「機」匯難縫的「擊」戰！

作者: 關廣智 [白武士有限公司首席顧問]  原稿列於 「突破Channel」 issue 46 June 2014

手機文化把我們這「e世代」發揮得淋漓盡致，手機和互聯網已經是我們不能或缺的生活模式，不單是青少年人已完全融入了這模式中，其實任何香港人也無一幸免！ 我們需要獨到的智慧和清晰的理解來應用時下的手機程式、社交媒體。由於手機和互聯網的即時性和不分晝夜性，我們沒有選擇地只好常作準備，適時回應。否則其破壞力就比一切的溝通渠道更大更快！後現代的青少年人著重感覺，而感覺只可藉持續的關係來維繫，手機、社交媒體、表情符號絕對不能取締親身接觸，花時間見面、相處、吃飯、「hea」、活動等不能輕視的事情。

自從iPhone 3G 於2008年面世，我們正式進入了「手機時代」（Mobile Age）。至今全球 70 億[1]人口中有68億[2]部手機，而智能手機則大約有15 億[3]之多。Samsung[4] 把Google 研發的 Android 普及至世界的每一角落，甚至從前的手機巨人Nokia[5]也無處容身。因著手機之普及並 3G、4G 通訊的出現，2000年科網熱[6]的理念終於能貫徹實現，而且有過之而無不及。

據通訊管理局2014 年2月份的數字[7]，香港流動數據用戶超越1千2百萬，意思是平均每個香港人都擁有超過一個流動上網的帳戶。從Google於2013年8月所發佈的研究報告[8]顯示，香港人利用手機上網的習慣已經為亞洲之冠。

手機和上網已經成為我們生活不能分割的一部分，WhatsApp、Facebook、Instagram、等是我們溝通的主要渠道。用手機打機、看Youtube、「煲劇」、去淘寶、online window shopping等是我們的主要娛樂。牛津字典2013年度詞語[9]之選是Selfie，意思是「自拍」，也是我們生活的必然部份。

以下我列舉了七大範圍是我認為要回應「e世代」決不可少的認知:

• 表情符號的虛偽

自ICQ、MSN、Line等開始，我們都非常習慣以表情符號來互相對答，或夾雜地對答。無疑這樣的方法真的可以把平面的語句變得立體且生動有趣，可是，包括我自已在內也時常為了敷衍回應而並非真心的表示感受。我大膽斷言地說，表情符號是阻礙我們坦白交心的障礙。我並不是說要杜絕使用表情符號，而是要認真使用。

• 不能觸摸的內心

除了表情符號阻礙我們真心表達感受外，我們用手機日常分享的東西也只流於表面，例如美味的食物、自拍的照片、笑話、是非等。用WhatsApp 來交心是很難的，文字的限際，網絡速度和隱定性也難確保。用Facebook公開內心的感受也是難的，真心回應亦是難的。有時在一些公開的群組中你一言我一句的方式其實非常混亂，很多時候再加上網絡時差就更遭糕，有很多誤會也可能發生呢！關鍵時刻，用電話溝通總比WhatsApp好，見面傾訴總比Facebook好！

• 不為人知的侵犯

有一天，開會後我與一位女同事乘地鐡返回辦公室，偶爾從車箱對方窗子的反射看到一名男子正用手機偷拍坐在我們旁邊的女仕，然後立即再拍我的同事，我用手在他的鏡頭前揮舞，他竟然無動於衷的扮作聚睛地閱讀他的手機……。除此以外，因著手機的個人性，根本瀏覽任何淫褻及不雅內容或是侵權的內容也無人能問津！隱藏的事，好像真的不被人知道！其實電訊公司、網站、瀏覽器通通都記錄了！因為以為人不知，我們也養成隨便侵犯的習慣。

• 侵權正常化

最近，我特意請教一位任職海關的朋友關於一些電視機頂盒的侵權問題，我得出來的結論是賣家和用家都沒有直接明顯違反香港法例，但我們仍然確實助長內容提供者去惡意侵權來謀取利益，產品的廣告也大無私樣地充斥於市場，我們竟集體侵權而不以為意。其實不用機頂盒，我們也不斷於Youtube、優酷、土豆、快播……等大無私樣地在公開場合或私下觀看侵權的電視節目、電影、MTV、球賽……等。我覺得這個現實是不能逆轉的了，因為甚至學校、教會等的侵權行為也非常嚴重。但我們是否就範呢？最低限度我們自已從個人的立場可選擇不故意侵權、專重原創！

