An avid sales & marketer's view...

Social networking website - LinkedIn

2010-03-14T03:56:00.000-07:00

Recently with all the hype ongoing about social networking, contrary to most of the social networking websites like facebook, friendster etc; I personally find that LinkedIn has a lot more useful properties, which explains why LinkedIn has been popular in US and European countries. LinkedIn has more than 60 million users worldwide, of which approximately half are in the United States. 11 million are from Europe. With 3 million users, India is the fastest-growing country as of 2009. The Netherlands has the highest adoption rate per capita at 30%. Enough about the numbers, let's put the 'fun part' aside and examine the features and benefits of LinkedIn here.

LinkedIn (pronounced linked-in) is a business-oriented social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. As of 11 February 2010, LinkedIn had more than 60 million registered users, spanning more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

Features The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called Connections. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection.
This list of connections can then be used in a number of ways:

A contact network is built up consisting of their direct connections, the connections of each of their connections (termed second-degree connections) and also the connections of second-degree connections (termed third-degree connections). This can be used to gain an introduction to someone a person wishes to know through a mutual, trusted contact.
It can then be used to find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in one's contact network.
Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates.
Job seekers can review the profile of hiring managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them.

The "gated-access approach" (where contact with any professional requires either a preexisting relationship, or the intervention of a contact of theirs) is intended to build trust among the service's users. LinkedIn participates in EU's International Safe Harbor Privacy Principles^.
LinkedIn also allows users to research companies with which they may be interested in working. When typing the name of a given company in the search box, statistics about the company are provided. These may include the ratio of female to male employees, the percentage of the most common titles/positions held within the company, the location of the company's headquarters and offices, or a list of present, past, and former employees.

True enough, LinkedIn is a fruitful place to be spotted by headhunters as users are able to tag specific industrial experience to their profile, thus enabling the linkages to expand & multiply. Furthermore, enlisting themselves into groups and posting discussion topics will increase visibility and professionalism.

Last but not least, connections are able to post recommendations of the particular user's work, this recognizes the person's contribution and increases credibility. I have 2 at the moment :)

For those who's interested in adding me on LinkedIn, here's my profile:- http://my.linkedin.com/in/hazelhor

Practical & useful tips to a successful presentation

2010-03-07T03:15:00.000-08:00

Presentations and reports are ways of communicating ideas and information to a group. But unlike a report, a presentation carries the speaker's personality better and allows immediate interaction between all the participants. A good presentation has:

Content - It contains information that people need. But unlike reports, which are read at the reader's own pace, presentations must account for how much information the audience can absorb in one sitting.
Structure - It has a logical beginning, middle, and end. It must be sequenced and paced so that the audience can understand it. Where as reports have appendices and footnotes to guide the reader, the speaker must be careful not to loose the audience when wandering from the main point of the presentation.
Packaging - It must be well prepared. A report can be reread and portions skipped over, but with a presentation, the audience is at the mercy of a presenter.
Human Element - A good presentation will be remembered much more than a good report because it has a person attached to it. But you still need to analyze if the audience's needs would not be better met if a report was sent instead.

the information above is taken from the following website, pretty useful with a lot of tips: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadpres.html

Recommended book for social marketers:- Citizen Marketers: When People are The Message

2009-06-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

Worthwhile read :)

The "social media" of blogs, podcasts and social networks are fusing pop culture with traditional marketing, and it's causing all manner of disruption.

"Citizen Marketers" makes the case that the distributed, power-sharing nature of social media is a reflection of the ideals of democracy, where liberty, free speech and freedom of association are its ruling principles. As a result, positioning, message delivery and reputation management are in the hands of the populace, where anyone can be a publisher or broadcaster. For tradition-bound managers, the message is simple: Control is out of control. People are creating content about products and services whether companies like it or not. They are the new cultural influencers.

Biotech: A Place for Social Media?

2009-05-22T21:03:00.000-07:00

Fundamentals of network marketing is that you are able to apply it to any industry. A very good instance lies in this example of utilizing Social Media marketing in Biotech industry, following the hit with the pharma industry.

What is Email Marketing? How can i choose the right ESP?

2009-05-04T09:51:00.000-07:00

What is Email Marketing? How can i choose the right ESP?

I think the biggest factor most people need to understand about email marketing is that it is NOT a science. There is no such thing as 100% deliverability or some magic “Pixie Dust” that can be sprinkled on your servers to help you deliver your email creative into the recipient’s inbox. There are only “best practices” which I am going to lay out in this post. It is important to remember that all email is basically the same. So, the question is, what makes some email get delivered, some go into the spam/junk folder and other email get lost in space? The answer is pretty simple, reputation. Below are the most important factors in helping you determine how to choose the right ESP and understand the fundamentals of email marketing and how it should be handled.

