Effective Advertising – Effectising

According to a senior executive of a global advertising agency, “We are fast entering a world of excess supply as opposed to a world of excess supply.”

That senior executive claims that in such a world, effective advertising can make or break the businesses of suppliers. I fully agree with the senior executive’s view on this topic, though I felt if taken literally, that view is still too simplistic to ensure the continued survival of businesses. Advertising can make or break a business, and the key really is effectiveness. My firm believe is that effective advertising is what makes or breaks a business. I term it “EFFECTISING.”

Effective advertising – EFFECTISING – starts at the very beginning. It starts way before the line – way before the show gets onto the stage – if you know what I mean. Before the line activities should take up around 60%-80% of the effort needed to achieve EFFECTICING. As the Chinese saying goes, “Three minutes of excellent performance on the stage requires ten years of training off stage.”

Before the line activities, a crucial component of EFFECTISING, is all about defining the right objective – the goal.

I Love Living Life. I Am Happy.

Another inspirational piece, courtesy of Andy. This is what he wrote on his Facebook:

A friend shared this video with me and it really touches my heart and added infinity amount of fuel to help me face the challenges of life and more importantly helped me to count all my blessings … be thankful with what we have and not waste our life mourning on what we do not … learn to make the best of what we have guys always! Be happy!

Cost savings – is that your prime objective?

This is a follow-up on this other article I posted: Objective – Cost Savings?

In every high value-adding business, mine included, there is a direct correlation between quality and price. This is a basic law of business.

I recall this situation about a year ago. I had sold a consulting package to help a client streamine his business process thereby achieving cost savings. This wise client of mine, at the first kick-off meeting, made it very clear that any cost saving cannot come at the expense of service degradation for his client. “If I really wanted to save costs ruthlessly,” he said, “I might as well just shut down this business!”

Wise, indeed. Procurement executives who go for the lowest price, or press the price of a current supplier down, without giving this action some thought and without fully understanding the sevice level degradation that his company is going to suffer because of this, is doing his company, his colleagues, and himself a grave injustice. This is true for procurement executives in almost any industry – the PR industry included. [Read: PR...paperclips or partnership?]

Web 2.0 and Its Impact on Future of Internet Copy

To download a free copy of Michael Fortin’s controversial whitepaper entitled “The Death of the Salesletter: Web 2.0 and its Impact on the Future of Internet Copy”, click on this link: Download free whitepaper

Quotation

Emphasis of functionality over form is a concept that is fast becoming outdated.

SPRING Singapore GST Assistance Scheme

SPRING Singapore is the enterprise development agency under Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry. SPRING Singapore’s objective is to grow innovative companies and to foster a competitive Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector. SPRING Singapore works with partners to help enterprises in securing financing, capabilities and management development, technology and innovation cultivation, and accessing to overseas markets. In addition, as Singapore’s national standards and accreditation body, SPRING Singapore also develops and promotes internationally-recognised standards and quality assurance to enhance competitiveness and facilitate trade.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Assistance Scheme is an initiative that falls within SPRING Singapore’s Capability Development track. This is an assistance scheme for Singapore’s local businesses:

• that have opted for voluntary GST registration with the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS);  and
• who wish to set up or improve their accounting system and processes to be GST-compliant.

In a nutshell, the SPRING Singapore GST Assistance Scheme supports up to 100% of accounting software costs, and 50% of the qualifying costs for the following cost items – subject to a maximum grant of $5,000 per company:

• professional fees and training costs charged by third party IT consultants;
• hardware costs; and
• one time activation charges and up to 1 year of subscription fees for a new Internet connection

More details about this scheme may be found at this link: SPRING Singapore GST Assiatance Scheme

Grand Unified Diagram of Web 2.0 Technologies

Web 2.0 is all about affecting people’s lifes by improving interaction. It allows for, among many things, improved collaboration and communications. Since there are millions of so-called Web 2.0 technologies, and adding in corporate jargons, it is no wonder that most of us are at a lost. How can such a useful and powerful mix of technologies that is supposed to make my life better be so difficult to understand and grasp?

Well, I, for one, struggled for a long time trying to comprehend what Web 2.0 technologies are. After many moons, I finally arrived at this grand unified diagram of Web 2.0 technologies. I hope you will find this useful:

Web 2.0 Business Value Proposition

Web 2.0, or more correctly the future of the web, is all about integration of everyday activities with the web. The appeal of Web 2.0 is not longer about the technology. Rather, it is about the availability, and ease of use of these technologies, to enhance our lives – both for work, and for play.

Companies who are involved with web technologies aim at businesses should quickly re-focus their unique selling proposition into one along the lines of the following:

Our business is to make your work easier, more productive and fun. [And please be as specific as possible about which part of the work you are talking about; and how that part of the work pieces into the bigger picture of the business the client is in]

Companies targeting the consumer space should also have a similar value statement; one that goes like this:

Our business is to make your life easier, more enjoyable and fun. [And please be as specific as possible about which part of his life you are talking about; and how that part of life pieces into the bigger picture of him being a human being existing in this world]

Ideas That Spread Will Win

The Internet is a powerful tool for the spreading of ideas. And, as Seth Godin keeps saying, “Ideas that spread will win.”

There is no going back. Advertising agencies has to be skilled enough to use the web as a tool to spread their clients ideas – in the most creative manner such that the campaign is efficient and effective. Those that fail to do so will go out of business. And in fact, they will go out of business very quickly because – again thanks to the Internet – results can be measured almost instantaneously; in real time. Anyways, this is Seth’s talk on the topic of “Ideas that spread.”

Who Decides?

The rules of the game has to change when it comes to the Internet. When social networking site giant Facebook tried to modify their terms of service to allow them to own whatever users put on their site, users protested – and the users won. Facebook has just reversed that change.

As an aside, here is a video of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg:

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