A little insanity goes a long way...

There are a couple of stuff I'm planning for. Which in actual fact, I've been thinking for a pretty long time. There's two main ones to share with you.

The way I remember Singapore
I had a plan to write a billingual Coffee-Table book (you know, the kind of photographic pictorial with lots of poetic captions. Pretty much a concept book.) to record Singapore before 2010. The thought had been stuck in my mind for the longest time but no actual moves were actually executed to put it into action. Browsed a few bookshops (I browse bookshops when I'm bored, lacking inspirations or simply depressed) then dropped by a cafe round my neighbourhood yesterday and decided to get an Erdinger. I was staring into this neon signboard and a perfect phrase depicting the scene floated into my mind like magic. The lights of the city from the eyes of an 8-year old child and how the same scene is being translated differently as we age. And yes, I told myself. That is what I want to do. I want to make that thought a reality.

So today, I did a research on the local publishers and wrote to every one of them, with a brief summary of the concept. It's my first time tackling with publishers, so you could imagine I had absolutely no idea where to start from. With the recession this year, I can expect publishers are weary about selling unsolicited works. From publishing books that are more leisure than educational. I suspect I would have alot of convincing to do. The next is putting the team together. That would take alot more work. I don't mind working on the project alone really, but I recognise the fact that I may not be the best person for everything. Will keep everyone in view on the outcome. Will probably start a book blog if a publisher indicates interest. It is essential that this book is printed within a designed lead time, as it is planned to celebrate Singapore entering the new era of 2010.

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The remake and rebirth of Market-Share Blog

Hosting on blogspot is great. I don't have to take care of all the templates, CMS and marketing. Blogspot is easily searchable and friendly to use. I don't have to worry about downtime because Google cannot afford to disappoint. So I am relatively happy here actually. But on the other hand, I also understand the importance of personal branding, of owning an address and "home" that helps to create an impression. And I reckon that it is best that I move back to my own host. The idea is not hard and stone yet, but plans are underway. If you have some experiences or opinions to share, I'd be more than happy to hear it out. In any case, do expect http://www.belindaang.com to be ready for access anytime today. ;-)

The Great Expectations

We've heard it perhaps a thousand times, since the beginning of the credit crunch. In any case, this is actually a familiar word somebody must have told us at some point of our lifes. The keyword is... Managing Expectations.

This is however more relevant in times today where people are losing their jobs by the minute, if not second. There is an estimation of 6 million unemployment in China, 8% in USA and on our sunny isle of Singapore, a 3% high. No one has the answer to when this tsunami may end. Finland's government has collapsed. Hence it is far more important for us today, to be able to manage expectations. Expectations of our life, of our job and our desires.

If man was ruled by needs and not wants, if greed was replaced by gratefulness, the world will not see itself being washed into these great big waves, a deja vu of the Great Depression, where Karl Marx once observed that history will repeat itself. As he said, the first time was a tragedy, the second is a farce.

I ran my own food business for a short period of 4 years. And as an employer, I made a very interesting observation. In contrary to common beliefs, I realised that age nor qualification is an obstacle to getting the desired job. Usually the people who manage to get a job, always gets a job, no matter how many times they have job-hopped. And the people who fail in getting a job, will never get their hands on that ideal job. It is all a matter of attitude and managing of expectations. As they all say, to change your life, first change your mind.

There are always similar traits in people who carry a positive attitude. They are polite, full of smiles, able to express themselves well, sincere and eager to contribute. The people who tend to fail in an interview are usually self-absorbed, mr-know-it-all, mr-know-how, rude or it may seem to pain them to say an additional word when questioned. They are almost too eager to ask what the company can provide than to ask themselves how they can add-value to the organisation. Usually, I like to judge my first impression of people from a handshake and if they will put the chair back. I think it tells alot about a person, about his/her attitude , upbringing and interest. A firm handshake and putting the chair back in its original position lightly will definitely get in my good books quite immediately.

Returning to the topic of managing expectations. There are alot of adjustments to make and it's all in the head. Firstly, don't expect the same salary and job comfort. There will definitely be alot of intensity and adjustments in salaries. Especially for fresh grads waiting to embark on an exciting career, I'm sorry to say it may not sound too exciting afterall. For the mid-career change, who has just got retrenched or terminated, it may not be easy to find a job in the same capacity in this period. Take the best use of this time to upgrade skills and get yourself intouch with the industry. Opportunities are only for those who are prepared for it. Hence, make sure you are always prepared, always on your toes. When the economy rebounce, you don't want to be caught left behind.