This list is in order of importance:

1. IP Addresses: IP address reputation is the most important factor with any email marketing software or system. If, during your email campaigns, recipients click on the spam button or complain about the email they receive from you, this will hurt your “IP Reputation”. If enough people complain about your email or click on the spam button, this will cause your emails to either go to the junk folder or be rejected all together.

2. Email Data: Your email data or records have to be good quality. If you have co-registration or crappy data, don’t even waste your time. Sending emails to people who want to receive them is the only way to ensure that your IP Reputation stay’s in the good graces of the ISP’s. List cleaning is also a very important aspect of email marketing. If you send 100 emails and 10 of them are to email addresses that do not exist, most major ISP will block your email based solely on trying to deliver to invalid email addresses.

3. The ESP: The company that handles the backend of your system and maintains it on a daily basis is probably more important than the system itself, if it is a decent piece of software. Managing feedback loops, white listing requests, bounce processing, list hygiene, and system maintenance are only a few of the many items that need to be monitored and maintained in order to keep everything running smoothly. Finding a reputable and knowledgeable company is more difficult than it sounds.

4. Email Software: Obviously you need a quality software system to bring this all together, so I am going to list what I feel are the important factors in choosing an ESP software package, other than what I have listed above that relates to the company behind the software. Here is a list of features that are a must; IP rotation, subject line rotation, bounce processing, open/click/unsub tracking, 1-click unsubscribe processing, fully integrated reporting on a campaign and list level, global do not send lists for the entire system (ie. Do not send emails to abuse@ or @spam.com), easy suppression file uploading, master global unsubscribe importation, time/date scheduling of campaign deployments, multiple users and privileges, spam scoring for creative’s and having a single web based interface to handle a single mailer solution to a system with 50 front end mailers.

Hope that this little gems of info helps ;)

Non-verbal Communication Techniques

2009-05-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

Seen scenarios in a social event where an individual can't stop talking to another party where that person is clearly bored and dying to walk away but just couldn't break the continuous senseless communication?

Ok, this is not a topic about marketing, but i guess that we're human beings that needs to communicate, here's some useful tips on communication way beyond words itself. Maybe paying a little bit more attention to it might do us well in providing a much more effective platform for communication. You might find that you're communicating more effectively when you're engaging the right people with the right topic.

Well, Comedians do it. Politicians do it. There has long been a trend for harnessing powerful non-verbal communication techniques when communicating, or even masking true emotions such as signs of nervousness or concern.

Every face tells a story. In any dialog or exchange, the internal client acts, and as an external consultant, you react using verbal and non-verbal communication. It is vital that you pick up on non-verbal cues displayed by your clients. This enables you to respond appropriately to how they are feeling and to any concerns they may have.

Non-verbal communication is often automatic and instinctive. But some people are better than others at reading the cues—and sometimes the client's face may not give away any tell-tale signs to you, the external consultant.

Your clients and the people in your team may reveal how they feel in a number of ways. The main non-verbal indicators are facial expressions, gestures, posture, and eye contact. You will see both positive and negative cues.

For positive cues—such as smiling or nodding—you can proceed in the way you have been. However, you should remember that there are cultural differences in the meanings of cues. More information is provided below.

1. Facial expressions
Clients may show their approval, or their disgust, using a broad range of facial expressions. The cues we exhibit are extremely varied and complex. Reading these cues will help you to see if you are on track.

Many of us exhibit a thoughtful or distant facial expression if we are preoccupied with something or considering our options. Frequently, such cues are displayed by a hand touching the forehead.
Smiling and laughing is a positive sign, and indicates that a client is in agreement with what you are saying. Be aware, though, that these behaviors can be used sarcastically, as if to say, "That will never work."
Frowning broadly indicates confusion, uncertainty, or disagreement. It often requires verbal clarification, such as, "You're looking puzzled. Do you want me to explain anything?"
If you are presenting a proposal and the client starts to frown, respond immediately or you risk losing the person completely. An immediate response saves time later and helps alleviate misunderstandings and conflict.

2. Eye contact
A high level of eye contact is vital, as it demonstrates trust and confidence. A lack of eye contact may indicate that the client is nervous, distracted, or thoughtful.

3. Gestures
Clients may use gestures to communicate their feelings. Gestures are difficult to read, but combined with other cues, they can make clients' feelings evident.

