I am delighted to let you know that we have already successfully trained more than 100 marketeers from a lot of well known companies in the last few months at the “Adams e-Marketing & Social Media” course.  If you and your colleagues have not joined, do register soon as seats are always running out!

This time, I decide to write to you on the topic of understanding your competition.  With the rise of Internet and Social Media, it is becoming clear that it is the most prominent and highly penetrated media of all time.  There is no other single magazine or newspaper or TV channels has the same coverage as Facebook in the history of mankind.  The critical success factor for “Postmodern” marketing strategy is “how good are you covering the Internet/Social Media with your brand?”.  If you have not started the journey, I am sure the market leaders in your industry has already started their strategy sometime during the last 2 years or earlier.

Let’s assume I am your potential customer and I have some idea, but not a lot, on features and brands of products that I need to buy in your category.  Most probably, I gained these knowledge through TV commercials, magazines, outdoor ads, word of mouth and …etc.  However, I would search the names or keywords that come to my mind first on Google or Yahoo (or Baidu if I am in China).  Then I would call whoever being listed with most attractive or interesting or relevant descriptions on the first page of the search results.  If I am anxious, I would call the suppliers being listed on the paid search results as they often have the most condensed descriptions that may match to my requirements…

What I am trying to illustrate here is that you don’t have any choice today if you are not trying hard to get your online presence prominent, your competitors will.  Other than going to the search engines to find out the competitions, I am pleased to list here again that Adams has a number of ways to help our clients to get a more concrete picture of the reality on the Internet:

1.       Online Survey: Adams has conducted numerous survey for a lot of companies of different industries to get consumer insights, to build up customer database and to push sales.  One of the most successful case is that we have gather 8000 fully completed surveys in 8 hours for an international advertising agency of consumer shopping behavior.

2.       Social Media/Discussion Forums/Blogs Brand Tracking:  Adams is now offering to our customer to track online behaviors of their target customers on the predefined set of websites including forums, blogs and social media.  This can actually provide a snapshot of the competitive landscape as well as consumer behavior when they come to decide to buy products of your category. E.g. You can have folders of messages collected from the Internet showing positive/negative News, comments, press releases (own & competitors)…

3.       China Top 4 Social Media Trending Report:  Adams is actively working with business partners to provide a very comprehensive view on research data drawn from the top 4 social media in China (Weibo, QQ, RenRen, Kaixin001).  By selection of segment demographics, a insightful report based on the data found on these social media will be generated according to the product category of your choice.  E.g. It is actually possible to find out what are the most talked about brands among 18 to 30 young people for mobile phone in the last 3 years.

If you are interested to find out more, please do not hesitate to contact us anytime on +852 2723 9977 or email: admin@adamshk.com.

Best regards,

Greetings to you!

I feel good writing to you again.  We had 2 very successful classes of “Strategy of e-Marketing & Social Media Marketing” happened in the last 2 months at the Mira Hotel Hong Kong with overwhelming responses of over 30 people attended each time.  We decided to re-run the training for the third time on Oct 13, 2011 at the Mira again.  Please feel free to forward to your friends who maybe interested for us.

A topic we talk a lot these days is “Are you REALLY FAMOUS online?”  You can be very famous in general and everyone may know your brand or company but yet you can still be NOBODY on the internet!!!  Let me give you a quiz to ask yourself to see how FAMOUS are you really on the internet?  Assuming you are a brand/company focusing China Market or Tourists coming from China?

1. Can you find your company/brand names on first page of paid advertisements or natural search results of www.Baidu.com when you input them in English and/or Simplified Chinese?
2. Can you find accounts or pages (公共主頁) of your company/brand names on www.RenRen.com when you input them in English and/or Simplified Chinese?
3. Can you find accounts or pages (企業版) of your company/brand names on www.Weibo.com when you input them in English and/or Simplified Chinese?
4. Can you find videos (TVC’s or Product Demos…etc) about your company/brand names on www.Youku.com when you input them in English and/or Simplified Chinese?

What I have listed here are the FOUR of the most important websites in China:

1. Baidu is No.1 Search Engine in China (Vs. Google in rest of the world)
2. RenRen is No.1 Social Network in China (Vs. Facebook in rest of the world)
3. Weibo is No.1 Micro-blogging Network in China (Vs. Twitter in rest of the world)
4. Youku is No.1 Video Broadcasting Portal in China (Vs. YouTube in rest of the world)

I personally believe, if you are REALLY FAMOUS online, you need to be found at least on these BIG FOUR categories of networks of the specific country where your target customers are located.  For example, in Hong Kong if you are targeting Chinese based customers, we are talking about Yahoo.com.hk, Facebook, Weibo and YouTube.  Obviously, it is not as simple as just appearing on these BIG FOUR websites as we are yet disregarding the collective effects of the blogs and discussion forums!  Nonetheless, it is the most simplest way to start doing a REALITY CHECK!

However, you may argue that it is only applicable for B2C business but not for B2B business!  What would you think if you repeat the same exercise with your competitor’s names and brands, then you find out the results are better than yours?  I think it is fair to consider you just need to compare with companies of your same category!

