Source of Image
What can small businesses, start-ups, free-lancers and other budding entrepreneurs do to build their reach? How can they compete against bigger companies with deeper pockets, greater resources and fuller teams?
In general, the clue is to look at what big conglomerates are doing, and then try to do the opposite – in a customer pleasing fashion of course. Clueless where to start? Well, here are five ideas to begin with.
Courtesy of Coca-Cola Singapore
With Earth Hour around the corner, it is timely for both individuals and companies to consider how they can reduce their environmental impact on our beautiful planet.
Coca-Cola Singapore is certainly taking a proactive role in this area. As part of their effort to instil the habit of recycling in Singapore, they are launching the Recycle Happiness Machine (yes that’s its actual name!) which will be popping up at five different locations around the Orchard Road/Dhoby Ghaut area. The machine provides a fun way for members of the public to deposit their used plastic beverage bottles in exchange for a little gift.
The Joneses were portrayed as the ultimate stealth marketers (source of image)
Excuse me, are you an invisible stealth marketer? If you have no clue what this is, perhaps its high time for you to read about this.
My curiosity in stealth marketing was first piqued when I read Martin Lindstrom’s brilliant marketing expose Brandwashed. In the book, the neuro-marketing exponent revealed many of the psychological and neurological tricks employed by marketers to get us to buy more, often without us knowing it.
Daniel Goh of The Good Beer Company
Thanks to Daryl Tay, I had the chance to attend Social Media Breakfast recently. Held at The Loft in Chinatown, it was great listening to my buddy Daniel Goh of The Good Beer Company speak about his experience in setting up a craft beer stall in a hawker centre in Chinatown. Readers may know that I first wrote about the stall when it opened back in Oct 2011.
Before he ventured into being a specialty beer seller, Daniel was a PR professional who worked in diverse companies (including mine) as well as MNCs like Samsung and Blizzard Entertainment before he ditched his corporate togs for a hawker’s apron. He also manages (and still does) a pretty solid business and entrepreneurship blog called Young Upstarts (I’m a proud contributor).
As I was flipping through the newspapers one morning, my wife pointed out that the advertisement which Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo placed (above) was different from most other clothing retailers.
First, it focused on a single product category and showcases the range of colours and styles available. Uniqlo is clearly targeting those looking for sweat shirts with hoodies. This singular focus will appeal to customers in this category.
Image courtesy of Tony Robbins Facebook Page
Can you find more time to do the things that truly matter to you? How can you devote your energy to what’s truly important?
In a bid to further optimise my life, I recently started to listen to an audio recording by self-help and motivational guru Anthony Robbins called The Time of Your Life.
Wonder why you are perpetually tethered to your smartphone, refusing to put it down even when your kids are yelling at you?
Or started eating that tub of delicious Haagen Dazs ice cream, and couldn’t stop until it’s all gone.
Perhaps you’ve got a 10 year old boy who nagged you incessantly about getting him that latest Play Station Portable (PSP) which all his friends in school have.
Lovers of the hugely popular Transformers franchise have more reasons to smile this March school holidays with the launch of the first Transformers Cybertron Con in Southeast Asia. The event kicked off with speeches by dignitaries from Hasbro (Singapore) and Resorts World Sentosa, followed by a precision drill display by some talented secondary school boys.
New year photo created by freepik – www.freepik.com
What is the first thing which comes to mind when you think of Christmas?
Well, perhaps a Christmas tree surrounded by presents would appear. Or that jolly red guy with a long beard named Santa Claus. Maybe a good time of feasting and merrymaking?
It is interesting to note how contrarians thrive better than rule book followers. And Apple is just such a company.
Continuing on my theme of “Zag” as a business strategy, it is interesting to study how Apple differs from other companies. The darling of the digital world, Apple overtook huge oil conglomerate Exxon Mobil to be the world’s most valuable company last year.