Manage expectations in your lifestyle. Man has always been in a neverending pursuit for luxury and material wants. In unforeseen weathers like this, cash is king. Keep that dollar for a rainy day use, be very very careful with spending on credit (actually, don't even try), manage and plan loans with delicate care and read investment products thoroughly to understand your risks before attempting to outwit the market. Understand that you may not be dining out as often, cut down on that monthly shopping spree and perhaps trade in your BMW for a Toyota.

Be grateful about the things you have in your life and not the things you seem to be losing. In actual fact, we lost nothing. We had nothing to start from anyway. If we all rule our lifes with our needs and not wants, we will see a lighter side of life.

Welcome, the real era of Social Media Marketing

I have been spending quite some quality time on twitter and reading useful blogs of others. As I am writing, I am still continuously trying to figure out what may be the correct focus to direct this post.

Social media has always been a very skeptical form of marketing for alot of traditional marketeers as there is no clear ROI or statistics which can be provided as a base for business. Especially in the context of Asia, where almost everything must be "seen" or "touch" to "believe". However, this may all change with evolution of statistical tools on individual social networking platforms and most of all, the recent launch of Buzz Gain. If you need to get excited over something, then this must be it!

Currently in Beta stage (Free for limited period), Buzz Gain is a really simple web-based client that allows you to track over 100 social networking sites and search your keyword on blogs, microblogs etc. This allows a complete consolidation of data, including listening to all the important conversations about your product or business all in one site. Learn about who you should be tracking or following. And at the click of a button, analyze your demographics as graphs are created automatically to explain trends! Now you know WHO is looking and talking about you, WHO you should be talking to and WHAT are the results or outcome of the conversations. Finally a one-stop and affordable solution to all Social PR headaches.

Although I wouldn't say the program is perfect just yet. Afterall, it is still in beta launch. One of the biggest turnoff is its speed. The program would have been close to a wonder if it loaded up nicely and promptly too. The beta version may be showing signs of lagging and delayed information. More insights of analysis and information can also be developed, hopefully at a later point of time. But at the very least, if you have no idea where start on your social PR, now here's a useful assistant.

The service would probably have very large potential in Asia also, especially in China. With latest stats by Internet World Stats, China's internet population leads the world with approximately 253 million internet users end December 2008. And we are looking at a merely 19% penetration of its entire billion population. Imagine how much this service could potentially do for clients wanting to enter the dragon's gate? There are over 578 million internet users in Asia alone (versus 885 million in the rest of the world), where rising markets like India only has a 5.2% internet penetration currently. (Statistics are quoted from Internet World Stats) With the consumer market so saturated in Europe and America, brands and businesses are quick eyeing on the big piece of cake in the less-than developed far east.

However, Asia's consumer behavior and internet trends may differ with those from the West, with their own specialised and isolated platforms (such as qq.com in China). And these are usually quite contained within their own communities. Hence services such as BuzzGain will need to obtain a better and more thorough understanding of the system to efficiently get it right. Even as a fellow Chinese, I'm finding it tough to keep up with the lighting speed trends of the China market. Their growth is tremendous and they are quick in developing tools that match those of the West. Moreover, the web structure in the east is not as organized and there are alot of "noise" to filter before actual contents and conversations can be read and analyzed. Hence adequate time will need to be invested to study the market in detail.

In the meantime, I would like to give a pat on the shoulder of the BuzzGain team. If you haven't signed up for a demo, do so today. You'd be pleasantly surprised at the convenience it provides. And if you have a word to say to BuzzGain, feedback on how you think it could help you better, or just thank them for the wonderful innovation, give a BUZZ to @mukund on twitter. The fine man will be more than pleased to hear from you.

The screwed banks.

No, I really don't mean to be rude, nor has this posting has anything directly involved with marketing either. I am simply personally fustrated with the OCBC bank of Singapore. I wouldn't say they have a bad service because the telephone operators have been rather patient with me. But I'm just wondering what's wrong inside?

The bank sent me a letter to inform me of some pending documents they need from me to facilitate a certain application. So, I walked in personally to a bank to verify the documents and submitted it on the spot, with the copy of the letter the bank sent me. The bank staff even took the letter from me as a reference. About 3 days later, I received an SMS on my phone to inform me the documents have been received and my application status will be informed via mail. So I assumed it is all in processing.

Just yesterday, I received ANOTHER letter to "remind" me to submit the "pending documents", WHICH I already did more than a week ago! (maybe 2 weeks) I was baffled. So I called the call centre for assistance. And they said they'll check. They called me back again today to tell me the relevant department has yet to receive my documents.

