Sales, Social and Tech

There was a time whenever I heard the title sales and marketing, I would cringe a little. However, doing channel sales now, a little dash of marketing can do wonders to your sales funnel. If the end is closing the deal, then the starting point of the sales journey is get a lead. In a traditional setting, that lead generation portion is often left to the marketing team. In today's Internet social media world, the salesperson with that dash of marketing will outsell those who draw the line between sales and marketing. The American Marketing Association most recently defined marketing as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. Isn't the salesperson the best to do tall these? Today the medium and distribution channel are almost free. You could easily start a blog in seconds, with Blogger, Wordpress or event start a new po...

Marketing drill gets wrong command Image Source :https://www.facebook.com/yahoosingaporenewsroom National Geographic Singapore decision to give passerby the opportunity to command a platoon of "army boys" have drawn flak from the public as being "disrespectful to the uniform". Ironically, the stunt above was to promote the upcoming documentary on the life of Singapore boys serving National Service.  Wrote a Facebook user on Yahoo Singapore Newsroom Facebook Page ,  " Whats tbe purpose of this? Mocking our NS boys? Ive seen many parents shed tears sending and welcome their Boys to/from NS. And now Any tom dick and harry can command our NS boys? NOT FUNNY or AMUSING! " Wrote Smiththankyou ,  "Pride and glory aside, are we even allowed to use Property of SAF for such "showmanship"? And I remember my Encik telling me we can't even book out in "Vest Slack" cause it is not a proper Army uniform like our "Long ...

A SUV in China was stolen and the baby in the car was also abducted. The sad part of the story was that the man responsible for it confessed to "strangling the baby and burying him in the snow". A depressing story to start the day, but brandchannel reported that a dealer at China Buick Cars decided to take advantage of this tragedy as a marketing tool. Wrote brandchannel, "As events were unfolding, one of Buick's dealers in China decided the Changchun tragedy would be the perfect subject to tout features on its new model cars. Liaoning Tianhe Buick, a dealership in Jilin's neighbor province, posted the following (now deleted) on its Weibo page (as a reader points out, before anyone knew the baby had been murdered): "A few thoughts following the Changchun stolen car incident: When buying a car it's completely okay to choose higher technology. Tianhe Buicks carry the OnStar GPS system, allowing the lockdown of a stolen vehicle at any time and place...

Microsoft is looking to bring over its campaign from the US to invite the Singapore consumers to bring down their existing and compete with the Windows phone. Unfortunately, local slang gives the tagline a undesirable meaning in this game of speed. Wrote e27.sg ,  "Think you have the fastest non-Windows Phone mobile? Get ready to be Smoked by Windows Phone and if you do win, you’ll get a chance of walking away with S$100. Check out more info and the official Smoked by Windows Phone videos." However, most Singaporeans, especially those who have served in the Army, would view the word "smoked" in a different light. According to talkingcock.com dictionary of Singlish terms,  "SMOKE/THROW SMOKE  (Contributed by Bertha) A term derived from the Army, where smoke is used to conceal tactical operations. Means to bluff, cause a diversion, confuse someone or bullshit. It's used commonly during examinations, when someone has no idea how to answer t...

Nomination day is just around the corner yet if you have read “Marketing Warfare” by Al Ries and Jack Trout, you could easily identify with the strategies of the various political parties. “Marketing Warfare” isn’t about the battle of geographical conquest, but rather the battle for the positioning in the mind of the consumers. In the General Elections, the various political parties are too fighting for voters’ mindshare but for their heartshare too. Ries and Trout highlighted that companies with various marketshare have different objectives, which is similar when you start comparing the actions of the political parties. Party Number 1 (PAP) – Dominance of Market Share (Win as many seats to continue to be the next government) Party Number 2  (WP) – Increase Market Share (More than 1 seats in Parliament) Party Number 3 (SDP,NSP,SPP,RP) – Profitable Survival (Win at least 1 seat/GRC or at best more than 1/8th of the votes) If you are number 1, you should have a defensiv...