Introduction to Marketing

I know I am definitely going to offend some people for saying this, but it needs to be said. Do you know what sort of people should NEVER go into business for themselves? Those who are unwilling to take responsibility for the successful marketing of their business.

To them I say: save your time, effort and the money put in from your own savings, your relatives and other investors. If you don't want to take final responsibility for marketing, you don't have what it takes to start and run a business.

There are people who think having a great idea or concept for a business is enough to bring about success. Oh, please! Great ideas, creative inventions are a dime a dozen. But it takes more than good ideas to succeed. It also needs people who can bring those ideas to fruition, make them into sell-able products or services, AND bring them successfully to the end-consumer, the customer.

I had this conversation with a friend once. She was telling me about someone who she thought was a great businessman. Why? Because he knew how to set up shops and had done so a number of times. My question was "But can he bring in customers?" When she paused to think about that, I pointed out that any business without customers is out of business. So how can we call someone a good businessman if he can't bring in customers?

If you are in business for yourself, or thinking of starting up your own business (and this includes being an insurance agent or a property agent), please understand that things are very different now, compared to even 10-15 years ago. I'll be describing these changes from a Singapore context, but the same changes have occurred in many other places around the world.

In the OLD DAYS

1) It was harder to get into business, write and publish a book, set up a shop or dining place, or start a training centre or school. There were less book publishers in the scene, less record companies to launch and promote music albums, and, especially in Singapore, less office and retail space available for rent. Those factors meant that only the serious, the very good and those who had loads of capital to spare could go into business for themselves.

But this also meant that those who managed to get into the scene had less competition to worry about. Therefore they didn't need to be that good at marketing. It was still easier for them to capture enough market share to survive or thrive.

2) There were less distractions. I remember growing up with only 1 English newspaper in Singapore, 2 Chinese newspapers (that eventually merged), 2 English language stations on radio and even less for Chinese, Malay and Tamil. On TV we only had 1 channel each for English and Chinese programmes, and would get 2 channels from Malaysian TV (complements of our neighbor to the north).

What this means is that people had less distractions and less to remember. So they could remember your business, book or album a lot more easily. It also meant that it was easier to dominate the various marketing channels (print, radio and TV) and get public attention for your business.

3) Fewer channels of communications. If people wanted to talk to each other about your business, they would have to either write letters to each other or call each other on the telephone. This meant that word-of-mouth happened very slowly, if at all, and there were less things clamoring for people's attention every day.

BUT NOW

1) It is very much easier for people to go into business for themselves. They could sell insurance, be property agents, or make use of the loads of retail and office space now available for rent to start a dinning place, retail outlet or some other business. Technology has made it easier and cheaper for someone to write a book or cut an album, or maybe even do a great music video to go along with it.

This means that there are a lot more businesses now taking aim at the customers' dollar. Unless you find a compelling way to make your business stand out from the crowd, AND effectively make it known to your customers, you are in trouble. And please, don't expect that claiming you provide the best service/product at the lowest price to work. Many others are also claiming exactly the same thing!

2) We are flooded with distractions. I read in passing that an average American is hit by 3000 sales messages a day. We should be nearing that here in Singapore! In just TV alone we have 170 channels on cable TV, for radio we can listen in to stations from around the world via the Internet, and besides all that we can access almost any form of entertainment we want, thanks to Youtube and other similar sites. We have Facebook and Twitter to keep ourselves occupied and up-to-date with the events around the world, and there are blogs galore to satisfy our interest in our not-so-mainstream interests.

So that means that even if you can get your business/book/album noticed positively, the odds are that your prospective customers will have forgotten you and the name of your business/book/album within a few days. And I think I am being generous here! If people forget your restaurant before they get a chance to patronize it, you have lost that opportunity right there.

3) We have MANY more channels of communication. Blogs, forums , Facebook, Twitter, and email allow us to communicate with people within moments. Moreover, they usually connect people who trust each other, so word-of-mouth messages about your business/book/album get passed more powerfully.

Before all the cheapskate "business"-men start rubbing their hands in glee and thinking that they can sit back and let word-of-mouth handle ALL their marketing work for them, please remember: 1) People may be passing around BAD publicity about your business; 2) Why WOULD they talk about your business to their friends? Just because you want them to? It doesn't work that way!

So That Means:

1) Your marketing has to stand out, and in a compelling way. Many people think that entertaining and clever ads lead to good sales, or they blindly copy the same ads their competitors are using. Entertaining ads may get some attention at the beginning, but I have read of award-winning ads leading to a drop in sales before. So please be careful before you had over loads of money over to an advertising agency. I'm not saying that they can't help you, but please don't switch off your mind, hand them a blank cheque and expect your business to boom uncontrollably after that!

In order for your business/book/album to stand out, you MUST be clear what are you offering that is superior or different compared to your competitors. If you are vague about it ("good service, prompt delivery, good prices") your marketing will leave a vague impression in people's minds. And in this day and age, a vague impression is as useful as no impression at all, except that you wasted more money and time to get it…

And if you are a writer, if you yourself can't put into words why other people should buy your book rather than the next bestseller from Dan Brown or John Grisham (or John C. Maxwell, for that matter) don't expect other people to be able to do it for you. Besides, if you claim to be a writer and can't write a persuasive ad for your own book, I personally would suspect you are a lousy writer and I won't be bothered to read your book at all!

