I am pretty sure we are all familiar with the word “spam” and believe that we have all received spams in some way or another.

On average, I receive close to 100 spam emails in a month which is automatically classified as “junk.”

What is consider as spam?

From a business perspective, spam occurred usually when senders sent out bulk email, in hope to receive some responses. However, if the person sending such email is up to no good, spam will lead to scams. In general, if the recipients did not consent, it is considered as spam! Spam include examples like advertisements, hoax virus warnings, hoax charity appeals and even chain emails!

And… how can you avoid being categorized as spamming for your company?

SIMPLE! Here are some tips.

First, send emails to opt in subscribers!

Getting the permission is essential and never purchase a list of emails including people who does not know anything about your product.

Second, quickly welcome new subscribers!

Do not wait too long to welcome your new consumers as they might just forget your existence! Welcome them with a friendly hello and define the relationship of email.

Third, avoid using spam words!

“Buzz words” that are frequently used by spammers triggers the spam filters. Therefore, avoid spam words such as “earn extra cash”, “100% free” or even “free gift.” Some are difficult to avoid so do provide context!

Fourth, avoid shortening links!

It is utmost important for marketers to understand the risk of shortening links! The reason is because spammers usually prefer shorter links as it reduces the risk of exposing their whereabouts. Therefore, spam filters often warn with a red flag when links are short.

So… aside from these tips, have you ever wondered if spamming is illegal?

Well, while most of us will agree that it is illegal, but it is arguable!

However, in Singapore, Spam Control Act was introduced and imposed to protect the privacy of citizens. If you are wondering why Singapore is so strict with it, that is because spamming can cause viruses to spread and the worst scenario is to be hacked, affecting the accuracy of information.

In conclusion, being a marketer, it is important to plan and craft the advertisements and for majority of us, always be careful and upgrade your anti-spam protection when necessary!

IMC, IMC, IMC… We always hear this during marketing lectures but what does it stands for? It simply stands for Integrated Marketing Communication.

IMC is known as an approach to communicate messages to target market through combining strategies. It can be in the form of print, website or even social media, fusing both traditional and modern marketing to achieve effectiveness. Here are some examples of successful IMC campaigns.

In 2010, Old Spice, widely known as a shampoo brand designed a campaign targeting both men and women. With the help of social medias, the video achieved almost 11 million views, 29,000 fans on Facebook and 58,000 followers on Twitter.

In 2017, Nike, a well-known brand live streamed an attempt to complete a marathon in less than 2 hours as a plan to promote their new shoe, Zoom Vaporfly Elite. With the help of 3 runners namely Eliud Kipchoge, Zersenay Tadese and Lelisa Desisa, the campaign was made to follow easily by the hashtag #Breaking2. Such campaign helps Nike to achieve 584,000 mentions, 87% positive comments and 2 trillion impressions which was impressive.

While there are successful campaigns out there, we all know that not every plan is going work and hence here are 4 different approaches your business can consider utilizing, depending on the objectives that you want to achieve.

First – External.

This is where company outsource and hire marketing agencies and allow them to handle the task of marketing including developing and designing the strategies. Such approach will be beneficial as it will likely be more objective since it is from the experts’ perspective.

Second – Internal.

This approach involves top-level management, where they engage employees and leak details prematurely. This eventually helps to create anticipation even before it hits the market.

Third – Horizontal.

Horizontal approach requires different departments to work together, allowing open flow of information and communication exchange to build a successful strategy.

Fourth – Vertical.

Vertical approach ensures the product being developed is matched within the breadth of company’s mission and goals, which means to fit within corporate policy.

In conclusion, IMC is one of the most powerful tool to compete with competitors and remain sustainable if you understand your market position and the message that you want to drive across with clarity.

Being a marketing student, the term “SEO” is no stranger to us, but do we really understand how it works?

SEO is known Search Engine Optimization and is defined as a marketing process which focuses on growing visibility on organic content online. Based on live statistics, there are close 7 million searches just on google within a day!

Majority of us know that most businesses utilize SEO to drive traffic, increase awareness and to improve rankings but how?

In fact, there are 2 techniques for SEO which are known as White hat and Black hat.

So…what are the differences?

Black hat utilizes a set of practices which violates the search engine’s terms of use. Such tactics are usually used to yield a faster financial return that is deemed as unethical, causing the website to be banned. Some examples of such are spamming, duplicating content as well as Cloaking.

In contrast, white hat technique exercised integrity with the search engine and requires a longer investment period to achieve a better result. Some examples include offering quality content, using keyword-rich meta tags and making websites user-friendly.

Clearly, we can tell which tactic should be avoided but why bother?

In fact, we know it is illegal! Besides that, by using unethical marketing strategies, it affects the reputation of your company and eventually losing customers due to trust issues. I believe nobody would want to stay loyal to a company which uses dirty tricks right?

In conclusion, in order to lead your business into success and being sustainable, it is important to understand and use the proper way to increase awareness through search engines. In addition, to avoid any manipulation from third-parties using Black Hat SEO, always upgrade cyber-securities which helps to protect against such act from happening. It is better to play safe than to feel sorry later!