In the last couple of years Adams has helped different companies to increase their “Online Presence” and “Online Branding“.  It is really a PR activity but we are talking about the media is the internet.  Sometimes, you need to be extremely cautious about what is happening on the internet as your competitors may do very harmful actions to you without notice!!  Hence, you need some mechanism to help you to do the job!

We are happy to tell you that Adams is partnering with companies to conduct market research for our customers to evaluate the “Online Presence” or “Online Branding” of any given company or brand names by gathering the results from the major social media networks, blogs, forums and etc.

By intelligent knowledge database categorization, we are helping customers to define news and messages appearing on the internet are giving them “positive” or “negative” impact.

We are exciting to see this happen as there are no such benchmarking standards available to these dates but the increasing demand for such requirement is high!  The exciting thing is you can also measure your regional presence in Greater China.

We really hope these kind of service may help us all marketeers to have a better way to manage our brands on the internet and be more objectively measuring the success together!

I look forward to connecting with you again soon!

Best regards,

Dear Friend,

It was such an exciting and privileged occasion to interact with over 30 Sales & Marketing leaders in different industries at Adams e-Marketing & Social Media Training Course on Aug 4, 2011.  I personally found the contents and case studies are so interesting to generate some very good ideas for our promotion & marketing programs.  With the overwhelming responses, we have decided to re-run the training again on Sep 8, 2011.  If you have friends who maybe interested to attend, please feel free to ask them to register on http://www.adamshk.com/events/course20110908.htm or they may find out a bit more on http://goo.gl/DkfXU .

Today, we are bombarded by promotional e-Mails, overflowing advertisement web banners, unknown Facebook invitations and wall posts… Personal Touch is one of the most important success factors for any e-Marketing and social media campaigns.  In our own experience, by addressing the recipients’ individual names in an e-Mail, the eDM open rate can actually be increased considerably.  However, in order to do this, one needs to diligently collect and update the distribution list on a better eDM platform.  The eDM platform should be good enough to cater multiple languages including Traditional Chinese & Simplified Chinese as well as SMS Text Messaging with programmable follow up actions to create a tailor-made user experience.

In order to win over the e-Marketing & Social Media game, you need to dare to share as a person.  We have seen many e-Campaigns running in the past couple of years, though Think Virally will always be the best way to win, the traditional Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing is the basis for Viral Marketing.  WOM is based on personal relationship and trust, if you cannot build up this personal trust, you will never get very far!

Personal Touch is also about the language you use, in a lot of cases of Social Media Marketing, you really have to use colloquial language to get resonance or echoes from your target audiences.  We often have  arguments and clashes with our clients about using colloquial language versus formal written language, for example, on wall posts of Facebook.  Corporate Communication Managers and PR Managers do not like us as they have very restricted guidelines on the tone of communication.  However, they really have to tune their mindsets and maybe have a new job position open as Social Media Communications Manager to be more socialable!

Responsiveness & interactive conversation is another area of the challenge if you dare to share on Social Media.  The question is do you have dedicated staff to respond to the “happy” problem when your target audiences/customers are really responding to your invitation and comments and how quick can you respond?  A typical answer I give out often is 24 hours at maximum you shall respond to the comments.  Well, you have the choice to do it yourself or to hire some consultants like Adams to do for you.

By the way, we have a new logo created for the Small & Medium Enterprises website (www.sme.gig.hk), there is a new special offer on the free trial of  Photocopier from a well-known brand on the site.  You can get a prize of iPhone 4 if you successfully sign contract as a customer.  Enjoy the chance!

I look forward to connecting with you again soon!

Best regards,

Hope you are enjoying the hot summer despite the unstable weather in Hong Kong in the last 2 weeks!

t has been a great honor for me to have the chance to present at The Entrepreneurs’ Network last week in Hong Kong on the topic of “Think Virally to Expand Your Business!”.  We have an overwhelming crowd of over 50 successful entrepreneurs from different businesses gathered at the event.  It is my belief now that if you want to be winning in this Internet Age, you have to Think Virally!!

Think Virally is not natural to many of us even if we have many years of experience in Sales & Marketing.  However, if we are back to basic, it is only about building a mass network of Word Of Mouth (WOM) marketing.  The question is HOW to build this network.  Facebook is definitely the easiest to access network on the face of the earth with over 500 million users but we are not talking about single way of communication!  So we need to think of ways that you can leverage what existing community you have on it (or any other social network) and try to come up with sales/marketing programs that will attract people to spread the news for you through their own networks of communities.  You really have to think of (marketing) messages that is asking the audience to take action for other people/friends’ sake!  It always has to be Win-Win, nobody is going to take your message to their friends if they are not winning themselves!

