Storytelling: The Key to Killer Copywriting

Check out this fantastic video from “the most ripped copywriter on the ‘net,” John Carlton.  It’s 51-minute clip of his presentation at Frank Kern’s Mass Control seminar.

John is making this available for free for a limited time as part of his Simple Writing System Express promo, so PLEASE do yourself a favor and watch it.  You may want to take notes.

Be advised that there is some coarse language.

P.S.  I had to refresh the page a few times to get the video to load.  It’s worth the trouble.

[Via http://donniebryant.wordpress.com]

Tips Nge-tweet untuk Marketing

Pelan namun pasti, twitter sudah diakui pengaruhnya di jagad maya Indonesia. Sudah jutaan orang Indonesia yang menggunakannya. Mulai dari artis, penyanyi, pemasar, politikus, olah ragawan, orang IT, wartawan, orang iklan, rohaniwan, sampai orang umum pun nge-tweet.

Ada yang bisa memanfaatkannya dengan baik, seperti Pandji Pragiwaksono (artis, presenter, rapper) nge-tweet untuk membentuk citranya sebagai artis yang peduli dengan ke-Indonesiaan, namun ada pula yang gagal memasuki lingkungan twitter seperti Mario Teguh (motivator) karena tweet-nya yang kontroversial.

Beberapa produk (brand) pun sudah memasuki twitter. Bahkan, perusahaan-perusahaan yang masuk dalam jajaran 100 perusahaan TOP dunia kebanyakan telah menggunakan twitter sebagai salah satu alat pemasarannya.

Bagaimana dengan Anda? Sudah punya account di twitter? Apakah Anda juga menggunakan twitter untuk memasarkan diri dan atau brand Anda?

Berikut ini beberapa tips yang semoga bisa membantu Anda ketika memanfaatkan twitter sebagai alat pemasaran.

Pertama, nge-tweetlah sesuatu yang bernas. Ingat, twitter merupakan microblogging, dibatasi 140 karakter untuk sekali posting. Jadi, cobalah untuk nge-tweet sesuatu yang berkualitas seputar topik yang kita tekuni atau di mana kita terlibat. Jika memang tweet Anda bermutu, pasti akan banyak yang me-retweet. Apa untungnya ketika Anda diretweet? Tentu saja, Anda akan lebih banyak dikenal, sehingga akan difollow, dan pendapat anda dijadikan referensi.

Kedua, follow orang-orang yang sekiranya penting bagi Anda. Follow orang / tokoh yang selingkungan dengan ceruk pasar Anda. Follow juga website-website penyedia referensi penting tentang dunia Anda.

Ketiga, pantau tweet dari lingkungan ceruk pasar Anda. Kemudian, berinteraksilah dengan mereka. Ciptakan dialog dengan mereka. Bila perlu, tambahkan sesuatu yang bernilai ketika berinteraksi.

Keempat, ikutilah apa yang sedang menjadi trending topik. Paling tidak, yang sedang tren di timelines Anda dan di ceruk pasar Anda. Twitter adalah social media yang real time. Jadi, ikutilah. Tapi tetap ingat, saringlah informasi-informasi yang penting.

Kelima, integrasikan blog / website Anda dengan twitter. Jika perlu, gunakan robot twitter. Tentang pembuatan robot twitter telah dibahas dalam website ini.

Keenam, ketika Anda / brand Anda sedang mengadakan program-program atau acara, baik offline maupun online, jangan segan untuk “melaporkan”nya secara real time melalui twitter.

Ketujuh, ciptakan karakter Anda. Mungkin ini yang butuh proses agak lama. Yang terpenting adalah, konsistensi. Konsisten dengan topik yang Anda tweet, konsisten dengan bahasa Anda, dan konsisten dengan kontinyuitas tweet Anda.

Semoga tips tersebut bermanfaat. Jika Anda punya tips lain, saya sangat senang jika Anda mau berbagi juga di sini.