As an external consultant, you should respond appropriately to any negative gestures. A shrug of the shoulders is typically an obvious sign that someone is disinterested or doesn't care. And sighing is a sign of discontentment or frustration.
If clients or team members use gestures, such as throwing down a pen, you can be sure that they are exasperated, disagreeing strongly with what you are saying, or are impatient.
Folded arms are regarded as a sign of defensiveness, when the person feels threatened. Be aware, though, that people also make this gesture in everyday life, and it may mean nothing at all. Watch out for other signs to confirm initial suspicions.
A nod of the head normally indicates agreement, whereas tapping fingers are regarded as a sign of impatience. If you see tapping fingers, you should speed up delivery, particularly if this is accompanied by other indicators.

4. Posture
The posture of your clients can speak volumes about how they feel. Are they relaxed, or anxious? Are they leaning forward in interest because they are fully stimulated? Or are they bored—leaning back and yawning?

Non-verbal cues often are very subtle. Watch carefully, or vital clues to the way your client feels may be missed. Furthermore, there should be congruence between what clients say and how they are communicating non-verbally. While your client may indicate verbal agreement with your proposals, other non-verbal cues, such as tapping fingers, scratching the head, or a frown, may reveal the person's true emotions, such as agitation or nervousness.

Some clients may mask their true feelings and give few non-verbal cues. They may outwardly agree to your proposals while disagreeing inwardly with your ideas. It's vital that you pick up on this. You have the opportunity to clarify cues and resolve how they are feeling, particularly when you are in a face-to-face situation.

Sometimes a combination of things helps you to interpret the non-verbal cues, such as eye contact mixed with a facial expression. For example, a client may follow up an indication of initial confusion with a smile.

Remember that it is also important to be aware what non-verbal cues you are giving to clients. Just as you will be reading your clients, they will be reading you to verify that what you say is reflected in the way you appear.

Non-verbal communication is an accepted part of all communication. How well you respond to the indicators that are given depends on your ability to read the cues accurately and respond. By being aware of the non-verbal communication cues of your clients, you can make your relationships more successful.

Alerting all Facebook users!!! New Phishing Attack Spreading On Facebook. This Time From FBstarter

2009-05-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

Alerting all Facebook users!!!

New Phishing Attack Spreading On Facebook. This Time From FBstarter

original article by Erick Schonfeld on April 30, 2009

Yesterday a phishing scam spread across Facebook in the form of a message form a friend asking you to click on a link which took you to what appeared to be a Facebook login, but was actually at a different URL, http://fbaction.net. It was quickly blocked. But now there seems to be a new one linking to http://fbstarter.com/. It comes in the form of a message from a friend telling you to “Look at this!” When you click on the link, you are taken to what appears to be a Facebook sign-in page. If you go ahead and sign in, the phishers have access to your account and can then send messages to all of your friends.

I just got one of these messages. It looks like this:

Joshua sent you a message.

Subject: Look at this!

“fbstarter.com”

And fbstarter is hyperlinked.

If you do sign in by mistake, the best thing to do is to change your password as quickly as possible. Make sure you are signed into the real Facebook when you do that, however.

Again, it looks like this phishing attack is very successful. Right now “fbstarter” is the No. 1 hottest term on Google Trends.

I have alerted Facebook to this attack.

Update: Facebook is on the case. They just sent me this update:

We’ve already blocked www.fbstarter.com from being shared on Facebook. You’ve probably seen what this looks like but I’m including a screenshot. Now, we’re deleting that URL from walls and inboxes. We’ve also blocked access to the URL so if someone does find it on Facebook (on their wall, in their inbox, or in an email notification) it won’t send them to the destination. Finally, we’ll automatically reset the password on any account that sent the malicious link. Thus, the data becomes useless to the bad guys very quickly.

In addition, we work with MarkMonitor (they made an announcement today). We send them URLs and they get them added to the browser blacklists and work to get the sites taken down. I’ve included a screenshot of the warning from Firefox that resulted from their work on the phishing attack yesterday (fbaction.net). They got that site taken down, too. Today’s site (fbstarter.com) has been down most of the morning. MarkMonitor and Facebook are watching it closely, though.

from myspace to blogspot

2009-05-01T08:50:00.000-07:00

I've just transferred all my blogs from myspace to blogspot, for blogspot has been known for better layout and ease of use :)

Social Media Marketing A Powerful Weapon for Small Business Marketing

2009-05-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

Social Media Marketing
A Powerful Weapon for Small Business Marketing

Social media marketing is really the new buzz word around in the online world. However, in the offline world, most would ask,"What's that? Never heard of it in Asia." At least that was MY response when I first came across this term!

So What Exactly Is It?