We have seen many different successful and famous brands are putting a lot of efforts on social media these days but they are not really thinking virally.  A lot of the campaigns we see today are still at the pre-social media stage of just using social media as merely another advertising channel but nothing else!  In the last 2 years, Adams has collaborated with different clients to build Facebook campaigns to reach favorable results based only on one single idea,Viral Effectiveness.  If it is Viral Effective, it will help you to grow Brand Awareness, Sales and Customer Database at an exponential rate!  For example, we helped a sportswear chain during FIFA World Cup period to create a game for people to tag friends on Facebook to form football team to get prize/gift/discount at their chain stores.  Imagine the Multiplying Effect of forming just a team of 7 people and the 7 people to form another 7 teams…!  I think, by now, you should have got my point if you want to be successful in your sales & marketing campaigns, then you have to Think Virally to Expand Your Business!

Three weeks ago, we launched a training course called “Strategy of e-Marketing & Social Media Marketing” which to be held at the beautiful and modern hotel The Mira Hotel Hong Kong.  The response was overwhelming and the class was full within the first few days of registration and we had to arrange a bigger room to accommodate all the attendees.  Hence, we decided to arrange one more additional class on September 8, 2011 at The Mira Hotel Hong Kong again.  If you or your friends are interested, please feel free to register on http://www.adamshk.com/events/course20110908.htm.

I am not sure how many of you are having problem in managing the post 80’s employees, CAPITAL is collaborating with McDonald’s, Sony Computer…to come up with a wonderful 2-day course to cover how to motivate and manage post 80’s employees on July 29-30.   In the last few days of registration, you may enjoy 5% discount by registering through Adams on http://adamshk.com/events/capital20110729.htm

Finally, I have written another article on “Giving up is a way to gain!” for a professional institution in Hong Kong which you can find it on our slideshare page http://www.slideshare.net/adamshk.  A number of the prioritization and planning skills covered in the article are the essence of what I have learnt throughout my career!   Hope you will enjoy it.

Thank you for your continued support and I look forward to connecting with you soon!

Best regards,

Matthew Kwan

By Matthew Kwan - Copyright © 2011

Principal consultant of Adams Company Limited (www.adamshk.com)

Would you ever consider giving up to be a smart move? To give up sounds so negative, but it could well be the result of a very strategic thinking process. If you have watched the movie 127 Hours, you will understand what I saying. This real story is about a mountain climber who was trapped in no man’s land but who got himself rescued by his own sheer determination and courage in cutting his own arm off…

You can be experienced and skillful in certain business but this does not guarantee your work will be free of mistakes and risks. The macroeconomic environment is out of anybody’s control. We have seen a number of crises in the last 15 years including the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the burst of the dot-com bubble in 2000 and the global financial and economic crisis which started in late 2008. Few people were able to predict these events. If you have personally experienced these most terrifying moments, you can understand that blindly holding on one particular stock which is no longer valuable can cost you more than giving it up altogether!

So, how can we be smarter by giving up the right things at the right moment? The answer is to exercise a prioritization and continuous review process. Prioritization is the best way of strategic planning as well as budgeting. However, we need a continuous review process to ensure we are on the right track as well as looking out for potential risks and macro environmental changes.

There are different tools for prioritization. The following are some of my favorites:

1. Weighting table

By far, I think this is one of the simplest kinds of prioritization tool as it is so easy to adapt and expand to multiple dimensions, if you know how. The idea is first to list your options in no particular sequence. By giving a score to each option in accordance with its level of importance within an area of interest, you can instantly sort out your priorities. If there are multiple interests, then we can do the same exercise by allocating the percentage weighting to each interest area, making a total of 100 percent. There’s no limit to the number of areas of interest but the more there are, the less significant they are. I suggest that the maximum number of areas of interest should not exceed five.

2. Zero-based budgeting

I learnt this great tool during my good old days of working at Intel. It is particularly useful when you have to draw a clear line during your business planning due to a limited budget.Provided that you already know your priority list (which you could achieve by using taking the results from the weighting table exercise)you can then draw up a budget per item on the list. Next, you just need to draw a line on the priority list when you hit the limited budget amount. When you move the line to a bigger or smaller budgetto see the impact on the potential return-on-investment (ROI), you will be amazed to see the huge variance of ROI in certain cases.

3. Management by objectives (MBO)

Peter Drucker, father of management theory, came up with this wonderful tool in 1954. It has been adopted by countless corporations all over the world as a management and performance review process for many business matters. The simple idea is to assign a priority to the list of objectives for a given project or person. Hence, the focus for time and effort should be applied according to the relative priority. Though it sounds simple, I personally think it requires a great deal of discipline to make it work.

4. Boston matrix

This is a very nice way of segmenting your business lines or products. It shows you which really have relatively better market growth and market share potential as a bigger picture in terms of the four dimensions of the matrix: Star, Cash Cow, Dogs and Problem Child. By plotting your products quantitatively on the matrix, clear actions (both positive and corrective) can be easily identified in most cases. Of course the ideal situation is to make a bigger segment of your products into Stars!

Matthew Kwan is a Principal Consultant of Adams Company Limited (www.adamshk.com) and is responsible for business consulting and enterprise training. He is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, lecturer and consultant working with enterprises and organizations in the commercial and Christian communities. He served for many years in multi-national companies including Intel, JP Morgan and Jardine, and has broad experience in sales & marketing and management in multicultural and international settings.

