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Category Archives: Entrepreneurial Marketing

Nurses are the unsung heros

03 Aug

When it is dark at night when everybody is sleeping or having fun somewhere, nurses are working hard in the wards taking care of patients, answering the call bells, preparing reports for the next day.

Nursing is a job that a lot of people will avoid, because it is known to be dirty, tiring, and low-paid. Do you know they clean up dead bodies? Do you know they walk 8km every shift? Do you know they don’t get paid as high as an engineer or accountant? I bet nursing course dosen’t cross your mind when you were schooling. Just to be frank, for me, it didn’t cross my mind at all.

The nursing adverts on TV and newspaper always show nurses smiling, carrying a light board walking around. They don’t always smile so sweetly like the model you see on Straits Times or Mediacorp Channel 5. They don’t just carry light boards around checking on patients. Those boards are probably the lightest things they carry around. They carry heavy patients. They handle difficult patients who think that they are king. They work with doctors who might think that they are always hight status than a nurse.

Nursing is not easy. Even a 3-year-old knows that. It needs courage, strength, wisdom, perseverance, endurance, and of course, the P words, Passion.

Nurses don’t work for money. Clearly, they work for passion. Passion for the needy and elderly. The love and care for the patients is the core of a nurse’s heart. 

If you have a friend who is a nurse, give him/her a little pat, say “you did a great job!” and smile.

To all nurses,

Happy nurses day!

[Disclaimer: All information is just personal opinions]

 
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Posted by on August 3, 2012 in Entrepreneurial Marketing

 

What do you get by working in Twitter?

30 Jan

Want to help influence the whole world? Check out what you get by working in Twitter!

 

Definitely a interesting recruitment video!

 
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Posted by on January 30, 2012 in Entrepreneurial Marketing, Interesting, Social Media

 

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Words of Wisdom by Ron Conway, SV Angel

29 Oct

What makes an defining entrepreneur?

Product visionary who own the minds of the customers.

Know what your customer needs and keep building products for them.

Good listener.

24/7 work ethics.

If u snooze, u lose.

Keep a bootstrapped mentality.

Lead by example.

Be tough. Executing is everything.

Trust your guts and make a decision.

Its better to decide than procrastinate.

Don’t compromise your reputation. Reputation is your most important asset.

Once a entrepreneur, Always a entrepreneur.

 
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Posted by on October 29, 2011 in Entrepreneurial Marketing

 

No U-Turn Syndrome (NUTS)

28 Oct

NUTS is when you want to do something and you seek approval of a higher authority. When there is no rule saying that you can do such a thing, then the standard answer is NO …

In the US, when there is no sign on the road, it means that you can make a U-turn. When the authorities do not want people to make U-turns, they will put up signs to tell you not to make U-turns. In Singapore, it is the reverse. When there is no sign on the road, you are not allowed to make U-turns. When the authorities allow you to make U-turns, then they will put up signs to give you that right.

The two different systems serve the same purpose – to better manage the traffic. They may look quite similar, just coming from different directions, but the social repercussion is significant.

- Chaotic Thoughts from the Old Millenium, Sim Wong Hoo, Creative Technology Pte Ltd, 1999

Source: http://sgentrepreneurs.com/commentary/2011/10/28/progress-made-but-singapore-government-still-micromanaging/


 
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Posted by on October 28, 2011 in Entrepreneurial Marketing, Startups

 

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Product & Customer Development Process (Steve Blank)

27 Apr

Product Development Process

This is like a “DNA” in Silicon Valley. Seems like almost all of the startups follow this model. Some startups succeed, while others ended up selling off their furnitures. Why is this so? Is there a problem with the product? Or market maturity? Or technology?

Startups spend money on Sales, Marketing, Business Development way too early. Interesting fact: Less than 10% of startups fail because the engineers are wrong. Over 90% or startups fail because they didn’t find the customers and market.

Let’s take a look at the Customer Development Process Model.

Customer Development Process

1. Customer Discovery

  • Go out and test some of the fundamental hypothesis of your business or product and see whether there are customers and market outside the building
  • Believe you are selling a problem or a need that the customer has
  • Show that customers agree with you, or else convince them that they have this problem or need they don’t even know!.

2. Customer Validation & 3.Customer Creation

  • Can the founders go out and generate revenue with the company?
  • If you are a engineer, and you have never go out and try to sell your idea or be part of a sales team, you will never ever be a great entrepreneur
  • Understand what customers need, how they buy, why they buy, etc.
  • How they think about the problem and how they thought about the problem you think they have
  • pricing model will change when u meet more customers
  • Make sure any press/PR the company has is part of a strategy, not a random tactic
  • How you need to scale demand for the company

4. Company Building

  • Shakespearean Tragedy for an entrepreneur
  • Company went public and entrepreneurs being thrown out
  • The people (entrepreneurs) who are involved in starting the company might not be the same people building the company
  • Doing something repeatable or scalable at this stage

Acting on Customer Discovery (Not outsource-able)