According to Wikipedia,

"Social Media Marketing is a form of internet marketing which seeks to achieve branding and marketing communication goals through the participation in various social media networks."
To put it simply, humans are social creatures. Wherever humans go in the real world, they socialize and form networks for a variety of purposes, be it for pleasure and for business.

So when internet came along, humans went online and being social creatures, humans start socializing online and forming networks online. And as with the real world, some of these online social networks can be formed to achieve certain business goals. These platforms where humans socialize with each other are collectively called "Social Media".

Newspapers, TV and Radio
VS
Blogs, YouTube and Podcasts

In the real world, "social media" take the form of newspapers, TV channels and radio stations. In the online world, they take the form of Blog articles, YouTube videos and Podcast audios.

But the similarity ends here.

With the internet, everyone now, if they choose to, can run their own online newspapers (start a blog), TV channels (start a YouTube Channel) and radio stations (record a podcast), broadcasting whatever content they like, to their own subscribers!

Check Out This Cool Video Explanation

So very simply, what all these mean to you as a small business owner is that, you can leverage on social media to do marketing activities that center around:-

Creating content on websites or blogs

Social interaction within social networking sites like Facebook

Sharing videos on YouTube

Bookmarking and sharing interesting articles on social bookmarking sites....

You can get the word out at a faster speed, at a lower cost than traditional offline social media. It's really about leveraging on all these online socializing platforms (social media) to help spread the word, whatever that word may be!

Marketing Strategies Begin with Marketing Reengineering Process

2009-05-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Marketing Strategies
Begin with Marketing Reengineering Process

Marketing strategies outline the manner in which your marketing mix is used to attract and satisfy your target market, thus fulfilling your business's objectives, which is to derive net profit from your business activities.

At the heart of marketing strategies lies your product. The product is the ENGINE that drives a profitable business. Without an excellent product (the engine), your business (the airplane) may not go very far, even if it has a great marketing system (the glider).

Thus, developing an effective marketing strategy starts with the product (engine), using the 4-step Marketing Reengineering Process outlined below:-.

Step 1: Sensing

The cost of marketing lies in sending the message to the target market. The clearer the target marketing, the lower the marketing costs.

Therefore, the first step "Sensing" is to perform information gathering about the target market. You will need to perform a few analysis:-

SWOT analysis
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

PEST analysis
Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors

Marketing Physics
Overt Benefit, Real Reason to Believe, Dramatic Difference

There is no need to obtain a perfect answer for your questions, follow the 80/20 rule. Revisit and question certain assumptions in the process to uncover potential blind spots. Based on the beliefs, attitudes, values and culture of your business, setup your strategic objectives.

Step 2: Planning

Once you are able to pin down and clearly define your target market, you can go on to plan the path of least resistance to enter your target market.

From the information you have gathered and ideas you have developed during the "Sensing" step, start weaving these ideas together in a coherent manner to create marketing plan. The plan should contain a sequence of steps for implementation.

List down also R.I.C.E required to implement the marketing plan.

Resources

Ideas

Contacts

Expertise

Step 3: Implementing

With the marketing plan in your hand, you can tend start implementation. You should create a Marketing Funnel, that converts your visiting suspects to qualified prospects to paying customers to loyals members to raving fans. The key thing to do during implementation is to test and measure the key performance indicators (KPIs) that you have defined in Step 1 "Sensing" under strategic objectives.

You need to put in place tracking mechanisms for all the different marketing channels that you have and then perform testing for different versions of your marketing messages.
You must be able to apply Marketing Mathematics to measure the response of your marketing efforts, so that you can continually improve the effectiveness of your marketing campaign.

Step 4: Reflecting

Lastly, with the results coming in from Step 3 "Implementing", you will then assess if the strategic objectives (such as specific key performance indicators) laid out in Step 1 "Sensing" are met.

Based on the numbers from Step 3, you will know which of your marketing efforts are winners and which are non-performers. You can then decide to cut the losers and put more resources into the winners, and repeat the cycle of "Sensing", "Planning", "Implementing" and "Reflecting".

Successful marketing strategies must contain ways to out-manoeuvre your competition. It is an on-going process that builds and leverages on your competitive advantages, and must be adaptable, sustainable and forward looking.

Direct Response Marketing or Image Advertising?

2009-05-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

Direct Response Marketing or Image Advertising?

Most small businesses don't know the what to do: Direct Response Marketing or Image Advertising?

Many small businesses tend to go for image advertising because they see the larger companies, with massive advertising budgets, do this. However, this is one of the most biggest marketing misconceptions in small business marketing!

To clear up this misconception, let us first understand...

What is Direct Response Marketing?

