Author Archives: Jan Wong

How to: Create a Winning Strategy!

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how to create a winning strategy

One common mistake marketing leaders, entrepreneurs and business owners make is to consistently look for winning strategies outside of your own four walls. True, there are times where ‘thinking outside of the box / walls’ comes in handy but often than not, there is a high possibility that you already HAVE that winning touch and you just do not realize it.

The question to ask yourself is really just this: What is your unique selling proposition? By answering this question truthfully, chances are, that is the key to outperform your competitors – simply by leveraging on the resources, skills, knowledge, tools, systems and talents you ALREADY have!

#1: Identify your strengths first before strategizing

Look inwards – put on paper what you do best. What makes you stand out – Is it customer service? Or a unique product? What talents or resources do you have at hand – Web designers? Programmers? Sales teams?

Once you have these down, work on a strategy that leverage on your strengths. Use them wisely and you may have already won half the battle!

#2: Look at your competitors’ strengths

Look outwards – see what your competitors do best. It is crucial that you acknowledge their strengths and identify how are they different from you so that you can have a strategy that stands out in the industry, and that they cannot copy (at least not that easy).

#3: Make provision for GROWTH

Many people strategize for the now. You need to have a strategy for the tomorrow. Have a strategy that lasts and is able to adapt to changes – simply because things change – especially when it comes to technology. You may have the world’s most advanced software to manage a storefront but your competitors may have an improved version the year after. It happens.

Here’s to greater victories in 2011!

Still Waiting For Success?

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Happy Monday! We are already in 2011 – are you in it full swing yet? Or are you still waiting to commit to your plans, strategies and success? Wait no longer!

The later you start on your plans, the higher the slope you’ll have to climb as you’ll be racing against time, success stories of other people and greater ideals. Why not create your own success story for a change? This image I found really says it all:

wait no longer

What is YOUR Success Plan?

May it be taking up courses, setting goals, attending conferences – the secret is really to just go out there and make it happen!

“Don’t wait for success, go make it happen!“

The 2011 Challenge

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BLESSED NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

How did you spend your new year’s day? Have you got all your resolutions on paper yet?

I don’t know about you but it would seem that humans in general, are procrastinators. We tend to leave everything to the very last minute and will only work when we are forced to do so. Such is seen in education – at school, we were forced to study whether we liked it or not but after we graduate, we no longer are forced to study, no longer forced to improve ourselves.

What does this have to do with 2011?

The keyword here is to CHALLENGE yourself. You only stop moving forward when you stop challenging yourself. Set higher goals and do not get stuck in the comfort zone. CHALLENGE to remain motivated. CHALLENGE to achieve greater success. CHALLENGE to stay ahead of the game.

Let 2011 begin by saying “I choose to challenge myself”.

If you’re wondering how the new year celebration was like in Malaysia, here’s a video I found on YouTube:

Have an awesome 2011 ahead! CHALLENGE – that’s my theme of the year. Will that be yours, too?

Branding.. A Dilemma in Malaysian Small Businesses

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branding among malaysian SMEsBranding is often talked about in both big and small businesses globally. Small businesses in Malaysia (also known as Small Medium Enterprises) are also often in the quest of ‘branding’. However, many of them fail to realize what branding is all about. They think that…

#1: Branding is Advertising

I would say that 95% of the time when I talk to clients in the very first meeting, clients would automatically talk about designing brochures, buntings, banners, newspaper advertisements, billboards, commercials and etc. If only branding is THAT easy…

Advertising is just one of the many tools for a branding process. So are your corporate identity, corporate trainings, team building activities, public relations, social media and events.. they are branding tools to create a brand perception among your target audience, for them to get to know you better in the most relevant method.

#2: Branding Requires A Huge Budget

Having said that, many will begin to think branding is out of their pocket’s league – and that isn’t true. The only budget a business should have is time. Branding takes time and is scalable to your monetary budget. In most situations, branding starts internally, within your own business – your directors, managers, employees, everyone.

branding inwards THEN outwards!

How so? If these people do not believe in your brand, you’ll have a hard time convincing your target audience to believe in you. Always examine inwards before going out there! Consumers are getting smarter these days and you definitely do not want to be seen as an empty brand.

“Ever seen a giant billboard by the highway and you went “that product isn’t any good” or “their customer service is lousy”? Start inwards!“

#3: Branding = Sales

This is perhaps what frustrates me the most – businesses tend to think that the minute they step into the branding process, sales will roll in like never before. If that is your purpose in branding, you’re heading the wrong direction. It takes time.. and for some, LOTS of time.