Hence, why did I recieve the text message? And why did I walk-in to the bank personally in the first place if it is redundant? And why would there be conflicting information from the same department in the same bank?

Did the recession drove the banks into turmoils and so the office is covered with flying papers everywhere? I don't know... but OCBC had better look into its internal process.

AND another comment to ALL banks... please save your papers. You could potentially cut ALOT of cost from that. Why keep sending reminder letters in this era of technology? Do consider practicing some form of environmental friendly policies.

Digital Presence

I had some time on my hands over the weekend to devote to my digital presence. And so I updated my linkedin, contributed to twitter religiously, finally updated myspace too (which I haven't done so for maybe years?) and I would say the results has been quite satisfactory for me in a mere 3 days.

Firstly, I doubled my twitter followers (which isn't alot but I would say are quality connections), did up a background for my twitter page so people can locate me easily. The active responses I post also mean I get to absorb alot more wealth of information as the tweets are updated almost every minute. Hence every minute I'm learning something new about the industry or in another part of the world.

Secondly, I decide to post the question on a possible internship with marketing experts over Linkedin. And I'm pleasantly surprised by the quality offers I manage to get. Although I don't have an abundance of replies but I have gathered enough offers to last me for the entire year if not two. Opportunities to take a few weeks off work to explore internship in Abu Dhabi, Poland, New York, Sydney etc are indeed very attractive. The next challenge is now trying to arrange my schedule at work to make it happen. Perhaps this could potentially spark off a new practice in the industry where frequent exchange as such may lead to an overall upgrade in the quality of marketing professionals. Afterall, exposure is extremely important in our line of job. However, employers may have to be alot more open-minded to the idea of this practice and that sharing does not mean divulging confidential information.

Finally, perhaps the major challenge I find that has to be tackled is actually blogging. It's extremely easy to blabble on and on without a focus for contents. But it is an art to be able to find an attractive angle and offering fresh and not recycled contents to readers. Fresh perspectives are usually the main attraction for returning visitors. But I have to admit it is easier said than done. As I'm honing my skills in convincing you, I hope you'll be patient and hang in there.

Ponders

I was just thinking quite aloud today, if I have been doing enough learning and picking up enough new information? If I don't log on to my TweetDeck, I basically spend the day not absorbing much. But once the influx of thoughts from all the expertise I'm following starts flooding over, that's when the real information and education starts infiltrating. If you ain't on twitter yet, you better start doing so. I'm NOT joking. (Add me if you haven't)

Every marketing book I have at home is half-read. I probably should invest more time into digesting the wealth of knowledge. If I have a new year resolution this year, it should start just right from that. And so, I was also wondering if I'm interested to travel and mentor under marketing/branding experts for a couple of weeks, would anyone be willing to take me in, all self-paid? Probably someone would, if I seriously asked. After all, I don't have the luxury of taking a month leave off my work. At least not for now. But I do have the serious intention to explore. If anyone is reading this and don't mind offering me the opportunity, I would love to take it up!

Drawing up a brief blueprint of my future, deciding how I want it to be, what do I want to be and how do I reach it. Still in sketchy stage and all drawn with pencil in my mind. Hence erasable and editable.

Food for thought :

The strong waves of 2009

Happy New Year folks! It's 2nd January 2009. I have to start practicing writing the right date. I tend to waste too many cheques in the first month of every year.

Today didn't exactly start off on a fantastic note, when I had to give my intern a ticking as she was absolutely not paying attention to what she was doing. (it's only a minutes for goodness sake, and I had to make her change it 4 times!) But let's leave her to make the final changes for now.

Many people have told me, 2009 will come in a fiery big tsunami wave. It will sweep away anything that is in its way. The worse has yet to arrive, that's what I'm hearing. Our Prime Minister made his traditional New Year speech yesterday indicating a forecasted -2.0 growth for Singapore in 2009. The annual budget has been pushed forth to January, hoping policies will aid individuals and companies to tide these fiery storms earlier. It hasn't quite hit me directly yet, but from the look of it, it ain't going to give a warning when it strikes. I am not an economic expert and I can't tell you anything new from this post. Which I bet you haven't heard anything new for a long time from anyone else either, that is.

Despite the crisis, it definitely isn't the first time the human race has been hit hard. This can't be tougher to survive than the world wars nor the Great Depression back in the 30s. Somehow, human are rare creatures whom can find and create opportunities in all situations. Even animals find their own way into survival.

The future holds a future in itself. So let's anticipate an optimistic 2009 and may we brave the storms like warriors together!