Artikel ini saya tulis untuk rumahdot.com

[Via http://mindmata.wordpress.com]

SXSW Shows Recipe for Innovation

Well, I survived the intellectual and physical journey that is SXSW Interactive. I came away very impressed and full of new knowledge, ideas, contacts and swag… my social media batteries recharged. My big take-aways from the event were not so much the headlines – like the buzz surrounding the “location-aware” apps like Foursquare and Gowalla or the launch of various new products and services – but valuable lessons about why the event works, and what organizations eager to leverage social media and/or foster real innovation can learn from it.

• Silos are essentially wafer thin at SXSW – and intentionally so. Dynamic collaboration and cross-pollination are part of the DNA of the event. Yes, there are topics and categories (or “streams in SXSW parlance) used to help organize the hundreds of sessions and events, but the event is a fluid, productive mash-up of disciplines, subjects and formats. In fact, many of the sessions seemed to overlap several “streams” and topics. Participants included web designers, PR consultants, software geeks, marketing gurus, citizen journalists, celebrity bloggers, sociologists, small business owners, investors, not-for-profit advocates…you name it they were there.   All of these jobs, skills and experiences add to the richness of the experience, and the value of the discussions and outcomes. The lesson here for organizations – many still struggling with who “owns” social media and/or dismantling the historic walls between marketing and PR – is that social media overlaps many different disciplines, and requires a pragmatic, progressive approach that leverages and aligns myriad talents and skills.
• Despite the emphasis on social media, SXSW is very much a multi-media event. Let’s look at all the “touch points” I ran into on an average day: sponsored parties, outdoor banners, iPhone apps (loved the “my.sxsw” app), display booths, digital signage, swag, “experiential” lounges, badges, branded volunteers and ambassadors, personalized event emails, T-shirts and hats, radio and news updates, brochures (including two versions of the gargantuan SXSW agenda), live TV and video feeds…you get the picture. So although online tools were clearly central to the experience, they were complemented by a wide range of communication and marketing vehicles and activities – including face-to-face interaction – that collectively made it convenient and easy  to navigate the event for maximum productivity and impact.
• It should come as no surprise that most of the folks attending SXSW were fully wired – iPhones, Droids, notebooks, Bluetooth headsets and a dizzying variety of supporting gadgets were everywhere. And the festival folks did a great job of supporting this digital army with free Wi-Fi, tons of electrical outlets and free computer kiosks. Without these personal tools – and the supporting infrastructure – participants would miss out on critical portions of the event. The lesson for organizations is that if you are intent on engaging in social media, you need to give your staff the tools to join the conversation.  Trying to hold back the tide of technology – particularly outside corporate firewalls – is not only illogical, but counter-productive.
• One of the most interesting aspects of SXSW is the emphasis on real-time communication – which carries back and forth across virtual, face-to-face and digital formats. The entire event (and supporting technology) is geared to facilitate and leverage a steady stream of live updates, introductions,  comments and suggestions – whether on specific events (through hash tags) or the festival as a whole. A good example of this was the real-time criticism of the keynote by Twitter CEO Evan Williams (which ironically many aired/saw on Twitter feeds.) Importantly, the digital chatter didn’t fall on deaf ears. In the case of SXSW staff, they often responded to the feedback and made quick adjustments where possible – in many cases the comment stream fed into the panel conversations. (Some sessions were shaped partly by input from various more formal crowd-sourcing activities before or during the event.) And hundreds of participants piggy-backed the various updates to start more intimate conversations with other attendees.
• It didn’t go unnoticed to me – as a long-time communication professional – that the best presentations and material I witnessed at SXSW were smart, funny and original. More than one presentation featured some of George Carlin’s infamous “seven words.” In many cases the style and format of the presentations – even those featuring dreaded Powerpoint – was fresh and dynamic . The lesson for many of us PR folks, if we needed another reminder, is that presenting information in dense, serious or stale communication formats is a good recipe for being  ignored, and that fun and creativity are not dirty words.
• One thing you notice immediately at SXSW – unlike many other conferences or industry panels – is an enthusiasm that is infectious. In fact, it’s telling they call it a “festival” and not a “conference.” People attending the event really want to be there, and most appeared excited to learn, share ideas, start new partnerships…and yes, have a good time. And in the midst of the bacchanal and networking, very productive work is apparently getting done and new ideas are being nurtured. The lesson for organizations – particularly companies with a more conservative bent – is to stop obsessing about what your staff dress like or like to do after midnight and start harnessing their creativity and passion.
• The final big lesson for me – my “a-ha” moment if you will – was that most folks I talked to or heard in sessions acknowledged there are many unanswered questions surrounding social media. In fact, several folks focused on the sense of experimentation and discovery as a central element of  the Web 2.0 revolution. There simply aren’t perfect answers for many questions or issues – notably balancing privacy of individual information with the concept of public conversation and collaboration. And that’s ok. In fact, this uncertainty about the future is not new – who knows what the internet will look like in a few years – and is one of the most exciting aspects of social media. The future is undefined and unlimited.