Why? Simple. One of our client in a retail business have been wanting to have a place in various major shopping malls in Malaysia and they couldn’t – their existing brand image does not meet the requirements of these locations. What we did immediately was to create a fresh brand image for them.. from scratch!

sales vs branding

We went through the motion of brainstorming, creating a new theme / concept, logo, training sessions and the likes and yes, it took a couple of months to get everything in place as they do not have any proper organization (i.e. management) as yet.

As you could’ve guessed, they gave up half way through with the reason of – there was no increase in sales. They see all they’ve spent as a liability instead of an investment – an asset to their business for expansion. Strange, but true. There are many out there that still think branding is the magic word to sales but unfortunately, it does not work that way in reality.

If Only Branding Is THAT Easy..

What is your take on branding? Have you came across brands you thought that they were ’empty’? How do you define ‘successful branding’?

Do share you thoughts here! :)

How to: Change Your Habit before 2011

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goodbye 2010!

It’s the last Monday of 2010! How are you feeling today?

I’m sure tons have happened in your life throughout the entire year and you may have come across habits that you wanted to get rid of but failed to do so. Whether it is spending too much time playing Facebook games, struggling to spend some time daily to invest in yourself or even to read a single book, 2011 is definitely a good year to get those behind you!

Habits

If you’re a driver, you should be able to relate to this occurrence at one point or another. Many times I’ve noted in amazement that even when I’m distracted (on the phone / listening to the radio / etc), I’ve always arrived at my destination while driving on a frequented route without realizing it.

It’s interesting to see how the brain takes complete control of where you are going without any conscious effort, provided it’s a regular route and interestingly, if you can truly understand the how this works, you will end up having the answer to creating a new habit for 2011.

The reason why it happens is because your mind follows instructions, without any conscious effort, that have been repeated over and over to it. This phenomenon can be summed up in one word – Habit. It’s the power of a habit that is at work here.

How Does Knowing This Help?

We know that repetition does the trick to form habits. The first step is to always acknowledge the habit. Identify it’s patterns and then try to break the routine. Taking the same example, imagine if I would to have placed a piece of paper in front of my dashboard daily with the writings: “Use Road B”, chances are, I’ll be able to make a conscious effort to take Road B instead of the usual A and in time to come, Road B will become the new habit.

Having that said, it applies to every other habits in life. All you need to do is to break that habit by changing it’s course. You need to constantly ‘remind’ yourself of that course you wish to take. Use something to remind you – a desktop wallpaper, a wristband, anything that you can look at it and remember your course.

Are you missing 2010 already? 2011 is going to be a new year, a new course, and new victories!

2010 Was Filled With Viral Videos

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It’s only a day before Christmas and the 2nd last Friday of 2010.. how exciting! If you’ve been following this site, you’ll probably realize that I occasionally post up various viral videos that has attracted my attention (and millions around the world).

I must say that 2010 was a year where I’ve seen the most viral videos as compared to the years before. From cats in IKEA to a barbecue party of phones.. there’s just so many out there that made it big via videos this year.

Having said that, I would like to share 4 more viral videos before the year ends, 4 videos which I’ve found interesting from 4 different industries using different concepts / themes:

#1: The Google Chrome Speed Test

I’ve never thought a browser could produce a video featuring it’s speed in such an environment – comparing it with the speed of sound, lightning and a potato. Once again, this is a video riding on the UNCONVENTIONAL route, a key to create conversations and attention among viewers.

#2: Safety Campaign

Instead of using the usual route of illustrating gory scenes of road accidents and the consequences of driving without seat belts, this video used EMOTIONS as their key to get people talking. You need to watch it to see it (or rather, feel it) for yourself.

#3: Samsung Digital Camcorder

Bored of seeing ads introducing the latest gadget and it’s functionalities? This is a product launch video with a twist – they filmed it using the camcorder itself and filmed something really interesting to watch – someone with crazy business card throwing skills! Although the video does not speak about the product much, it serves it’s purpose to attract attention and now more people will know of the product’s existence. They used the OUTRAGEOUS key to unlock conversations.

#4: Interactive!

This has to be one of my favourites! Perhaps one of the very few that pushed the limits of viral videos, taking it really far! In fact, they managed to cleverly and creatively promote their product within the video which you MUST SEE for yourself! This is definitely a combination of UNCONVENTIONAL and HILARIOUS allowing it to receive over 13 million views!

