PLDT and SMART New Corporate Identity

Today as I passed by the head office of the Philippine's high valued company PLDT, I notice something different than usual, they facade is now cascaded with a new PLDT Logo.  Thus I recall the news just a few days ago that PLDT and Smart will have a new corporate logo that embodies unity and similarity in their new logo.  So today I also decided to write about PLDT and Smart in this blog.

I remember in the early 1990's when PLDT was implementing their "Zero backlog program" where they attempted to complete its fixed-line rollout and phone installation to all applicants of its telephone service.  That was triggered by the onset of competition from new telcos such as Bayantel, ETPI, Digitel and others, in the wake of the de-monopilization of the local telecom industry with Republic Act 7925 and similar government issuances.  I remember how elated we are at home when we finally had our fixed phone line installed.  I also had my first mobile phone from Smart back in 1998, its a motorola handset and had been a subscriber of Smart Communication until 2002.  Who would have thought then that moving on more than two decades, these two communication giants would become part of one congolomerate. 

Corporate Rebranding

PLDT Incorporated, formerly called Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, has evolved with strategic rebranding, reflecting its 3-year massive digital transformation.

During a surprise launch last, June 13, PLDT and its subsidiary, Smart Communications, Incorporated, launched their new logos and change in name to better represent their current thrust to shift the business to data-driven services. Philippine’s giant telco PLDT and Smart welcomes the new day with a fresh brand identity as they launch new logos.  PLDT chairman says the new logos symbolize 'the powerful convergence of PLDT and Smart, combining fixed and wireless technologies to serve individual and enterprise customers.

New Company Name

In April 2016, the company then known as the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, dropped the "long distance telephone" from its corporate name and has since been known as PLDT Incorporated.  Its board of directors approved the new corporate name to reflect on the company's new range of services, mainly focusing on data services. PLDT-Smart has embarked on a three-year digital pivot that aims to transform into networks into the country’s most data capable infrastructure delivering a growing array of compelling digital services.

This year, the Group has allocated P43 billion for capital expenditures. Around USD100 million more in capex will be earmarked, following the acquisition of the telecoms business of San Miguel Corp. which is referred to as the 700 Mhz frequency band.

PLDT and its various subsidiaries such as Voyager Innovation, Talas Data Intelligence are also developing and offering digital and financial technology services that offer the Group’s customers higher levels of efficiencies and convenience.

"Rather than allow ourselves to be disrupted by new technologies, we are disrupting ourselves. We have embarked on a digital pivot to enable us to serve the increasing needs of our people's digital lifestyle and the country's growing digital economy," PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said during the launch.

The country’s largest phone carrier has embarked on a 3-year digital pivot that aims to transform its networks into a top data-capable infrastructure.

New Logo Explained

The new logo symbolizes the powerful convergence of PLDT and Smart, combining fixed and wireless technologies to serve individual and enterprise customers.

The logos are shaped like a triangle with the three sides representing Company’s business pillars — exceptional people, meaningful innovations and its valuable customers.

The triangle also the symbol for Delta, the fourth letter on the Greek alphabet, which stands for “Change”

PLDT’s logo is their fifth logo since the 1940s, while Smart is their sixth since 1993.

The Evolution 

Branding and Marketing

There’s a bit of confusion mostly in the inter-change of functions of marketing and branding.  Any business always has marketing embedded in their corporate structure but few has brand management incorporate in their companies.  How important is branding and is it really a necessity to have such a department or could it just be included as a sub-classification under their marketing department.

For all multinational companies that gives so much importance and value to their market position, branding is very important, equally if not more important than marketing.  Their corporate brands are considered as an asset that needs to be protected and retain market position thru the efforts of marketing avenues.

Here we differentiate and delve into the two contrasting and yet parallel world of branding and marketing, what makes one equally important in any company organizational structure.

Branding is strategic. Marketing is tactical.

Marketing may contribute to a brand, but the brand is bigger than any particular marketing effort. The brand is what remains after the marketing has swept through the room. It’s what sticks in your mind associated with a product, service, or organization—whether or not, at that particular moment, you bought or did not buy.

The brand is ultimately what determines if you will become a loyal customer or not. The marketing may convince you to buy a particular Toyota, and maybe it’s the first foreign car you ever owned, but it is the brand that will determine if you will only buy Toyotas for the rest of your life.

The brand is built from many things. Very important among these things is the lived experience of the brand. Did that gadget deliver on its brand promise of reliability? Did the maker continue to uphold the quality standards that made them what they are? Did the sales guy or the service center mechanic know what they were talking about?

Marketing unearths and activates buyers. Branding makes loyal customers, advocates, even evangelists, out of those who buy.

This works the same way for all types of businesses and organizations. All organizations must sell (including nonprofits). How they sell may differ, and everyone in an organization is, with their every action, either constructing or deconstructing the brand. Every thought, every action, every policy, every ad, every marketing promotion has the effect of either inspiring or deterring brand loyalty in whomever is exposed to it. All of this affects sales.

Branding is as vital to the success of a business or nonprofit as having financial coherence, having a vision for the future, or having quality employees.

It is the essential foundation for a successful operation. So yes, it’s a cost center, like good employees, financial experts, and business or organizational innovators are. They are cost centers, but what is REALLY costly is not to have them, or to have substandard ones.