[Via http://publicrelationsrogue.wordpress.com]

The Very Best Form Of Advertising

Is word of mouth really the best form of advertising?

Word of mouth is the best form of advertising. If you haven’t heard that a billion times you must be only 5 years old. It’s one of those things that “everyone knows”. Well if “everyone knows” this gem of knowledge, then why are so few companies actually DOING the things that create great word of mouth for their company?

Attracting new customers is always important. A healthy flow of new customers to a business keeps the business alive. Our current economic condition magnifies this need. So, recognizing that there IS an overall awareness of the constant need for new customers it could simply be that the apparent lack of effort in customer service is due to a lack of understanding, by both management and staff, as to what is considered great customer service and how, exactly, to provide it.

If a business is providing adequate, normal, regular run-of-the-mill service they will get SOME word of mouth referrals. The way this works is that if, for instance, someone asks you where to go for dry cleaning or computer repair you will most likely want to give some recommendation. People generally want to be helpful and we all like to give advice, so we will give some answer, we will often refer someone to a place where we received simply mediocre service. The point is that if you are providing what is considered to be good, or acceptable service you can only expect a few referrals.

On the other hand great word of mouth comes from a remarkable or memorable experience. Lets say that you have been in to your local veterinary hospital, or Thai restaurant and the experience was memorable you very possibly will not wait until some asks you for a good vet clinic or Thai place before you tell people about it. Your word of mouth becomes unsolicited. Have you ever done this or seen it done? I have seen people talking up their hair stylist or espresso stand to people who are bald or don’t even like coffee!

Let there be no mistake, unsolicited word of mouth is what will really drive in more new customers. This is (or should be) the goal of any company.

Unsolicited word of mouth DEFINITELY applies for bad service! Customers who are irate with a business will sometimes tell as many as 20, 30, maybe up to 50 people about their bad experience, with out ever being asked directly about the business.

Be sure to read the three related entries in the “Word Of Mouth” series for more!

[Via http://customerservicebootcamp.wordpress.com]

Qu'est-ce que c'est, cela?

Say that four times and stay unaffected. Go on, I dare you!

I have finally reached the point where I can follow the story line of CSI in French. I can’t understand every word, mind you, but most of them. The fact that it’s an American series always helps, because they speak at about a tenth of the speed of the locals, so the dubbing is slow enough for non-smurfs to follow.

Naturally, getting to this advanced level of Television proficiency has required intensive french lessons. Three hours a week, apart from this week, when my teacher got a mysterious infection of a bodypart that I could not identify and had to cancel our second lesson. In hindsight, I wonder if it was a coincidence that she got sick just after I spent the entire lesson laughing at her language.

We finally got onto commony used phrases last week. I’ve heard them around the office, but never paid enough attention to realise how funny they sound! Qu’est-ce que c’est, cela? Is used about ten times a meeting by the general population. It’s meant to sound as if you’re drunk and slurring, in case you were wondering, and it means “what is it?” Seriously. Now, in marketing, where I work, people are allowed to be more arty, and I have proof, because they use the word  “truc” more often than they use the word “oui”. Truc means trick or thing. Seriously. Oh, and “piste” is another favourite. It actually means ski slope, but they’ve adopted it to mean course of action. So in the average marketing meeting, four people sit around saying “j’ai fait un truc, qu’est-ce que c’est cu truc, d’accord, nous avons deux pistes” and so on. In  other words “mumble, stutter, truc; drunken slur, truc; hack up a hairball (their word for OK); mumble, mumble, duh pissed.”