• 無限的文化

大約兩年前，電訊公司[10]與用戶閙得熱烘烘的題目是手機「無限上網」的合約不再「無限」……。我們今天的「無限」文化使我們集體放棄節約的美德，我們也不再明白受約束下的管理模式，時間、先後次序、輕重都因無限而失去意思。其實有約束才會付責任，無止境的要求，只會釀成貪念和紀律的問題。上帝造人，生活節湊是有限的，沒有人能7×24不休息！

• 真假未分狂轉載

我們每天都會從WhatsApp、Facebook、SMS、電郵等收到大量的資訊，當中實在有太多偽冒的訊息，有些是惡作劇、有些是詐騙、有些是誤導……。我也曾經一時不慎也是出於熱心地把失實和偏面的消息廣泛傳至我的朋友圈子中，結果被指誤導並斷章取義。所以，我定意只傳有官方網址和查詢電話的內容，未經證實的資訊，再不外傳。作為消息發放者，我們也應盡量提醒收訊者有何方法辨識真偽。

• 感覺主宰一切

後現代人都依賴感覺來看事情，手機和互聯網的平台主要都是以視覺和聽覺來影響我們的感受，當然文字也絕不缺少。視覺感受主要原素是顏色、形狀、構圖、速度……所以我們若要有效傳遞訊息不單要有刺激或精緻的平面設計，也要利用動畫，更要考慮用影片再配合音樂。現今的科技就算藉著手機或數碼相機已經能簡單剪輯成非常吸引的圖片和影片，要觸動人心，我們就要多下點功夫！

除了手機外，平板電腦是下一浪的「機」遇，其實各大廠家在過去兩年出了無數款式來爭取市場。今天我們若要好好回應「e世代」就要好好檢視我們的信息內容是否脫穎而出地吸引我們的目標對象。他們是否很容易就可以WhatsApp我們呢？他們是否可以在Facebook見到我們精彩的內容，而且廣泛分享給他們的朋友呢？我們的Youtube影片是否吸引人重覆地瀏覽呢？手機媒體已經是我們溝通和接收資訊主流平台，對青少年人而言更可能是唯一平台，如果我們不能好好地爭取青少年人的「Air Time」，所有其他傳媒和商業機構必然不會錯過。同樣重要的是我們不可忘記Human Touch，握握手、擁抱一下、拍拍肩頭、Ｈi-Five一下！

  

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[1] 資料來源：http://www.worldometers.info/world-population

 [2] 資料來源：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_mobile_phones_in_use

 [3] 資料來源：http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Smartphone-Users-Worldwide-Will-Total-175-Billion-2014/1010536

 [4] 參考資料：http://www.samsung.com/hk_en/function/ipredirection/ipredirectionLocalList.do

[5] 參考資料：http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/04112bea-8425-11e3-9903-00144feab7de.html#axzz31zRWYbc3

[6] 參考資料：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble

[7] 資料來源：http://www.ofca.gov.hk/tc/media_focus/data_statistics/key_stat/index.html

[8] 資料來源：http://www.metrohk.com.hk/index.php?cmd=detail&id=218041

[9] 資料來源：http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/press-releases/oxford-dictionaries-word-of-the-year-2013/

[10] 參考資料：https://hk.news.yahoo.com/數碼通無限上網突-復活-215612977.html

Digital Public Relations, are you doing it?

Adams Company Limited (www.adamshk.com)

When we talk about Digital Public Relations, the most important thing is toknow that the major momentum behind DigitalAGE and MobileAGE is from thescreens of 4 to 10 inches.  If you cannot conquer using contents that arefitting to this most basic requirement, you will not be successful.  Basically, Digital PR is covering the followingtopics on the following topics.  Personally, I think we are facing amore difficult task than we were in the previous generation when TV, Newspapersand Magazines were still dominating our mainstream of media channels!

• Where is your audience?
• Rethinking the proper channels for Press Releases in DigitalAGE and MobileAGE!
• Making an impact larger than you thought!
• Voice Vs Noise in a Viral World?
• Corporate Communications in a Postmodern Context
• Negative Responses as a New Normal!
• Are you really successful with your  Online Reputation?
• Can you build Corporate Image through Online/Digital Advertising?