  • Founders need to go out and do customer discovery(ask customers whether they like your ideas), particularly the people capable of changing the strategy
  • Getting feedback from customers is the most valuable thing you will do as entrepreneurs

Source: Steven Blank, Four Steps to the Epiphany

 
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Posted by on April 27, 2011 in Entrepreneurial Marketing

 

TAM, SAM & Whole Product

22 Apr

Market

  • group of customers or organisations that are interested in the product or service
  • has the resources and ability to purchase

Total Available Market (TAM)

  • Total units/$ available at all potential competitors for relevant categories of products/services
  • sum of the annual unit sales of all competing products
  • deals with the no of potential customers who share the same problem

Steps to estimate TAM

  1. Size the market
  2. Identify the competitors
  3. Segment the Market & estimate the segment sizes
  4. Estimate competitor shares

Served Available Market (SAM)

  • Total units/$ available from addressable competitors for addressable percentages of p/s that they serve
  • If there are competitive p/s on the market, SAM=market that all of them currently serve
  • If the products/services are new, define the value of potential p/s (value of p/s consumers use because they do not have the product.

Whole Product

The Rules

  1. Does it solve a problem – Identify the pain killer that eases customers pain
  2. Is it easy to understand – 5 words is fine. 2 words is better. KISS rule (Keep it Simple & Short)
  3. Is it easy to get – Any barriers between you and your customers? Remove them!
  4. Is it easy to use – How good is a product if you want to buzz about it once u use it!
  5. Is it easy to share – products need viral components so users will want to tell everyone they know. make is easy for them to share.

Sources
http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/businessplan/a/defendableswag_2.htm

http://67.208.32.43/openee/presentation/Sizing-and-Validating-the-Opportunity-in-Emerging-Markets-v2.ppt

http://donthorson.typepad.com/don_thorson/2006/10/whole_product.html

 
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Posted by on April 22, 2011 in Entrepreneurial Marketing

 

Inbound marketing vs Outbound marketing

20 Apr

Lets get the definition of both types of marketing clear.

Inbound marketing(Content/Pull Marketing)

  • Marketing strategy that focuses on getting found by customers
  • Customer is on control
  • Types: Content (blogs, videos, etc); SEO, Social Media (facebook, twitter,etc)

Outbound marketing(Interruption/Push Marketing)

  • Marketing strategy that focuses on finding customers
  • Company is in control
  • Types: Advertisements, Promotions, Events, telemarketing, cold calling

Interesting facts:

  • 10.3 Billion searches are conducted every month on Google
  • 1 out of every 8 minutes online is spent on facebook
  • Twitter’s active users generate 90 Million tweets per day

“Search engines, blogging & other social trends have fundamentally transformed the way people & businesses purchase products, but most small businesses still use outdated and inefficient marketing methods – like print advertising, telemarketing & trade shows- that people increasingly find intrusive & screen out.”

Brian Halligan
Co-founder & CEO
Hubspot

“We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in & be what people are interested in.“
Craig Davis

Inbound marketing : Any marketing tactic that relies on earning people’s interest instead of buying it;a.k.a. the key to marketing transformation

Why inbound marketing???

  • Inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional, outbound marketing
  • 42%-67% of companies have acquired a customer through facebook/twitter/blogs
  • The average budget spent on company blogs and social media has nearly doubled in two years

Inbound marketing cost less than outbound marketing. Most content of inbound marketing is free of charge.

Cost effectiveness can be measured by Return on investment (ROI). A 2010 study by Hubspot titled “State of Inbounding Marketing” shows that inbound marketing have 60% lower cost per lead, which simply means less money is utilized to produce more results.

Consumers are figuring out ways to block the outbound marketing interruptions. Due to change in customer behaviors, customers wants to be in control of what they are interested in.

Let’s take a look at the summary of the two types of marketing.

Inbound marketing Outbound marketing
Marketing strategy that focuses on getting found by customers Marketing strategy that focuses on finding customers
Customer is in control Company is in control
Types: Content (blogs, videos, etc); SEO, Social Media (facebook, twitter,etc) Types: Advertisements, Promotions, Events, telemarketing, cold calling
Cost less; cost effective Cost more; cost ineffective
Targets interested individual Targets broad audience
Pros:

  • Inexpensive
  • effective for all-size businesses
  • reaches targeted/interested buyer
  • Build credibility and loyalty
 Pros:

  • Reaches broad audience
  • Able to measure effectiveness
  • Potential customers familiar with the methods
Cons:

  • Time consuming
  • Results might take some time
  • Can be difficult to measure results
 Cons:

  • Expensive
  • Prospects turned off and less trustful

Great companies are not sold, they are bought.(Evan Dolls, Co-founder, Flipboard)


Dharmesh Shah, Co-founder of HubSpot

Below is an interesting video by HubSpot. They are really the “master of Inbound marketing”. Watch the video, or song and comment whether u agree with me!