Listen to that four times and stay unaffected. I dare you!

[Via http://mordsmoi.wordpress.com]

Free Seminar - Financial Controls for Your Business - May 2010

I am pleased to announce our 25th March 2010 seminar is a “sell out”.

For those of you who thought about going but didn’t email us in time, I have scheduled another seminar for 20th May 2010.

The Details:

Your Invitation to a Free Seminar – Financial Controls For Your Business

Do you want to take more control of your business finances?

Are you busy invoicing but have no cash?

Not sure how much money you are really making?

Avegna are presenting a free seminar for business owners and managers on practical financial control tools that really work!

Who should attend? Business owners or managers who want to know more about the basic financial control tools big businesses use and how to apply these to your business.

What: We will walk you through how to use the practical tools in your business such as :

•Sales Pipeline Report

•Accounts Receivable Reporting and Collections action tools and processes

•Accounts Payable management tools

•Cashflow Forecasting model

•KPI’s and Dashboards

•Budgets and Forecasting

 

All attendees will receive a copy of the presentation slides, a free cashflow forecast spreadsheet model to use in your own business and the other financial control tools and templates as discussed during the seminar.

Where: The boardroom at Corporate House, 155 Varsity Parade, Varsity Lakes, QLD 4226

When: Thursday 20th May 2010 from 9.00am – 10.30am (AEST)

How to book your place: Places are limited at this seminar. Please email us on info@avegna.com.au to reserve your place as soon as possible and we will confirm your attendance details by reply email. No walk up attendances will be possible due to the limited seats.

About the presenter: Scott Lyall is a KPMG trained Chartered Accountant who for over 15 years worked at a senior level in some of the largest multinational organisations in the world including Cadbury, Mobil, AXA, Shell, British Telecom and Dell Computer Corporation. After working in London for over five years Scott returned to Australia and has worked as a senior finance executive for several company groups both public and privately owned. Scott established Avegna to assist small to medium sized (SME) businesses run their finances without the need to hire full time employees.

If you know of other people who may want to attend please forward this invitation to them.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Scott Lyall

CEO of Avegna

[Via http://avegna.wordpress.com]

Radio/ Magic

Okaaaay, so there was some on-going media buzz about the magic drama being similar (or not) to us real life illusionists… see J C’s blog Backstage Business for all about The Illusionist. Uh, the recently ended Channel U television series, not the Hollywood flick starring Edward Norton.

J C’s written his thoughts about it and I haven’t blogged much about the subject simply because I’m quite impartial about it… I mean… TV is TV, life imitates art but art also imitates life. I think people are smart enough to form their own conclusions about things, and anyway, it’s after all, just entertainment. J C’s never made any accusations, but merely pointed out his own opinions, and it’s his blog anyway. He’s got every right.

My $0.02 is that I think it’s cool that Mediacorp TV’s interested in doing a Mandarin magic drama, and hired a local production company to put it all together. Their research writers must have had a field day IMHO, though I haven’t caught an episode because of my  hectic work schedule, I think it really rocks to have a strong female character like Ann Kok’s “Babe Yong” character who also does escapes and illusions

Personally, J C & I had a lot of fun working with Thomas Ong (“James Lee”) & Mei Xin (“Ming”) during The Illusionist magic segment for the annual Mediacorp Festival last year, when we were hired by Mediacorp to produce the stage performance bits for them. You saw the videos and pics!

Anyways, I hope the local production company’s got the ratings and response they want for the TV series, who knows… maybe there will be a Part 2! The sequel could feature some loser-ish “competitors” of James Lee who try to pull him down, ALA crab mentality/ tall poppy syndrome “Tio flame!”

One could be a two-faced magician who pretends to be cordial and gentlemanly but actually backstabs James and tries hard to bring him down, trying to give James a foul reputation by fueling untrue rumors about the guy just to feel better about himself because of professional jealousy as he’s extremely unhappy that he doesn’t get the recognition James has.

Another can be a bitter, ungrateful, angry, disgraced ex-disciple or 师兄 of James Lee who lies to the world (or just doesn’t give the whole truth) about the reasons why he was actually told by James Lee to leave years ago, because of unethical decisions the guy himself actually made.