So, you want to create something that goes viral?

Think the keys of unlocking conversations: UNCONVENTIONAL, OUTRAGEOUS, EMOTIONS and HILARIOUS – You’ll be on your way to your very own viral campaign.

Have a HAPPY and BLESSED CHRISTMAS! :)

How to: Integrate Social Media in Business Using Blogs (Part 3)

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So you now have a blog up and running and you’re working on your posts consistently, great! The common question I face during meetups with clients is: “Is that enough?”.

Is it?

It depends. It depends on how far you want to take your company / brand. If you’re comfortable having that limited number of readers or if you have no problem with a slow and steady organic growth of readership, then yes, it is enough.

However in most cases, companies and businesses would want to see results fast. They want to build a huge readership base within the shortest amount of time possible. Some make it, some don’t. Why? It takes a little more than just commitment and consistency to make it happen.

Here are 3 tips on how businesses can build readership:

#1: Guest Posting

guest posting for extended exposureThis is pretty straight forward. Just like how your business is looking for opportunities to be featured on newspaper / magazine columns, you can write guest posts on other people’s blogs! All you need to do is to be on a lookout for opportunities to guest post – contact the site / blog owner to see if you can do so.

Remember to offer something in return such as an offer for them to write a guest post on your site, or to do a special feature about them or by linking them up. After all, it is a mutual benefit. Look for sites / blogs that relates to your industry so that your brand image is consistent. You may also want to wait till you have  a healthy amount of posts on your site before approaching others as they too, will want to know of your expertise :)

#2: Commenting

contribute through comments. do not spam!Just like guest posting, commenting on other writer’s posts can bring about great exposure to your business. How so? When you leave constructive comments and / or share ideas, you’re actually engaging with the author and fellow peers. This means that you will be recognized and when that happens, chances are, they too will drop by and visit your site as you leave your link.

Now be careful to not go on a commenting spree and leave links all over the blogosphere as that is equivalent to spam and that will work in reverse for you. Instead, look for sites that you can contribute ideas and learn from and get started on a healthy discussion – that will work much better as you position yourself in the industry on blogs.

#3: Submit / Syndicate Your Posts

building your network on social media

One good way of getting more readers is to leave as many trails of your post as possible on the web. It can be on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Stumble Upon, Reddit, Digg and the list never ends! Fortunately with the abundance of tools out there, you can get your posts in multiple places in one go such as Google’s Feedburner or if you’re using the Chrome browser, the Shareaholic extension makes things really simple, too!

Suggested read: I found this timely article here that suggests some of today’s growing tools you can submit your posts to to grow your readership network.

Is there more?

There sure is but the above 3 should be able to get things going pretty well for a start especially if you’re new to the blogging scene. Focus on growing your networks through engagement and do not worry about other techniques for now, you’ll definitely get there soon enough!

Do you have tips to share? I would love to hear what works / doesn’t work for you, too! :)

The Week Before Christmas

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In case you’re wondering – this site also reveals part of my happenings in life, injecting a little bit more flavour to the site as a whole; something lighter than the usual information dosage, especially for the weekend :)

It’s the 2nd last Monday of the year and less than a week away to Christmas! I don’t know about you but things seem to be getting busier by the day. Is that happening to you, too? Oh, if you noticed, I’ve changed this site’s background to green in conjunction with Christmas.

mysimplifieds community meetup

Just 2 days ago I was given the opportunity to share to a bunch of eager entrepreneurs on how MOFEW can assist them in starting off their very own online fashion business at Teeq Brasserie, Lot 10 KL. It was a half day event with about 100 participants for them to learn, exchange business opportunities and network among like-minded people in a really casual environment – haven’t spoke in events like that for quite sometime.

The highlight was really a reminder to aspiring entrepreneurs to look beyond mere sales especially in these times where engagement is equally (or even, more) important than figures. With competition on the rise, customers today are also spoilt for choice and only those whom are dedicated and committed to DELIVER will remain competitive.

I shared 2 simple tips on how entrepreneurs can take their business to the next level:

#1: Build your network to increase your NET WORTH!

Every business regardless of it’s size, requires a network for it to survive whether it is a network of businesses, consumers or suppliers. Start-up entrepreneurs often think that since they are still ‘small’, they may not have what it takes to build a network – and that’s absolutely wrong! The smaller you think you are, the bigger the network you should have!

#2: Don’t wait for attention. DEMAND for attention!

