, a white paper explains the results, conclusions, or construction resulting from some organized committee or research collaboration or design and development effort.

Now that you know how whitepapers can help in your organisation's marketing effort. The next question is how do you market your whitepapers and get the world to know about it? Bitpipe Inc, KnowledgeStorm, CNET’s IT Papers, TechTarget and Findwhitepapers are all important sites for marketing your whitepapers if you are predominantly attracting technology specialists. Whereas BNet is good if you want to attract business leaders such as the CEO, CFO or human resource manager.

If you want to know more about white papers and the marketing of it, visit WhitepaperSource for more information. Want to know how to write a white paper? Visit Stelzner Consulting.

Live 8 - Action Against Poverty & Make Poverty History

2005-07-06T00:33:00.000+09:30

Hey everyone or anyone who is reading this post. I am giving my part into supporting these 3 websites against poverty by doing some marketing here for them:
Global Call to Action Against Poverty
LIVE 8 - The Long Walk to Justice
Make Poverty History (This is an Australian Site. For those living outside of Australia, please select your country destination from Global Call to Action Against Poverty and find out how you can participate and join in the call against poverty from where you are now)
(Well, it is still relevant to what this blog is all about and anyway who cares if this is not relevant to marketing --THIS IS EVEN BETTER THAN MARKETING OR EVEN MAKING MORE MONEY OR ATTRACTING MORE CUSTOMERS ETC). This is really for a good cause and please at least spend a few minutes visiting these 3 websites above. At the very least, please visit LIVE 8 and upload your image (face) to show your support or sign the LIVE 8 list online now or on your phone to the 8 most powerful leaders in the world to give their aid to end poverty!
If you would like to contribute financially, you can also buy Live 8 memorabilia from here. In this way, you make donations as well as getting yourself some nice memorabliias'. For those in Australia, you can also give financial help by getting a white band. For those in other countries, you can visit here to find out where you can get a white band in the country you are in now.
For Bloggers and website owners & webmasters; you can also show your support by displaying campaign logo or putting a whiteband (go to support us online section) on your blog/site

Finally, again PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT AND PASS THIS MESSAGE ON! Thank You!

Marketing Playbook

2005-07-04T23:21:00.000+09:30

Gotta have a look at this marketing website and book by John Zagula and Rich Tong - The Marketing Playbook. These 2 guys' marketing strategies were responsible in taking Microsoft Windows & Office from a mere 10% market share then to a 90% market share now. They will tell you how you should market and compete against your competitors with 5 basic strategies for a competitive market. They also have a posting of quotations about perfection which I really like. Here are a few that I like:

"Never let PERFECT get in the way of BETTER."

"I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business." - Michael J. Fox

You can buy this book in Amazon.com if you are interested.

Evolution of the Starbucks Logo

2005-07-04T00:16:00.000+09:30

Nice posting from Brand Autopsy on the evolution of Starbucks Logo. Words are from Pour Your Heart into It by Howard Schultz.

1971 - 1987
"Terry [Heckler] also poured over old marine books until he came up with a logo based on an old sixteenth-century Norse woodcut: a two-tailed mermaid, or siren, encircled by the store’s original name, Starbucks Coffee, Tea, and Spice. That early siren, bare-breasted and Rubenesque, was supposed to be as seductive as coffee itself." [pg. 33]
"Our logo reflected the emphasis on speed. The Il Giornale name was inscribed in a green circle that surrounded a head of Mercury, the swift messenger god." [pg. 88]
"To symbolize the melding of the two companies [Il Giornarle and Starbucks] and two cultures, Terry [Heckler] came up with a design that merged the two logos. We kept the Starbucks siren with her starred crown, but made her more contemporary. We dropped the tradition-bound brown, and changed the logo’s color to Il Giornarle’s more affirming green." [pg. 108]
"In 1992 we also asked Terry Heckler to revise our logo: She stayed mostly the same but lost her navel." [pg. 309]