Dear Friend,

We see exciting trend in mobile marketingand there are many opportunities in promoting your services and products through this new channel and media.  We now partner with various mobile coupon websites to let you upload your promotional items for as less as $1500 per item for mobile phones (iPhone, Android, Nokia…etc) to download.

On the same trend, we also offer customers to advertise on Google network to show their promotional messages and advertisements onmobile ready websites.  The coverage is huge and very targeted which you may choose nature of websites, gender and age of the audience and etc.

In the last few months, we have actively working with major telecom carriers in Hong Kong to help our customers to do targeted & location based SMS text messages to selected customer segment. For example, sending text messages to people with mobile phone bill over HK$500 with International Roaming record who uses Blackberries Phones and office location is in Central.Copyright © 2011 Matthew Kwan, Principal Consultant, Adams Company Limited (www.adamshk.com)

We see exciting trend in mobile marketingand there are many opportunities in promoting your services and products through this new channel and media.  We now partner with various mobile coupon websites to let you upload your promotional items for as less as $1500 per item for mobile phones (iPhone, Android, Nokia…etc) to download.

On the same trend, we also offer customers to advertise on Google network to show their promotional messages and advertisements onmobile ready websites.  The coverage is huge and very targeted which you may choose nature of websites, gender and age of the audience and etc.

In the last few months, we have actively working with major telecom carriers in Hong Kong to help our customers to do targeted & location based SMS text messages to selected customer segment. For example, sending text messages to people with mobile phone bill over HK$500 with International Roaming record who uses Blackberries Phones and office location is in Central.

Leadership

By Matthew Kwan

Principal Consultant of Adams (www.adamshk.com)

Copyright © 2010.

Too many of us are under the illusion that people who are in leading positions are leaders.  In my own mind, they are just positional leaders and NOT true leaders at all!  In a lot of cases, these positional leaders are not even possessing the basic qualities of a leader.

So who are true leaders?  What leadership is about?  A lot of great authors have already written extensively on this topic.  Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, once replied in a TV programme to a MBA student that “Leaders are those who do the right things…”  I would agree very much from a 50 thousand feet level.  However, I would like to address this topic from a different angle.

Leadership, in a business context or any context, is not about the position you hold but the way you act.  We are not talking about your skills and knowledge but how you would react in a given circumstance and environment.  Even a fresh graduate, straight out from college, without any real working experience can be a true leader.  It is not a matter of qualifications as certificates would not help you to become a true leader.   However, I think all successful and respectful leaders are fools and a lot of them are foolishly making extra effort, believing in big and difficult to achieve visions, lowering themselves for the good of the whole, and as well as sacrificing personal belongings to reach new grounds.  In summary these sounds like foolish acts are:

1. Running Extra Miles

You will only be a follower if you are not running ahead of the game.  In order to be ahead of the game, it means you need to run not only an extra mile but breaking away from your own competitions.  Even though you are breaking away, it does not mean your competitors may not catch you and overtake you in due time.  So there is no easy way out, you just need to keep running if you want to stay in your leadership position!  I would like to share a mindset I often talk about “you can only know what I know yesterday but not tomorrow as I am moving forward all the time!”

2. Seeing Great Visions

Leadership is about leading team, group, department, organization…etc.  However, you can never lead without a vision.  Given any point in time, your vision must be clear enough to lead you towards the right direction with clear outcomes and at the same time being shared with your team.  You cannot be a true leader if your team cannot see what you see!  Though it is a very difficult and sometime painful process, you do not have a choice but to share your visions!

3. Being Noble

It is nearly impossible to be a great leader without integrity.  Your followers will only choose to follow you if you are respectful and noble.  Humility is often a function of nobleness.  It sounds very strange in our world today but it works perfectly in many ways!  A noble leader is someone with integrity and who is willing to trade off personal benefits for the sake of the followers and others.  The end result is your followers will follow you unconditionally in return.  I guaranteed you the joy of this if you dare to try!

4. Sacrificing Time, Money, Family, Relationships, Life…

Scientists are excellent examples of leaders that do not have positions (…well, until they get recognized and rewarded!).  They generally work very hard and very concentrate in their fields of research with most people thinking they are crazy and wasting time.  Yet they are all leaders in their own fields and often they are sacrificing personal time, money, family and relationships in order to breakthrough and reach new grounds.  True leaders must be prepared to sacrifice if you believe in your visions.  In some extreme cases, you may even be threatened to sacrifice life as your followers and oppositions are reluctant to follow when you are trying so hard to make changes for the good but damaging their personal interests!  Are you really willing?

About the Author

Matthew Kwan is Principal Consultant of Adams Company Limited (www.adamshk.com) responsible for business consulting and enterprise training.  He is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, lecturer, consultant working with enterprises and organizations in both commercial and Christian communities.  He served many years in multi-national companies including Intel, JP Morgan, Jardines with broad experience of Sales & Marketing and Management in multicultural and international settings.

Social Media

關廣智 (www.adamshk.com 首席顧問) Copyright 2010.