2014 : 7 Most Important Tasks for Online/Mobile/Social Media Marketing Strategy

Mobile Marketing with the aid of Social Media is the phenomenon that no Marketer can miss in 2013. This is the trend we really have to pay high attention and make things happen beautifully in 2014. There are 7 top priority tasks I can identify that we need to do in the very near future:

1. Is my corporate website Mobile Ready from 4 to 10 inches? i.e. iPhone, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Tab, iPad Air…
2. Are you already advertising on Google/Baidu/Bing (Yahoo) using Mobile Bidding setting?
3. Are you already advertising using location base filter or SMS for mobile devices?
4. Are your online advertisements having location or click-to-call extensions to increase conversion from mobile devices?
5. Are you purposely recruiting “loyal” members in your mobile database for future direct marketing?
6. Are you building a team of mobile customer service on the most popular mobile messaging platforms? i.e. WhatsApp/WeChat
7. Are you getting ready to enable “Online/Offline” integration at your physical shop through mobile devices? e.g. NFC, QR Code…

There are actually a lot of work to be done! All the best!!

We live in a different World!

By Matthew Kwan, Principal Consultant, Adams (www.adamshk.com)
Jun 22, 2013

We live in a different world of internet and mobile devices.  People are connected in a distance through facebook, skype, twitter, weibo, instagram...etc.  There seems to be boundless even when you are flying on a plane, climbing in the highest mountain of Himalaya, walking in the hottest dessert of Sahara, diving in the deepest sea of pacific ocean, exploring the coldest weather of the north pole. We are connected, yet distance apart.  Feeling maybe connected but human touches can never be replaced by the screens, monitors, iPad, tablet PC's...etc.  There are just too many aspects of life that should not be accomplished by Whatsapp, WeChat, Line, Kakao or any sort.  You can never be able to look into somebody's eye through a webcam, you can n ever be able to hug someone you love via a video call, you can never kiss someone who is dear in your heart of the photos you share.

What is the real point of our world today if you are so connected and so apart.  The connection is only able through a paid service by a telecommunication company.  Can we connect without paying?  Can we connect without a device?  Can we connect without a medium?  It is our mind.  Our mind has no limit, it facilitates us to go wherever in the world, you may send wishes to anyone, anytime, anywhere without a dime.  Are we really mindful to the smallest details and feelings?  Our mind can never travels far if we never care for the minute details of our surroundings.  Can you be mindful when you are tired?  Can you be mindful when you are running out of time?  Can you be mindful when you don't care?  Time and space and will could be the sheer power behind your mindfulness.  Only the ones we really ready for trade off these pricesless entities may experience the joyest satisfaction of the glory a mindful heart may bring.  Only love can drive through your mind to act unconditionally.


(P.S. written on a paper napkin on a plane going home from U.S.)

高效能營銷 ─ 系列: 營銷之T.O.M.

作者: Matthew Kwan/Adams (www.adamshk.com) 首席顧問

我相信大部份銷售人員都明白最容易成功的訂單都是”返單”(repeat purchase)，要提升”返單”的比率就在乎Top of Mind (T.O.M.) 。要在顧客心目中名列前茅並不簡單，首先你的Track Record (過往記錄) 一定要好而且令他們稱心滿意，而且你的反應和回應必然是超水準地快而準。

另外，從營銷的角度 Top of Mind 就是 brand / market awareness (品牌 / 市場認知)，press / public presence (報導 / 公眾的曝光) ， (online) searchable result (網上能找到之結果) ….. 若要達到這幾方面的效果，除了大揮金錢去買廣告外，小心計劃公司對外定期發放資訊和消息是不能缺少的。我們現今活在亙聯網的世界，你的知名道其實主宰放幾個最大型的搜尋器 (Yahoo, Google, Baidu) 手上，若然連自己都不能找到自己的產品或品牌，你又怎能期望客戶能找到呢？

要有Top of mind 就要穩定地發放訊息，電郵之普及，我認為所有公司都要有e-Newsletter 發送到他們的現有客戶、供應商、生意伙伴和曾查詢的客戶……就是我經常提及的Fantastic 4 (神奇4俠) ！要吸引他們”返單”就要讓他們記著你與眾不同的服務水平，要吸引他們介紹你給其他朋友，就要讓他們知道或記得你的服務範圍。要他們容易的找到你聯絡資料，就要無處不在的刊登你的資料給各大相關的目錄或入門網站！

高效能營銷 ─ 系列: 20:20 的挑戰

作者: Matthew Kwan/Adams (www.adamshk.com) 首席顧問 Copyright 2011.