2) People are distracted, so your marketing efforts have to be done on a consistent basis. Don't think a one-shot ad or a short-term marketing blitz will bring in customers in droves for the rest of your life. You need to bring the message of the benefits of your business to your customers and prospects over and over again, once a month at least, or your business will be forgotten.

Writers, don't think that your job is done once a person has bought your book. He or she may have bought your book on the spur of the moment but later forgotten to read it. Your marketing will remind your customer to read your book and benefit from your writing efforts (which is what you want, right?). And if your book is that good, that is where you can get more testimonials to use in your marketing efforts.

3) People will talk and share with their friends about what has captured their attention. So make sure they are saying good things about your business (because people WILL trust their friends more than your promotional efforts) AND make sure they have a good reason to share about your business to their friends.

It need not be in the form of money (rebates, discounts, referral fees), it could even be simply a personally written thank-you note, a special report useful to their lives or small gift (like a cute or classy cup with your company name on it). Just make sure that gift fits in with everything else you are saying about your company. If you deal with serious matter such as estate planning or ending world hunger, a cutesy, teeny-bopper cup design will probably backfire!

By the way, word-of-mouth doesn't only apply to getting customers. If you are a boss, what are your business vendors, suppliers and former employees saying about your business?

For example: Billy Graham Ministries (BGM) has a great reputation with their suppliers.

• They are famous for paying their bills IMMEDIATELY, on the very day they receive the bill, rather than waiting for the end of the month. Because of that reputation, many people want to do business with them. They never have to ask for discounts, the suppliers are falling over themselves to offer them discounts and good rates.
  
  
• Lousy suppliers are fired immediately, because BGM has hordes of other suppliers and vendors waiting at the door.
  
  
• Non-Christian vendors are known to send offerings and donations to them even after the business deals are over, because BGM gave them opportunities when they were down and out, and those vendors responded by giving excellent value in the work they did. Those vendors still remember the hand of compassion extended to them at their time of need, and show their appreciation by making voluntary donations to BGM for years after.

So how much easier would it be for you to run your business and get top-notch employees if your business/company has this kind of reputation? Because word WILL spread, but you have to determine if it is going to be good or bad…

In Conclusion:

I hate seeing businesses go down. Something about it just offends me, because it just stinks of broken dreams, shattered hopes and wasted money. Most of the time I see a business go down because of a lack of customers, and so that is why I am taking a huge detour from my usual writing to bring all these thoughts to you.

Many of us had our impressions about marketing set in our growing years, the years before marketing was so deeply affected by the three major changes I described above. Many people rose to become bosses, or made lots of money from selling insurance, their books or their albums, based on what happened in that era, and are now wondering why what used to work doesn't work anymore. I hope this article will give you a broad sweep of the changes that have happened and why they will affect the way you conduct marketing in the future.

Business people, I wish you success!

Me and Plants

(Personal Blog Post)

I've been really busy with work. I've done stuff ranging from music, my kampong (that's Malay for home village), to English Language to taking kids on tours to the Botanic Gardens. Now that last one was really weird for me.

You see, I am not really interested in plant life. You know those people they say have green thumbs? I'm not one of them. Plant life in general is too organic for my liking. My appreciation for plant life and vegetation is limited to really liking french fries. I know nature is good, and I want my two sons to appreciate and enjoy nature.

Just don't ask me to join them, OK?

Anyway, because a good friend of mine asked me to help him with the learning journeys he was conducting for a secondary school, I agreed. The whole thing didn't start off well. Because I almost never go to the Botanic Gardens, I keep forgetting how large the place is. My friend organized a training session for us guides, and I ended up an hour late because my cab delivered me to the wrong part of the Gardens and it took me ages to walk to the correct meeting point. As I was hurrying to the meeting point I was already muttering to myself "I hate this... Why did I ever agree in the first place... And why can't they make this place one of those itty-bitty little parks so that I won't have to walk so much?!???!?"

The actual tour itself went quite OK. The kids were quite well-behaved (compared to some other kids I was afflicted with recently). Of course there were moments when I felt really embarassed. Like this one: I was giving a brief, rehearsed explanation on some of the plants the kids saw that day. When the kids asked me some questions I hastily improvised some answers that sounded good but had little factual substance. (Parents, that is the lifeskill your kids will learn in the Arts & Social Science faculty of the National University of Singapore. Be warned!)

A few minutes later I found out the sweet young lady following that class, nodding politely at my explanations, was their geography teacher, who had an encyclopedic knowledge of the plants there at the Botanic Gardens, and who had been preparing the kids for that trip by teaching on the types of plants they would come across. In other words, the kids probably knew more about the plants than I did!

Ah well, such things happen...

Anyway, the interesting thing about this experience was that after helping out with that tour, I found that despite my lack of interest I started noticing the plant life around me more. For example, one of the plant types I had to explain to the kids was Epiphytes. These are plants that grow on other plants but not in a parasitical way.