互聯網已成為我們生活的一部份，據相關統計數字於2009年尾顯示，全球用戶逾18億，而中國亦高居榜首，截至2010年4月份互聯網用戶已超4億。Six Degree of Separation, 奧巴馬的競選宣傳策略, Facebook、YouTube、Twitter (或微博) …等等的社交網站 (Social Media/Networks) 不斷創造市場新驚喜。面對這最具潛力又龐大的宣傳廣告平台，市務人員刻不容緩，不能忽視! 如何借力打力，開拓無限市場潛力，發展超然商機創造力呢？最重要有以下幾方面：

1.了解你的目標客戶於社交網站上的特性：

－　那些社交網站是他們經常流連呢？

－　那些是他們最有興趣的群組呢？

2.清楚你於社交網站上可達到的目的

－　究竟是建立人際網絡還是可以硬銷呢？

－　究竟是建立形象還是還是廣發消息？

3.利用社交網站的互動工具達到最大擴張效果

－　上載內容於社交網站時有沒有同時發佈於其他社交網站呢？

－　你的網頁和社交網站上有沒有互動地embed 不同的社交網站上的內容呢？

－　你的網站有沒有充分利用社交網站的分享功能呢？

4.恆久發放資訊保持曝光機會

－　要吸引你的跟隨者，資訊必然要新鮮、相關

－　要建立群體，就要準時和定期回應回覆

社交網站的威力在乎你所傳遞訊息的滲透力，如果你的跟隨者越來越多，你的長遠利益也必然顯著。雖然社交網站的爆發力可以非常強大，但並非頓時必然可見，所以要發揮得淋漓盡致就只得努力嘗試，把握最

Social Media

關廣智 (www.adamshk.com 首席顧問) Copyright 2010.

互聯網已成為我們生活的一部份，據相關統計數字於2009年尾顯示，全球用戶逾18億，而中國亦高居榜首，截至2010年4月份互聯網用戶已超4億。Six Degree of Separation, 奧巴馬的競選宣傳策略, Facebook、YouTube、Twitter (或微博) …等等的社交網站 (Social Media/Networks) 不斷創造市場新驚喜。面對這最具潛力又龐大的宣傳廣告平台，市務人員刻不容緩，不能忽視! 如何借力打力，開拓無限市場潛力，發展超然商機創造力呢？最重要有以下幾方面：

1.了解你的目標客戶於社交網站上的特性：

－　那些社交網站是他們經常流連呢？

－　那些是他們最有興趣的群組呢？

2.清楚你於社交網站上可達到的目的

－　究竟是建立人際網絡還是可以硬銷呢？

－　究竟是建立形象還是還是廣發消息？

3.利用社交網站的互動工具達到最大擴張效果

－　上載內容於社交網站時有沒有同時發佈於其他社交網站呢？

－　你的網頁和社交網站上有沒有互動地embed 不同的社交網站上的內容呢？

－　你的網站有沒有充分利用社交網站的分享功能呢？

4.恆久發放資訊保持曝光機會

－　要吸引你的跟隨者，資訊必然要新鮮、相關

－　要建立群體，就要準時和定期回應回覆

社交網站的威力在乎你所傳遞訊息的滲透力，如果你的跟隨者越來越多，你的長遠利益也必然顯著。雖然社交網站的爆發力可以非常強大，但並非頓時必然可見，所以要發揮得淋漓盡致就只得努力嘗試，把握最

By Matthew Kwan

Principal Consultant of Adams (www.adamshk.com)

Copyright © 2010.

You do not need to start up your own company to gain entrepreneurship, and in fact, you need to be an entrepreneur to be successful in business.  Entrepreneurship is an attitude, a mindset, a way of thinking and something you need to internalize.  So, are you an entrepreneur?  Here are some questions you may ask yourself?

1.          Do you enjoy in solving problems and seeing the (desirable/undesirable) results at the end?

2.          Do you enjoy hearing new ideas?

3.          Do you enjoy building new business processes?

4.          Do you enjoy learning how other organizations work?

5.          Do you enjoy thinking win-win proposals?

6.          Do you enjoy working with other (internal & external) parties (departments/companies)?

7.          Do you think negotiation is a way to achieve win-win?

8.          Do you think calculated risk is bearable?

9.          Do you think performance improvement is mandatory?

10.      Do you think alternative route is an answer to a dead end?

If you get mostly “YES” to the above questions, then the chance is that you are already possessing qualities of entrepreneurship.  There are a number of qualities you would look for if you are determined to pursuit entrepreneurship:

1.      Problem Solving Capability – It is a process which you need to go through before you can see desirable results.  You need to be discipline enough to follow the right procedure of thinking if you want to solve problems.  The way to solve big problem is to break your problem into little problems.  Your job is just to solve the little problems one by one and you will solve the big problem at the end!  Problems may evolve but you can always apply the same treatment.

2.      Explorative– We are too easy to get used to the best practices and formal procedures.  New ideas always sound strange at first but if we are open minded enough to compare thoughts, there are always insights from new ideas that we can adopt to make better ideas!

3.      Organization– Operational excellence is built on effective business processes.  However, clear definition of business processes takes thoughtful planning and flawless execution.  The only success factor to this is continuous review and refinement.