And most importantly, there must be a fat evil clown who pretends to be nice and funny, but is actually very vengeful and black-hearted. He pretends to be James Lee and impersonates him online just to bring down his reputation – but gets found out after awhile because (surprise, surprise) karma always has a way of getting around!

Green with envy, the guys hate James Lee to death because of the illusionist’s stellar track record, fame and success… but they still strangely keep a very close watch on everything he does. And instead of improving themselves to  be better, the funny clique (like they always say – birds of a feather, flock together) try their best to smear James Lee’s reputation instead. But! Karma has a way of getting around, and irate people with bad intentions never ever win, because James Lee has people who look out for him and anyways, good always triumphs over evil – not just in real life but in TV serials too lah!

I know, I know… such crazy outlandish ideas huh? I’m no television scriptwriter, so I’ll leave these creative ideas for the real pros *grin* It was fun to think up of such low-life nemesis for the fictional character of James Lee anyways!

So yeah. I didn’t get to watch the finale episode of The Illusion on Channel U last night because I was actually at the Mediacorp Radio Awards *grin* I was there to support the BFF & my other DJ friends who were also nominated… Pamela Ho, Stanley Leong, Melanie Oliverio of 938LIVE; Jean Danker, Glenn Ong, Mark aka Flying Dutchman of Class 95; Ivy Tan & Dennis Chew of YES 933; Justin Ang & Vernon A aka The Muttons on 987

Jean, Justin & Pam were SMSing me during the show and I must say that Justin (who was also with me at the Hall of Fame Awards at our Alma Mata earlier this year) can really multi-task, because he would reply me swiftly backstage and he was emcee-ing with Vernon! LOL…

As usual, the Muttons were stellar, and the pair was brilliant as the hosts for the evening. It’s always great to be on their show, they seriously are a fab duo. There’s just no one else like them

Here are some pictures from the evening… which by the way, are taken using my iPhone, so they aren’t very impressive as the hp camera has no zoom function plus I couldn’t wander around to play shutterbug. I spent the whole evening with my bum parked on the seat of my reserved seat arranged for me, and it was a tad weird and took some getting used to because the BFF & I traded places for once – she on stage and yours truly, ‘Magic Babe’ Ning, in the audience. LOL!

From my vantage point, I spy… the pretty BFF in her designer dress & her colls from 938LIVE make their appearance on stage on cue, and go to their assigned seats.

The hosts for the evening were the Muttons and they were wickedly hilarious with zany antics the whole night… ranging from snide digs at Fann Wong & Christopher Lee; Tiger Woods & Jack Neo; Ris Low and her condom ambassador-ship; the works!Everyone was howling with laughter…

Here’s the BFF, #1 on the 938LIVE voting screen… Her partner Stanley Leong, co-host of their “Livingroom” talkshow, received the award His brother also received the same award, of Most Popular DJ, for Lush 99.5

My darling friend Jean Danker won her first award after years in showbiz, having gotten the most number of votes for most popular DJ in Class 95 Irene Ang, who’s always been an inspiration, gave away the award for the English stations and as always, her antics and wisecracks made everyone laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh…

It was a happy night for the couple as Jean’s other half, Glenn, bagged the Media Personality of the Year award The Muttons bagged the same award for their station, 987 …and as expected, YES933’s Dennis Chew aka Aunty Lucy also won a special award. For more information, see Channel News Asia.

Congrats y’all!

Awards galore aside, the evening had various singing acts entertain us – folks from overseas who were having gigs here. Jason Castro from American Idol ended the evening with his lovely voice It was nice to be entertained, for a change…

In all, the entire event wrapped up only past 10PM, and the famished BFF grabbed hold of me & we went off for supper. That’s us doing a quick 自拍 on her camera just before heading into the elevator, down to the car park!

It was the BFF’s special night and I’m really proud of Pam… she may not have bagged an award from the evening, but she’d always be a radiant star in my eyes, with all the differences this amazing woman has made! You rock, BFF!

[Via http://magicbabe.wordpress.com]