Playing the waiting game often do not work no matter how extensive your business network is. Look / create opportunities to expose your brand to the consumers. Active participation plays an important role here. Sit back and relax and you’ll lose out. Use videos if your competitors are using photos, change your packaging, use social media tools, web layouts and etc. Do what it takes to stand out!

Speaking about social media and Christmas…

Here’s a video you definitely want to check out!

Should Companies Ban Social Media Among Employees?

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should companies ban social media?

Recently I’ve been noticing more and more companies here in Malaysia putting a barrier around their employees, preventing them from accessing social media tools within the premise. While some go about a complete ban, some left room for the marketing department to roam about freely.

Is that a good move?

It is fully understandable that social media tools especially Facebook, Twitter and blogging can be a huge time waster at work. Employees may be playing games, chatting away or busy updating their personal blogs instead of being ‘productive’ at the workplace. It’s no wonder why companies have to resort to a complete ban.

However, it is also interesting to note that some of these companies are supposedly customer centric, saying that they listen to their customers and etc but at the same time, staying out of social media. Strange indeed.

Blogs (social media) doesn’t get people fired, people get people fired. – Deb Schultz, Altimeter Group

To me, social media should not be banned in a company at all. Instead, companies should establish clear guidelines on how social media can be used. Companies such as Dell takes social media very seriously and goes to the extend of training their employees in this area and they have been utmost successful.

IBM takes a different approach by allowing their employees to write their social media policy for them. Sounds absurd? Not really, considering the fact that since the employees will be the ones using social media, they should be the ones setting the guidelines. In fact, they are more likely to keep to it if they formed it themselves. Plus giving your employees this liberty may cultivate an innovative culture in your company.

Some companies don’t even have rules to regulate social media usage. They simply let their employees do what they like, as long they perform in the end.

So.. What’s the Conclusion?

There is really no hard and fast rule in implementing / regulating social media in a company. I really do prefer both Dell and IBM’s way of doing it but it also depends on your comfort level as a business owner in the industry. Remember, social media can act as both an asset and a liability to your brand. Experiment with techniques and find out what’s best for your environment – social media only works when you try.

How to: Integrate Social Media in Business Using Blogs (Part 2)

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Now that you’ve understood why blogs are vital to your business instead of having a traditional website, you may have in mind to make full use of them to sell your products and services, perhaps even going to the extend of writing 1-page sales pitches that may have worked for you in the past.

Unfortunately, sales pitches does not work on blogs – especially when you’re just getting started.

Why Don’t Sales Pitches Work?

Blogging, or rather, social media is not about sales. It’s about customer engagement, it’s about relating and listening to your target audience and to have a human presence. Customers today do not want to be sold to – they want to be heard. Writing a full fledge sales pitch will only drive people away than to convert them.

Err.. But Isn’t It All About Making Sales?

That may be true for your business but on social media, I personally believe that sales is secondary. Yes, you would ultimately want to convert customers and make sales but upright sales pitches would do more harm than good. There are, after all, various ways and techniques of conversions on social media.

leading the pack with your blog

How to Make Sales With My Blog? Here are 3 Steps to Get You Started!

#1: Give and you shall receive

“What? I thought we’re talking about making sales!?”

Yes, we are – the long term yet effective way and blogs are just the right medium to do it. Provide value to your readers consistently to establish your own presence first. Write about what you do best, industry updates and share your experiences with past clients.

During this stage, you’re actually creating a platform for your business to reach out in the future – take time in doing this as it is your biggest asset!

#2: Create exposure

“Oh come on, get on with the sales already!”

Blogs can give your business an exposure beyond traditional means. With the amount of blog syndication tools out there and with search engine optimization (SEO), the amount of exposure is massive. Now, all you need to do is to create opportunities (or window opportunities) for sales to happen.

Some use exclusive offers, contests, VIP passes, weekend giveaways and more to gain more exposure AND create an opportunity for your audience to get to know you better through your products. In other words, you’re creating leads for sales!

#3: Promotion

“Are we there yet?”

There are various ways of promoting your products / services through your blog and one of the common ways of doing so is by producing an e-book. An e-book allows you to pack more of your expertise to your audience, benefiting them and at the same time, creates an opportunity for you to upsell your products. It can be a seminar, workshop, demo sessions, trials and more.

So, What About Sales?

As you can see, social media is an excellent tool to drive sales and increase conversions, especially with blogs. If you’re STILL looking to make plain sales out of thin air for your business, then perhaps you may want to consider other alternatives :)