4.      Continuous Learning – You can always learn from the successful and disastrous organizations stories to shorten your path of success and help yourself in falling into the same traps.  It is both motivational and gauging to your own business endeavor.

5.      Think Win-Win – Business world is a network of ecosystem, there is no absolute winner in this world.  The way to be successful in your ecosystem is to collaborate.  One very wonderful word is Co-opetition! (Cooperation + Competition)

6.      Teamwork– Working in team(s) is an art!  Not only you need to be fully aware the politics behind of each internal or external team members, you also need to appreciate the strength and weakness of each player before you can built a successful team.  Teamwork is always built on trust but trust will never build in short time!

7.      Objective Driven – How well and clear do you know your objectives?  Without knowing your priorities, you will never know how to trade off.  Return-On-Investment is just a matter of trade off!

8.      Risk Taking – In order to advance, you need to take risk.  Taking calculated risks is a very mature business act.  Without taking risks, organizations will never advance to new heights.

9.      Pursue of Excellence – Complacency is a poison to any growing organization.  Measuring performance and finding ways to improve should always be a responsibility of a professional.

10.  Never Give Up! – You will hit dead ends for sure on your road of success.  Though it may look like running in a maze, by systematical back tracking and learning by mistakes, dawn will always come!

About the Author

Matthew Kwan is Principal Consultant of Adams Company Limited (www.adamshk.com) responsible for business consulting and enterprise training.  He is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, lecturer, consultant working with enterprises and organizations in both commercial and Christian communities.  He served many years in multi-national companies including Intel, JP Morgan, Jardines with broad experience of Sales & Marketing and Management in multicultural and international settings.

以下內容擇碌自 , 參 閱全文

營銷顧問公司 Adams  (www.adamshk.com) 首席顧問關廣智 坦言，不少網站的設計過於繁複，消費者在找到產品資料前，可能被迫觀看長達數十秒的宣傳片，嚇怕客戶。網民耐性有限，關坦言︰「網民8秒找不到資料，即 走！」他建議網站設計以user friendly為主導。

關廣智以護膚品牌 Olay為例，消費者登入內地網站後，可先看到不同性別及年齡層的明星，如周迅及黃曉明，點擊後輕易找到符合自己的產品系列。

他又建議， 港商可在公司網站設立不同社交網平台的連結，並成立會員制，提高顧客對品牌的忠誠度。2010-06-02 香港經濟日報

以下內容擇碌自 , 參 閱全文

營銷顧問公司 Adams  (www.adamshk.com) 首席顧問關廣智 坦言，不少網站的設計過於繁複，消費者在找到產品資料前，可能被迫觀看長達數十秒的宣傳片，嚇怕客戶。網民耐性有限，關坦言︰「網民8秒找不到資料，即 走！」他建議網站設計以user friendly為主導。

關廣智以護膚品牌 Olay為例，消費者登入內地網站後，可先看到不同性別及年齡層的明星，如周迅及黃曉明，點擊後輕易找到符合自己的產品系列。

他又建議， 港商可在公司網站設立不同社交網平台的連結，並成立會員制，提高顧客對品牌的忠誠度。

日本品牌Canon近月為了宣傳新產品Canon PIXMA Smart Office，請了葛民輝及中美混血兒Jessica C.擔任代言人，不但有TVC(電視廣告)、地鐵Display Ad等，更把廣告宣傳至網絡，令市場爆光率激增。網絡宣傳顧問Adams逐一分析他們的網上宣傳策略及技巧。

策略一：設計互動網站利用趣味性吸引人流

產品的網頁(http://www.canon.com.hk/smart)以smart home為題，把網頁設計成一個家，生動又巧妙地加入了宣傳產品的資料和其特性，把資訊軟滲透於潛在顧客中，相比只有文字的網頁來得有效。網頁更加入了遊戲元素，例如上傳自己”戔鬼”相片，參加比賽，更有機會獲得獎品，激發瀏覽者的興趣和互動性。

策略二：有獎遊戲吸納更多潛在顧客

遊戲中加入facebook 連結，把自制有趣的圖片與身邊的朋友分享，成為話題之一，務求更多人可以留意到Canon的遊戲，令爆光率十倍甚至百倍增加。

策略三：網路廣告無處不再

為了吸引人進入網站，Canon 在最多香港人看的網站yahoo使用搜索引擎，利用以上點擊收費的廣告，比傳統廣告更容易量度廣告成效及控制成本。Canon 更於瀏覽量極高的網站(Apple daily online,. MSN, Uwants，facebook等)刊登banner ad，令產品在目標顧客的網路上無處不再。

品牌策略建議

一個成功的網站，最終的目的是可以做到增加銷售、建立品牌、吸納潛在顧客的資料(電郵地址)。Canon 這個網站在建立品牌方面都能吸引較“潮“的年輕一代，這方面都是成功的。