在銷營學或營銷學中有所謂 Elevator’s Pitch (我的翻譯：瞬間傳銷)。其實當中的概念是在短瞬間把產品 / 服務 / 人物的最重要優點標榜出來，並打動聽者回應行動。

在現實商業社會中，我覺得Elevator’s Pitch對所有品牌或產品都尤其重要，因為我們活在極速的年代，人再沒有耐性去聽沉悶的介紹，而且更好快就放棄去了解任何內容，你若要得到對方的 20 分鐘的注意力，你就是在 20 秒中去打動他。所以我稱這樣的挑戰為”20:20”的挑戰。

你有沒有想過只得20 秒來打動你的客戶呢？其實大部份的電視廣告只得 10 秒或15秒，那般的挑戰就更大，若要在這麼短的時間說明最大的優點，事前的分析，用字的考研和次序的鋪排都要深思熟慮，而且語氣和表情都要恰到好處，我相 信要不斷的修改和練習才能達致比較好的效果。

當你用20秒的時間去贏取了信心和對方的興趣，你又是否能在20分鐘內贏取訂單呢？其實人的集中力有限，雖然有研究指45分鐘是一般的專注時間，但 我多年的銷售經驗告訴我，其實20分鐘已經是很難得的了，尤其是對方正聽取的資訊如果是陌生的內容。換言之，就算你有1小時的內容，你最精彩而最重要的部 份都應該放在首20分鐘並且在這20分鐘內嘗試博取對方的認同和好感，好使你的產品或服務能成功銷售。

Would you dare to share!

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.

Copyright (c) 2011. By Matthew Kwan, Principal Consultant
Adams Company Limited
W:www.adamshk.com FB:facebook.com/adams.news

Think Virally!

Dear Friend,

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

It 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

Matthew Kwan

Principal Consultant

Adams Company Limited

www.adamshk.com

Giving up is a way to gain!

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 toexercise 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 areon 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 importancewithin 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 thatyou already know your priority list (which you could achieve by using taking the results from theweighting 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 budget to see the impact on the potential return-on-investment (ROI), youwill 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.

Social Media: Business or Not??

Dear Friend,

Greetings to you!

I am so glad to share with you that we had a very successful event with Wisers Information Limited (Wisers) earlier this month on the topic of “Brand Formula through Social Media”. The event was FULL HOUSE in a room packed with 160 people coming mainly from companies of Banking & Finance, Government & NGO’s and Marketing Professionals. I was thrilled to speak alongside with domain experts from Greenpeace, Ogilvy and Wisers. If you are interested to view my presentation, please feel free to check it out on http://www.slideshare.net/adamshk/adams-wisers-social-media-seminar-20110602

Facebook

So, do you think you can get business through your Facebook Account or Facebook Fan Page or Facebook Groups or Facebook Social Ad? If I have lost you on these terms, you definitely need to get yourself educated on the differences, otherwise you will not be very successful to promote your company/products/services using Facebook. Why am I pinpointing on Facebook? It is because there are more than 3 Million registered users using Facebook in Hong Kong which is about 75% of the total Internet population in Hong Kong. This is a serious matter as there is no single advertising media have this kind of direct reach on a personal basis than Facebook in Hong Kong and in the world. There are actually more than 500 Million Facebook users in the World which contribute to more than 25% of the worldwide Internet population. The most important success factor is to ensure there is element of “Viral Effective”. Majority of Adams’ larger projects in the last 2 years are all related to Facebook and we always think Virally to bring pivotal results for our customers. You may read more on our methodology and philosophy on http://www.adamshk.com/e-Marketing/social_media.htm

Twitter

Are you really ready to engage with the customers and do business? According to a article on www.mad.co.uk, Dell managed to make over US$6.5 Million sales throughTwitter alone by end of 2009 and US President Obama is having over 8M followers on Twitter alone. However, Twitter is not so popular in Hong Kong as it does not offer Traditional Chinese interface but Adams is recommending customers to use Twitter as a connector to multiple Social Media. There are actually a number of way of doing it if you know the right tools. It is highly effective for disseminating your company and product news to multiple channels.

YouTube

Do you know Hong Kong is one of the highest visit location of YouTube? Do you know you can actually post Video advertisements (Traditionally only available on TV) right next to videos of your target customers when they search for interested topics? It can be so targeted and relevant and effective but we do not see a lot of these advertisements yet in Hong Kong. Are you aware that we live in post-modern age that people enjoy watch videos than purely reading texts? Have you opened you YouTube channel for your company yet, showing demos, advertisements, testimonials, events….to create a prominent online presence? What I am trying to say here is that a lot of companies are lacking behind on using YouTube tactically and effectively. The potential results can be exponential if you are doing it right. Adams has started helping customer to place their TVC’s on YouTube for quite sometime and the ROI’s are very clear.