"Direct Response Marketing is a form of marketing designed to solicit a direct response which is specific and quantifiable. The delivery of the response is direct between the viewer and the advertiser, that is, the customer responds to the marketer directly." To put it in lay man terms, your prospect must be convinced by your marketing medium (flyers, brochures, website, emails etc) to perform the action that you specify. You have to design your marketing in such a way that it gives your prospect a good enough reason to call you, to visit your website and sign up for your newsletter.

Check out this video explanation by a Blonde
(not the dumb type, but the smart type!)

Wrong Advice from the Wrong People

The misconception to do image advertising, rather than direct response marketing, originate from all the wrong marketing advice, given to you, the small business owner, by your average advertising agency or marketing guru.

They will tell you that you need to invest in building your brand. When the ads they run for you do not work, they tell you that the reason is because you need to repeat your ads enough times to get your brand well known.

But have you ever tried running a brilliant looking ad in the local paper, or yellow pages and yet get a poor response, much to your surprise?

Well that's because while image advertising is designed to make you look good and grow your brand, it does not solicit a RESPONSE from your target audience!

What I mean is, Coke can afford to run a 30-second commercial on your TV, without showing a telephone number you can call or a website you can visit...that's image advertising!

The problem is that most of the marketing gurus or advertising agencies simply do not know how to create marketing campaigns that obtain measurable responses from your target market.

Test, Measure and Improve

Rather than image advertising, what small businesses need is marketing that results in a measurable response from the target market. There is a need for measurable responses because small businesses and self-employed professionals are usually on a shoe-string budget and they need to know the return on investment for their marketing efforts.

By measuring the response rate of your marketing campaign, you can make tweaks to your marketing system to improve the response rate. This process of continuous improvement virtually guarantees long-term marketing success.

This video sums up our discussion above :)

If you want to get a response from your marketing, be it getting new clients or closing new sales, then you need to use Direct Response Marketing! You can ATTRACT more clients, make more sales and increase your net profit, when you focus your marketing efforts in the right direction.

Communication Lines Changing All Together?

2009-05-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

Communication Lines Changing All Together?

The social networking and social marketing landscape has only begun changing the ways we communicate and also what we communicate. Years ago nobody cared what we where doing during every minute of the day. But now it seems important to know what others are during before work, during work and after work with websites like Facebook and Twitter.

People who normally might be timid and quiet all of a sudden want to let the world know they just walked their dog or that they just ate their lunch. Large fortune 500 companies are conducting business and communicating with customers right through sites like Twitter. People would rather find the cable company account on twitter and vent to them than picking up the phone and calling customer service. A customer service call might be between you and that other person but on Twitter the whole world can see your instant complaint. So it is in the best interest of the company representative that is in charge of that Twitter account to resolve that issue as quickly as possible to not tarnish their reputation. Social networks allow news to spread and travel very quickly. Much quicker than prior forms of communication.

Social networking and communication is moving at a speed that is faster than companies can keep up with. People would now rather communicate directly through an online tool than to pick up the phone. We are only seeing the beginning of this cultural phenomenon. A person can fire up a Facebook page and almost instantly be reunited with people they would never even think about communicating with. I had a cousin halfway across the planet send me a message. I haven’t spoken with this person in over fifteen years. The power of social platforms have been immense and are continually changing they way anyone and everyone interact with each other online.

An avid sales & marketer's view...

Social networking website - LinkedIn

Practical & useful tips to a successful presentation

Recommended book for social marketers:- Citizen Marketers: When People are The Message

Biotech: A Place for Social Media?

What is Email Marketing? How can i choose the right ESP?

What is Email Marketing? How can i choose the right ESP?

Non-verbal Communication Techniques

Alerting all Facebook users!!! New Phishing Attack Spreading On Facebook. This Time From FBstarter

from myspace to blogspot

Social Media Marketing A Powerful Weapon for Small Business Marketing

Social Media MarketingA Powerful Weapon for Small Business Marketing

So What Exactly Is It?

Newspapers, TV and RadioVSBlogs, YouTube and Podcasts

Marketing Strategies Begin with Marketing Reengineering Process

Marketing StrategiesBegin with Marketing Reengineering Process

Step 1: Sensing

Step 2: Planning

Step 3: Implementing

Step 4: Reflecting

Direct Response Marketing or Image Advertising?

Direct Response Marketing or Image Advertising?

What is Direct Response Marketing?

Wrong Advice from the Wrong People

Test, Measure and Improve

Communication Lines Changing All Together?

Communication Lines Changing All Together?

Social Media Marketing
A Powerful Weapon for Small Business Marketing

Newspapers, TV and Radio
VS
Blogs, YouTube and Podcasts

Marketing Strategies
Begin with Marketing Reengineering Process