吸納更多潛在顧客

網站上有“收取電子報“的功能，是有效收取顧客資料的做法，可惜功能未見明顯，建議可以用明顯的字體顏色突出功能。另外，“轉寄給朋友“透過轉寄，可以取得其他潛在顧客的電郵，吸納大量潛在顧客，建議多利用此功能，在不同的子頁中加插功能，方便顧客可以容易把網站宣揚開去。

喚起顧客行動增加銷售

Canon 網站在網上、網下的宣傳活動已製造了一定的awareness(知名度)，但網站的設計都以遊戲和產品的資訊為主，欠缺了Call to Action(喚起行動) 的元素，網站未能喚起顧客即時購買的行動，建議可以利用“下載優惠劵“以優惠價吸引欲購買產品的顧客。

要成功在網絡上突圍而出，可以參考多些各大、小品牌的宣傳策略，Adams 日後會與你們分享最新的市場策略。如有任何查詢，可致電：2723 9977

By Matthew Kwan © Copyright.  All rights reserved.  Principal Consultant, Adams Company Limited  (www.adamshk.com)

So what is the ultimate measurement for your e-Marketing campaigns?  The most important thing to remember is that we live in a business world and the most basic measurement unit is always down to dollar amount.  However, it is very difficult to always just measure by money for your success.  My proposal is to objectively measure the “Cost Per Action”, CPA.  By actions, we mean:

• 1. no. of sales deals
• 2. no. of subscriptions
• 3. no. of enquiries (by phone, email, online form…etc)
• 4. no. of forward to friends
• 5. no of sharings to social networks
• 6.  …etc

If by channel/media cost per action (CPA) can be broken down, that is perfect but the real world is not that simple as your results may come from different online sources or even from your traditional marketing media.    Marketing professionals have to be realistic and measure the overall spending versus the actions happened during the campaign period. This exercise is extremely important for your planning of the next e-Campaign.  It should serve as the basis for your channel/media selection.

By Matthew Kwan © Copyright.  All rights reserved.  Principal Consultant, Adams Company Limited  (www.adamshk.com)

So what is the ultimate measurement for your e-Marketing campaigns?  The most important thing to remember is that we live in a business world and the most basic measurement unit is always down to dollar amount.  However, it is very difficult to always just measure by money for your success.  My proposal is to objectively measure the “Cost Per Action”, CPA.  By actions, we mean:

• 1. no. of sales deals
• 2. no. of subscriptions
• 3. no. of enquiries (by phone, email, online form…etc)
• 4. no. of forward to friends
• 5. no of sharings to social networks
• 6.  …etc

If by channel/media cost per action (CPA) can be broken down, that is perfect but the real world is not that simple as your results may come from different online sources or even from your traditional marketing media.    Marketing professionals have to be realistic and measure the overall spending versus the actions happened during the campaign period. This exercise is extremely important for your planning of the next e-Campaign.  It should serve as the basis for your channel/media selection.

In the past, Facebook did not automatically give out a short cut link to your account or page. However, now you can create your own shortcut called “username” to allow people to type in a unique link for your account or page. It is an excellent way to give you especially your company a better branding in general.

e.g. www.facebook.com/adamshk

The way to apply the username is very simple. Once you have a published/online page or account, you can just type www.facebook.com/username to register.

However, it may take a day or two before the chosen username is approved to use and you are not supposed to change the name in future. Hence, you must get the name right the first time though I think you may have once chance to change!

By having the username defined, it is an excellent way to invite other people to visit you/your page with ease!By Matthew Kwan © Copyright.  All rights reserved.  Principal Consultant, Adams Company Limited  (www.adamshk.com)

In the past, Facebook did not automatically give out a short cut link to your account or page. However, now you can create your own shortcut called “username” to allow people to type in a unique link for your account or page. It is an excellent way to give you especially your company a better branding in general.

e.g. www.facebook.com/adamshk

The way to apply the username is very simple. Once you have a published/online page or account, you can just type www.facebook.com/username to register.

However, it may take a day or two before the chosen username is approved to use and you are not supposed to change the name in future. Hence, you must get the name right the first time though I think you may have once chance to change!

By having the username defined, it is an excellent way to invite other people to visit you/your page with ease!

如果你計劃耍於中國網上宣傳你的產品或公司，百度指數就是你必然參考的網頁 http://index.baidu.com.

百度指數能準確地給你分析你所關注的業務在中國的市場需求和地區的分佈，而且內中的資訊都是最新鮮的數據。其中特別當你採用關鍵字搜尋來作為廣告的途徑，百度指數更可給你提供相關的關鍵字建議以至達到最有效的成效。作者: 關廣智 (白武士有限公司首席顧問 http://www.adamshk.com/)

如果你計劃耍於中國網上宣傳你的產品或公司，百度指數就是你必然參考的網頁 http://index.baidu.com.

百度指數能準確地給你分析你所關注的業務在中國的市場需求和地區的分佈，而且內中的資訊都是最新鮮的數據。其中特別當你採用關鍵字搜尋來作為廣告的途徑，百度指數更可給你提供相關的關鍵字建議以至達到最有效的成效。

Business is all about Negotiation!

By Matthew Kwan

Principal Consultant of Adams (www.adamshk.com)

Copyright © 2010.