Back in 2000, I remembered having to share a computer among my siblings and would even fight for it. Fast forward to now, you will realize, everyone has at least a laptop or some form of smart devices and are exposed to the internet.

Businesses quickly took advantage and came up with even more devices that would allow them to collect more data for analysis.

Internet of Things (IoT) is refer as the connection of any stand-alone devices to the internet where it can be controlled from a remote location.

Data is often used to carry out analytics and any information that demonstrates volume, veracity, velocity and variety is considered as big data.

IoT and Big Data are interconnected, and based on research done by experts, such disruptive technology is expected to grow with over 24 billion devices by 2020.

So, how does the business benefit from this?

With such technology, businesses can collect data remotely based on their area of research, allowing them to better understand their consumers. With the right procession and interpretation, data becomes one of the most powerful information any businesses can obtain.  

An example would be United Parcel Service (UPS). In 2008. they integrate both GPS and vehicle sensors to delivery trucks where it allows them to identify route combinations with the aim to be cost-efficient. With this, the company has managed to save 1.5 million gallons of fuel on 10,000 routes.

Another example would be AT&T where shipping companies utilize their intelligent container fleets to track inventory accurately and to prevent theft.

However, with such advanced technology, it also poses challenge as it requires tighter security to prevent manipulation. A recent incident would be HIV data leaked in Singapore which affected 14,200 individuals. Government will have to implement tighter cyber-security to prevent history from repeating.  

In conclusion, as the world is revolutionizing and becoming more digital, businesses should utilize such technology but should always be cautious upon handling data and to constantly upgrade cyber-security.

Mobile marketing is known to be disruptive and is defined as a multi-channel, digital marketing strategy aimed to reach a target market through mobile devices.

In this era, almost everyone owns a mobile device and in Singapore itself, close to 4.83 million are internet users. Mobile marketing become common and is one of the easiest ways to reach out to larger audience.

When is the last time you remember receiving an email regarding promotions available? Personally, I receive it almost everyday through emails and SMS. While these are the most common channels, some companies pushes mobile marketing into a whole new level with their marketing strategies!

For instance, Starbucks introduced mobile payment application which allow users to pay using credits instantly without any fuss. Even if you forgot your wallet, you can still purchase your daily dose of coffee!

Another example will be Ford Motor where they took full advantage of mobile marketing to promote their new releases. They utilized SMS where consumers will quote ‘FORD’ to 63611 and they will be provided with more information through phone calls. Furthermore, if consumers are interested in purchasing, information will be sent to the local dealers and subsequently follow up by them. They eventually achieved a conversion rate of 15.4% which was impressive.  

Those are some successful mobile marketing but how do you ensure the success of it?

First – Know your market position well!
It is essential to know your unique selling point. Besides that, you must analyse the profile of your consumers, as well as your competitors.

Second – Set realistic objectives!
You will not be able to generate strategies if you do not know what exactly you want to achieve.

Third – Identify your target audience!
It is not enough to just analyse. You will need to dig deeper into the insights and understand your potential audience.

Fourth – Choose the right tactics!
Always justify with your findings and identify the digital marketing strategy that can help to achieve your objectives.

Fifth – Monitor!
It is not enough to just plan and implement. You will need to constantly monitor, measure, manage and to improve when necessary.

In conclusion, mobile marketing can be a powerful tool and will transform your business only if you approach it in the right way.

Viral marketing, they said but what exactly does it means to go viral? Viral marketing is a business strategy which utilizes social medias such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and any platforms which connects users around the world.

Why Viral Marketing? Viral marketing allows content and information to be circulated rapidly and widely on the internet, reaching out to greater audience. It can be created either intentionally or by accident which is not easy, but possible.

So why do some ideas spread and becomes viral? It is because it engages and attracts the attention of the majorities. The main factor to engage is to create creative contents. Besides that, it must be like-able, have audience involvement and being able to arouse emotions to cause an action.

Every business strategy has its advantage and disadvantage, including viral marketing. Some advantages of such strategy include low cost in terms of advertising, being able to reach out to larger audience and to build your brand. Some disadvantages include having difficulty in measuring the campaign and being temporary which does not help in building customer loyalty.

One recent example would be Gojek where the customer accused the driver for kidnapping. The video was circulating and the next minute you realize, everybody in Singapore knows about it due to the speed and ease of sharing on social medias. The incident did not exactly bring in positive buzz however it became a hot topic over the night. Almost everybody was teasing about it and some even took advantage such as designing a t-shirt imprinted with the tagline “Is it because I’m Chinese?” from the incident, generating profit for their own company. In a way, it does help Gojek as it became well-known to the public as a hail-riding service available in Singapore besides Grab.

In conclusion, Viral marketing will be effective only if the company knows how to market their brands and products by utilizing social medias to create a positive buzz. In order to keep up with the tech-savvy society, it is essential for businesses to constantly keep an outlook of viral content, plan and turn ideas into workable strategies.