China

Earlier, www.renren.com (人人網) has merged with www.kaixin.com to form the largest Social Media Network in China. On May 4, 2011, RenRen.com has become the first ever Social Media Network being listed on New York Stock Exchange raising US$743.4 million with highest trading price at US$21.93 on the first day of trading. There are many business implications with its huge growth potentials. If you are planning to reach customers in China, then you really have to understand Sina’s Weibo (microblogging site equivalent to Twitter), Youku.com and Tudu.com (Video Broadcasting sites equivalent to YouTube), Baidu Tieba (China’s largest discussion forum) and a whole bunch of other Social Media Network sites. The competitions are furious and extremely exciting. However, the cost of exploration is not small at all! Adams is actively helping customers to use the most relevant and prominent social media in China to create most effective online presence and awareness.

Summary

Ultimately, we are living in an Internet Age, people tend to find you through Search Engines and Social Media than anything else. We are talking about Online PR and Online Branding exercise here. It is exactly the same as you would do it in the old days, you need to manage your public facing communications to get the best branding, perception and awareness. If you do not act now, it is going to be too late as your competitors are out there looking for ways to penetrate the market any minute NOW using Social Media. We see a lot of companies have started their effort in testing the effect of Social Media Marketing but we also see too many cases that the companies are not having a clear strategy! If you would like to understand more how to plan your Social Media Marketing Strategy for your special business, please do not hesitate and contact us on +852 27239977 or email us at admin@adamshk.com .

Best regards,

Matthew

Matthew Kwan

Principal Consultant

Adams Company Limited

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China Online Purchase reached RMB498B in 2010. Seize the OPPORTUNITIES NOW!

Copyright © 2011 Matthew Kwan, Principal Consultant, Adams Company Limited (www.adamshk.com)

According CNNIC (www.cnnic.cn 中國互聯網路訊息中心) report released in January 2011, China’s Internet users reached to 457M users (of 1.8B in the world) by end of 2010. In addition, www.news.cn (新華網) on May 4, 2011 is reporting that the total purchase online in China in 2010 is RMB498B and 70% of the deals are done on www.taoboa.com (淘寶網).

Did these figures impress you?? There is a very huge market in China and you can actually reach target customers with very targeted approach which traditional media cannot provide you. You can select by age, sex, education background, job titles, interests, living standards…etc according to the demographics available from different websites and organizations databases. You can use multi-levels communications available online including emails, text messages, display advertisements, social media and etc to reach your most wanted customers.

At the same time, there are just so many opportunities with the ever rising number of tourists from China that you can really attract them to come to your shops in Hong Kong through many innovative channels including shopping tours and coupons mailing.

The ecosystems and players in China is very different from Hong Kong and rest of the world. Hence, you really need to pick the right tools and channels extremely carefully. Otherwise, you may end up spending a lot of money without any result by the scale of this big country. Adams has been working extremely to line up many excellent channels for companies to develop their China market, here are a few options you may consider:

Baidu Search Engine

Adams is helping customers to publicize their company, products, brands, services using the No.1 search engine in China, Baidu. Other than advertising, we are also help our customers to create an online presence on Baidu related products including Baike (Wiki), ZhiDao (Knowledge), TieBa (Forum), KongJian (Blog) and etc which are proofed to be very effective. The daily budget for advertising is as low as RMB 50 per day.

D&B Direct Marketing for China

Adams is partnering of D&B Hong Kong, one of the largest customer database companies in the world over 100 years history, to provide very detailed and comprehensive both consumer and business database service that you can reach your customers in China by direct mailing, e-mails, SMS, MMS.

China Post Direct Mailing

Adams is helping customers to sort out most relevant target audience as specific as province, city, area, street, estate by the characteristics of the posting behavior to uniquely identify your customers.

China Online/Internet Payment

Adams is engaging the most popular internet payment gateways in China and methods that customers collect money and payment at ease and to receive payments over the Internet from China directly to banks in Hong Kong with peace of mind. The one time setup charge is as low as HK$3000.

China Toll Free Direct Call Number

Adams is a partner of the ONLY official distributor of the China Toll Free Direct Call number company in Hong Kong that can provide a PRC telephone number that can be routed to Hong Kong and anywhere in the world. This can certainly increase your accessibility and customer service level to your customers in China.

If you are interested of any of the above services that help you to grow and develop your market in China, please feel free to contact us anytime on +852 2723 9977 or admin@adamshk.com. Alternatively, please visit: www.adamshk.com/e-Marketing/china.htm or more information.

Mobile Marketing is the way to GO!

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.

Leaders Are All Fools!

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 may possess the following characters or qualities:

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.

Entrepreneurship is an Attitude

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.