me, my passion & digital marketing
Twitter Marketing
Aug 15th
I get a lot of people asking me about how to maximize the use of internet for marketing purposes so when someone asks me this question, I usually answer rather vaguely because putting internet as part of the marketing plan is more than just creating a website or having a Facebook page or a Twitter account. But today, when a friend asked me how to effectively use Twitter to market her brick & mortar business, I gave her a long explanation with examples.. and here’s what I said …
Marketing digitally vs marketing traditionally is pretty much the same, so it is the fundamentals that you have to get right. This means that it has to be an entire plan and not just a one off idea. In the past I thought that buying an ad or banner in one of the portals could get leads or hits or sales but I was really wrong. When you do so, you get 10% of the impact whereas when you integrate it into the entire marketing plan/campaign, you get at least 80% of the impact. The same goes for Twitter – you can’t throw in one or two freebie or promotion and expect the whole community to jump into it. There are a few pointers I gave her :-
Draw a plan
Start with the end in mind – what is your objective? It can be to increase walk in, get people to go the the website, get people to enquire and more. With the end in mind, we work backwards … that is how to reach this end objective. The ‘how’ is the planned stuff like monthly freebies, contest, give-aways, special announcements and whatever you have in mind. It is also a good idea to integrate with Foursquare if you have a brick & mortar.
Engage with the targeted audience
Its funny people tell me that they don’t have followers and when I ask them whether they tweet.. the answer is NO. The same goes for an organization/brand – if you don’t create conversations with your target audience, who will follow you? Of course, even when you have conversation with them, they need not necessarily follow you. But you must engage, be interested in others, converse with them and you will gradually have followers. Example: If you are in wellness industry – look out for keywords such as stress, pain and converse with these people .. maybe offer a free reflexology or ask them to bring a friend to enjoy some free wellness course. The possibilities are endless.
Execute
Executing Twitter marketing can be a full time job! Monitor, manage and maintain your Twitter campaigns and at the same time listening to the conversations surrounding the topics. No one expects a 24 hour response, so be quick in your responses else you might generate more negatives than positives.
Monitor responses
If you don’t monitor, you will never know what works best – and I always believe that trial and error is a good way to test a new campaign.
Twitter is a tool, not a work-it-all marketing tool like what some people think. It is a free tool but you still need a plan on how you want to use it, work on it and lots of trial and error to see what works best.
p/s: If you are are keen on understanding how Twitter can work for your business, contact me! 
Digital Marketing
Aug 4th
What is digital marketing really?
I would say that there is no difference in marketing and digital marketing except for the tools and media used. The different tools and media requires different emphasis, approach and timing. Unlike conventional marketing mediums, digital marketing gives instant results and the flexibility to tweaks and change if results are not as expected. Here’s my take on what a digital marketing strategy should have (might not be a conclusive list/item) :-
Objective-Driven Website
I believe that every website should be crafted with a goal in mind – and worked around it are elements to drive towards that goal. Websites should not just be informative, it should drive inquiries and/or sales. Even if you do not have an e-commerce site, a lot of people goes online to get additional information before buying it offline.
Corporate Blog
A blog to keep customers / would-be customer / stakeholders / potential investors updated on the latest on-goings with the organization. Everyone loves news, insider news from the source, so using the blog can help deliver messages subtly.
Digital Campaigns
Running a campaign targeted to the online crowd requires careful planning. The first thing to consider is target market and which channels (media) to use to reach out to your target market. Secondly, to tie the marketing message with a dash of creativity. Creative ideas brings out amazing results. Thirdly, time the campaign properly – duration, how long, when .. etc.
Digital Medium / Tools
Use the various digital medium and tools to engage with would-be customers and customers, yes.. things like Facebook Page, Twitter and Linkedin.
Consistency
It is important to update your digital messages faithfully and consistently. At times I see a twitter page with last messages dated 6 months back, I know that it is abandoned and overlooked, maybe? Digital can be convenient and ‘cheap’ (this is arguable because it requires time, space which is money) but it also requires careful planning, proper execution and consistency.
Special Trip to Cherating
Aug 1st
“We are going to Cherating” said hubby.
Its a family trip organized by hubby’s sister. The entire entourage had 10 adults and 2 kids, in 3 cars. I was told that it will be a dorm-style accommodation whereby there will be 5 bunk beds, and toilet facility is limited to one and its outside the room. I’ve never stayed in dorms or travel backpack-style so this type of accommodation is not my cup of tea… and the thought of toilet outdoor scares me! What if I need to have a toilet break midnight?
Ruby’s Resort – I was told. I checked out the website. Well, not as scary as I initially imagined it to be. When we arrived at Cherating, it was a short 5 minutes drive away to reach the resort. There was a tiny road leading into Club Med Cherating thereafter we were supposed to follow a gravel road leading to the resort. Very adventurous, I thought. On arrival, I was pleased. It was peaceful and there was a private beach for the resort – very pleasant indeed! The best of it all was the amount of fur friends in the resort!! They were brought in by the guest. Yes! Its a dog-friendly resort, probably the only one in Malaysia, I think… The chalets all had a small verandah in front of them – so the dogs had a small confined area to themselves. Some owners brought the dogs for walk, some took them for a swim.
I’m so fond of dogs, so I took every opportunity to pat the dogs, play with them, say hi and made some new friends. Below are some of my new fur buddies :-
This is me with the resident dog belonging to the owner of the resort. He is a Labrador named Stout. I watched him greeting the resort guest by standing at the cafe door, waiting to be patted. When I took this photo, he was waiting to get inside the staff area. Cute dog, isn’t he? (well, hubby didn’t really agree with this statement… hahaha )
This dog belongs to one of the resort guest. The owner told me that this adorable Golden Retriever is Mickey. He is friendly and gave me this huge smile every time I look at him, or was he?
Yes, a Siberian Husky! He is Taiko, his owner told me. He never fails to wags his tail everytime I walk past. I feel like hugging him!
They were not the only dogs I made friends with. Most of them I did not have a chance to photograph them. I had lots of fun with the dogs, but that’s not all. It was an educational trip (lol) as there was firefly watching boat trip and also a trip to watch the turtles laying eggs. My camera couldn’t snap photos in the pitch darkness without flash, so I could only poach hubby’s photographs taken on his super 24MB DSLR.
This green turtle was laying eggs when we arrived. And this pic was taken after the process. She was covering up the hole filled with eggs. According to the ranger, the whole process of laying eggs till she goes back to the sea takes approx 3 hours.
It was a short and nice trip. I think I’ll make another trip to Ruby’s Resort again to check up on other owner’s dogs … If you are a dog owner (& lover), you might want to check out Ruby’s Resort and I’ve also mapped the coordinates on google map below.
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