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbound_marketing

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/2989/Inbound-Marketing-vs-Outbound-Marketing.aspx

http://wordzopolis.com/2010/11/inbound-marketing-vs-outbound-marketing/

Is outbound marketing then useless? Should companies focus more on inbound marketing and less on outbound marketing? Does it depends on different types of businesses? What are your thoughts?

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2011 in Entrepreneurial Marketing, Social Media

 

Marketing for B2B and B2C

15 Apr

People buying a product for themselves and buying for their company is different. Let’s take a look at the different businesses that sell to consumers and Businesses.

B2C vs B2B

  • Product Driven vs Relationship Driven
  • Maximize the value of transaction vs Maximize the value of relationship
  • Large target market vs Small and focused market
  • Single step buying process, shorter sales cycle vs Multiple steps buying process, longer sales cycle
  • Merchandising and point of purchase vs Educational and awareness building activities
  • Brand identity created through repetition and imagery vs Brand identity created on personal relationship
  • Emotional buying decision based on status, desire, or price vs Rational buying decision based on business value
B2C
- Convert shoppers to buyers!
- activities like deals, discounts, coupons, displays, offers to attract consumers
- B2C marketing campaign: concerned with the transaction and are shorter in duration-> need to capture customers’ interest quick!
- Many companies realized importance of loyalty
- they combine merchandising and education to bring customers back
- Great customer service
- Eg. Email campaign to bring customers to a page where they can purchase goods easily

B2B
- process is longer and more involved
- focus on relationship building and communication
- they use marketing to educate the audience because the decision to puchase is usually a multi-step process and involves multiple persons.
- Content is most important
- newsletters, media coverage helps companies educate the prospects
-Eg. Email campaign is to direct the prospects to a page to know about the products and services

B2B buyer vs B2C buyer

B2B Buyer
- understand your product and services
- wants or needs your p & s to help their company stay profitable  and competitive
- Writing marketing copy is more complex and requires research to provide information to the buyer
- B2B customer service begins with a customer’s very first contact with the company

B2C Buyer
- always looking for the best price and will research competitor prior to buying
- trust in brand
- B2C marketing needs to convince the person to buy and build trust and loyalty with their customers
- B2C customer service helps build customer loyalty where customers are willing to pay a higher price for what they trust

Branding
-B2C: encourage consumer to buy, remain loyal
-B2B: help you to be considered, not necessarily chosen

Summary
The difference between B2B and B2C marketing comes down to the emotional perspective about the purchase. Consumers make buying decisions based on status comfort, quality, desire, price, etc. Business buyers make buying decisions based on increasing profitability, reducing costs, and enhancing productivity.
For B2B marketing, it needs to help the business determine the value of the product and service through quality materials, testimonials and other activities that build credibility.
For B2C marketing, understand what motivates the buyer and the emotional aspect of the buying decision. Create compelling materials that build awareness for the brand, enhance their comfort in buying the product, and quality service.
 
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Posted by on April 15, 2011 in Entrepreneurial Marketing, Social Media

 

TEDxPennQuarter – Rohit Bhargava – Reinventing Marketing

13 Apr

Marketing is simply influencing. We are marketing everyday. You want to watch a movie with your friends, so you tell them about the movie and how nice it is. Just that, you are marketing the movie to them, as well as “pitching” to them why they should watch the movie!

The Marketing Mirage… (FPD)
Features.. Promotions.. Demographics..

Consumers in the 1960s and 1970s…

food -> message/product, baby -> consumers…

Anybody can do marketing now.. Just click it! You don’t need to be a geek to do marketing..

Virtual trust exist. It meas trusting the opinion of someone you don’t know, no one in your network knows, and no way to find out its real or credible.

Creating a story that is sharable is much more important than just creating a story. Tell a story that people will share to other people.

Lets talk about this game – Contra (I use to play this alot!!)

This game is made by Konami, a Japanese company. Flaw of game: Too hard, 3 lives only to complete 8 levels, only afew experts can do that. They did something. They created a code so that people will have 30 lives instead of 3.

Why is Contra so famous? This game might be fun to play. But it is the cheat code that makes people retell that.

Reinventing marketing -> Telling a story to others so other people can retell. :)

 
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Posted by on April 13, 2011 in Entrepreneurial Marketing, Social Media

 

TEDxDanubia 2011 – Lakshmi Pratury – What the West can learn from the East

13 Apr

Generality is sometimes dangerous.

The story of an elephant.

One day, a baby elephant was brought to the zoo. On the first day, it tried to go out. It tried on the second day again. It tried over ten times and failed, so it resigned itself  to its fate. Ten years later, a boy comes to the zoo. He asked the zookeeper, “Why is the elephant so sad?” the zoo keeper replied, “Because the elephant wants to come out.” “But the fences are so small and the rope tied to elephant is so thin!” The elephant can just escape easily, but it cant see its own strength. Thats why it stays at where it is.

Some people can’t see its own strength and ability.

Celebrate our differences. Try to understand each other.

Life is not about the moments we breath, but the moments that take our breath away.

 
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Posted by on April 13, 2011 in Entrepreneurial Marketing, Interesting

 
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