Do you realize how much negotiation do you do everyday? You may negotiate with your customers for the most favourable prices, order quantity, delivery timeand condition. You may push your sub-ordinates and co-workers to deliver the jobs on time and with high quality that meet your expectation. You may try so hard to show your performance to your boss and managers in order to get a better pay rise or promotion in the next review cycle. All these show that doing business is all about negotiation!

Fundamentals of negotiation

The Chinese characters for business (“生意”) have a wonderful meaning of “flexibility of an intention”(i.e. 靈活生動的意向). Hence, you must view doing business as a negotiation process to reach an ultimate goal which leads to a mutually agreeable intention. I personally think that you will never reach the ultimate and sustainable results if you are not thinking win-win during any business processes! You may win once or twice but you will not get far if you are not gearing towards a mutual benefit in a business agreement. Believe it or not, giving way may actually result in gaining ground! This is exactly the platform of negotiation.

Strategy of negotiation

Understanding of the intention of the other party is the fundamental skill of negotiation. Without realizing the other party‘s underlying needs and intention is not going to help reaching any agreeable results. Another very important basis of negotiation is focusing on the big picture rather than on specific details. You may trade off something small in exchange for a bigger, more meaningful and longer term benefit. Therefore, at the end of the day, it is all about return on investment (ROI) calculation in the macro view.

Tactics of negotiation

You have to be courageous enough to explore the depth of the water. In the same sense, you have to be courageous enough to make your offer during a negotiation. Otherwise, you would never know exactly how far the other party is willing to give way. Don’t be shy to make your offer yet the offer must be “reasonable” enough to justify by itself. You could start high as it gives yourself enough room to back down. Don’t hit your baseline so early and easily. By doing this, you are likely to gain ground than hitting a dead end!

Best negotiators are those who have high Emotional Quotient (EQ) with calm and firm responses.Sometimes, sense of humor can be a very good tool to ease the tension during tough negotiation but never overdo it with sarcasm as it will create a disrespectful impression! This is definitely not easy when you are facing unfavorable situations without too much ground!Hence, before you enter into any negotiation no matter it is a customer meeting, a job interview, a performance review…etc, you should really get yourself well prepared with options of possibilities including competitive information and competitive offers from other parties in order to gain ground.However, as mentioned earlier, win-win should be the ultimate objective but we have to also accept the fact on the other hand that such status is not always possible!

Summary

In certain culture, negotiation is just part of life and people would expect to negotiate at all time.However, majority of us are not natural born negotiators.But with some very simple training, we can be a better negotiator in a relatively short time. One very practical thing to do is to remind ourselves in all circumstances that to ask if the offer made by the others, including your customers, suppliers, co-workers, managers…etc., the best they can do? You will be surprised that 80% of time you will get a discount, a better offer, a faster response or even a better career at the end without much negotiation! So, are you willing to ask?

Matthew Kwan is a Principal Consultant of Adams Company Limited (www.adamshk.com) and is responsible for business consulting and enterprise training. He is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, lecturer and consultant working with enterprises and organizations in the commercial and Christian communities. He served for many years in multi-national companies including Intel, JP Morgan and Jardine and has broad experience in sales & marketing and management in multicultural and international settings.

Model the Way

• Figure out what is important to you.
• Align your actions with your stated values.

Inspire a Shared Vision

• Let others know how you feel.
• Recount your personal best.

Challenge the Process

• Fix something.
• Create opportunities for small wins.

Enable Others to Act

• Always say “we.”
• Make heroes of other people

Encourage the Heart

• Write thank0you notes.
• Link celebrations to your organization’s values.

Kouzes-Posner (2006):

Model the Way

• Figure out what is important to you.
• Align your actions with your stated values.

Inspire a Shared Vision

• Let others know how you feel.
• Recount your personal best.

Challenge the Process

• Fix something.
• Create opportunities for small wins.

Enable Others to Act

• Always say “we.”
• Make heroes of other people

Encourage the Heart

• Write thank0you notes.
• Link celebrations to your organization’s values.

Financial Tsunami is sweeping the economy with so much terrible effects.  A lot of people especially those who are in middle management have become the victims of the downturn.   I personally know a number of people already looking for jobs and opportunities.

It is an increasing trend people would consider startup their own business.  However, my personal recommendation is to do only something you are familiar with in order to minimize your chance of failure.  According to “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, you should focus your effort on things you are passionate with economy effect and something you can do better than others.

Though finding the sweetspot is difficult and this should always a strategy we should bear in mind when we plan out our business.By Matthew Kwan, Principal Consultant, Copyright (c)  2009 Adams Company Limited.

Financial Tsunami is sweeping the economy with so much terrible effects.  A lot of people especially those who are in middle management have become the victims of the downturn.   I personally know a number of people already looking for jobs and opportunities.

It is an increasing trend people would consider startup their own business.  However, my personal recommendation is to do only something you are familiar with in order to minimize your chance of failure.  According to “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, you should focus your effort on things you are passionate with economy effect and something you can do better than others.

Though finding the sweetspot is difficult and this should always a strategy we should bear in mind when we plan out our business.