After the tour I shelved the information on them into the Recycle Bin of my mind (to be deleted because it's useless to my life). But as I was travelling to my students' homes for teaching, I keep seeing epiphytes everywhere. Yes, they were there before all the while, but because I was ignorant my eyes just skimmed past them as if they weren't there. Now I found myself noticing them. I'd look at the following plant and think: "Bird's Nest Fern! They trap fallen leaves from the host plant for compost. And those little strands below the dead fern leaves should be Shoestring Ferns, right?"

God help me, I'm actually interested now!

And I even find myself going up close to the plants to get a better look. See that fern at the right, the one with all the triangle shaped leaves or leaf clusters or whatever you call them? That's a Rabbit's Foot Fern. I'm told that it's named thus because of the shoot (that little brown thingy in the middle of the pic) is supposed to resemble a rabbit's foot. Brown, thin, furry and bent at an angle.

The other guide who was with me was commenting "Does it really look like a rabbit's foot to you? It doesn't to me. Do scientists come up with these plant names when they are drunk?"

Anyway, I'm really hoping that after I get all this stuff off my chest I can go back to my usual world, thinking about how to manage my regular life, get better at my music and take good care of my kids. I really have to stop staring at every possible epiphyte I come across and taking pictures of them with my handphone. I've already got enough to do! :)

On My Facebook Wall

I received this message on my Facebook wall.

"Thank you so much for your help in music ministry! People have NO idea how taxing being a Worship Pastor is, and your instruction makes it soo much easier! I have tried some of your techniques, and they REALLY do work...talk about a move from God! May God continue to bless your ministry as well as your instruction! Blessings!"

Min. Warren Gilmore
Worship Pastor
Urban Outreach
East St. Louis, IL USA

One thing about Warren, he isn't a newbie to worship ministry or leading worship. If you check out his Youtube videos you can see that he is a fantastic singer and musician. On top of that, he can do something I cannot do, choir arrangements.

In other words, he is someone I would not presume to teach. He's got the charisma, music skill and enough experience in the things of God to make things work even if everything else goes wrong. Telling someone like him that I've got an easier way for him to get results in worship ministry is like approaching a billionaire to tell him you've got ways for him to save money in his day-to-day expenses. He can make it easily without my advice, why should he take it?

But he did, and even more than that, he was kind enough to tell me about how my Invisible Worship Musician has helped him. And that humbles me deeply.

This incident drives home to me a lesson about what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10.

1 Cor 15:10 (NIV) - But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

This verse summarizes Paul's ministry – it began with a touch from God, Paul responded with all that he could humanly do ("I worked harder than all of them"), and yet realizes that even that was from God ("the grace of God that was with me").

And that also describes where I am now. I began my ministry with a touch from God (all the insights and experiences I detailed in Invisible Worship Musician) and responded with all I could humanly do (write the book, set up the site and do marketing work). Some people have felt my promotional work was too extreme, that I was too boastful about my abilities and that if I truly trusted God I would have toned down on my marketing efforts and spend my time praying instead.

You can guess that I didn't pay much attention to those people!

(marketing for Christians, a topic for another blog post?)

And Warren's post on my Facebook wall strongly reminded me that ultimately even the best of my natural efforts are still God working in me. If what I have can be a blessing even to someone like him, then it really must have come from God.

Now I find myself in a funny position. I used to find Christians who deflected praise cheesy. Do you know what I am talking about? I'm talking about those who, when you affirm them in some way or other ("Hey, you played the drums really well today!"), would say things like "All glory to God, it's all his grace". I thought there was something wrong with how they seemed unwilling to acknowledge that they put in effort and made themselves available to God to be used by him to bless his people.

But that is where I am now. All the human efforts I have put in (and which I used to be proud of) just look so lame now compared to what God did through it. So now I have to say, like those I found cheesy, that it's really God's grace working through me.

The point of what I am sharing is this:

There are believers who spend their time talking about God working through them, but they so busy waiting for God to zap them into inspired action and they miss the little steps they can take right now to become the right person in the right place for God to use for a supernatural work. Why? Because they don't see God working through the ordinary, the unexciting and the un-glamorous in their lives.

There are others who get so caught up with the human efforts that they even resort to methods they would be ashamed to acknowledge. One Christian marketer I know used an automatic article spinner to produce many different versions of an article he wrote and submitted those mass-generated articles to many sites to get Google's attention. The problem is, those articles ended up un-readable, with poor choices of synonyms, and therefore of no help to people reading them. And he did all this for the sake of tricking Google's search engines.

It is so difficult to navigate through life, to find that right balance where we labour as unto the LORD and yet fully trust him to work in us, through us and for us. So if you know God has brought you to that point, rejoice in him! And then expect that he will still have some more growing for you to do. And you disagree with what I write here, that's OK too. I'm still growing in the Lord myself, and if I am wrong it's only a matter of time before God will teach and convict me about it. I'm sure of that!

Be blessed, everyone!


P.S. Do take some time to enjoy the Youtube videos of Minister Warren Gilmore I find them very inspiring!