Marketing vs Branding

There is a spectrum of opinions here, but in my view, marketing is actively promoting a product or service. It’s a push tactic. It’s pushing out a message to get sales results: “Buy our product because it’s better than theirs.” (Or because it’s cool, or because this celebrity likes it, or because you have this problem and this thing will fix it, etc.) This is oversimplification, but that’s it in a nutshell.  This is MARKETING.

Branding on the other hand, should both precede and underlie any marketing effort. Branding is not push, but pull. Branding is the expression of the essential truth or value of an organization, product, or service. It is communication of characteristics, values, and attributes that clarify what this particular brand is and is not.

A brand will help encourage someone to buy a product, and it directly supports whatever sales or marketing activities are in play, but the brand does not explicitly say “buy me.” Instead, it says “This is what I am. This is why I exist. If you agree, if you like me, you can buy me, support me, and recommend me to your friends.”

Is marketing a cost center? Poorly researched and executed marketing activities can certainly be a cost center, but well-researched and well-executed marketing is an investment that pays for itself in sales and brand reinforcement.

Is branding a cost center? On the surface, yes, but the return is loyalty. The return is sales people whose jobs are easier and more effective, employees who stay longer and work harder, customers who become ambassadors and advocates for the organization.

Conclusion

Branding isn’t the same as marketing – branding is the core of your marketing strategy. In order to build an effective brand, you need authenticity and clarity in each of the steps discussed earlier, allowing your target market to identify with your brand personality and values successfully.

One final thing to remember – and a very important point – is that branding isn’t a one-time thing that you do at the beginning of establishing your business. It is an ongoing effort that permeates your processes, your culture, and your development as a business, and it requires your dedication and loyalty in order to reflect in your work. At the end of the day, the true measure of your branding success is in earning loyal customers who become your brand ambassadors as well.

Another Retail Brand downsizing

Ralph Lauren, like some other luxury brands, has been struggling amid sluggish spending on luxury apparel and accessories. The company's margins have taken a knock as department stores discount heavily to get rid of excess inventory.

Ralph Lauren is closing stores, cutting jobs and focusing more on its most popular as part of a sweeping plan to lower costs and revive sales growth at the luxury fashion brand.

The changes are the first big moves from CEO Stefan Larsson, who replaced company founder Ralph Lauren as CEO last November 2015. Lauren is still executive chairman and chief creative officer of the fashion and home decor business he created.  The new CEO Stefan Larsson's plan includes restructuring in a move aimed at saving $220 million over the next year.

Larsson has also worked with H&M for about 15 years, where he helped grow the company's sales to $17 billion from $3 billion and introduced partnerships with luxury brands such as Versace and Karl Lagerfeld.

In order to create a leaner business that operates with fewer layers of management. Larsson also wants to bring the brand more in line with today's trends and better cater to what shoppers want, taking a page out of his time at fast-fashion brands Old Navy and H&M. He will reduce inventory and focus more on the company's core brands.

Moreover, the company's lower-end Polo and Lauren brands are facing competition from retailers such as H&M (HMb.ST) and Inditex's (ITX.MC) Zara, which are known for their shorter production times.

Ralph Lauren said on Tuesday it The company will focus on its luxury Ralph Lauren line and the lower-end Polo and Lauren brands.

The New York-based company, known for its polo shirts and pony logo, plans to close more than 50 stores, or about 10 percent of its total retail stores. It will cut about 8 percent, or 1,200, of its 15,000 full-time employee.

It will focus more on its three best-selling brands — Ralph Lauren, Polo and Lauren — and devote fewer resources to its smaller ones, such as Chaps and RLX. The company would try to reduce the time taken to get new products to shelves to nine months from 15.

Ralph Lauren expects the restructuring to save it between $180 million and $220 million a year. That’s on top of $125 million in cost cuts from last year. It expects to incur restructuring charges of up to $400 million for the year and inventory-related charges of up to $150 million.

For the current quarter, it expects revenue to fall in the mid-single digits and fall in the low double digits for the year.

The changes mark a significant shift for the all-American fashion house built on denim staples and branded polo shirts. But the company, where Lauren himself was at the helm until last year, has struggled under falling sales and profits, failing to keep up with rapidly changing retail trends and new style preferences. In the year ended April 2, Ralph Lauren's profit dropped by more than 22%, excluding restructuring charges.

The company said it expects to record restructuring charges of up to $400 million and an inventory reduction-related charge of up to $150 million, mostly in the current fiscal year.

The restructuring measures are expected to result in annualized savings of about $180-$220 million.

The company had about 493 directly operated retail stores and employed about 26,000 people, roughly 15,000 of who work full time as of April 2.

Buying Children's Footwear Tips

Its back to school season once again and one thing that is on top of any parents list is the shoes for their kid's, I decided to write something about children's footwear as there are so many things that parents tend to missed out during their shoe shopping with their kids.

Tips for Finding Proper Fitting Shoes for Your Child

During back-to-school season and throughout the year, one of the most important purchases on any parent's shopping list should be a pair of proper fitting shoes for their child. For many parents, shoe shopping may seem easier than a pop-quiz in gym class, but several important factors should be considered:

Children's Feet Change With Age. Shoe and sock sizes may change every few months as a child's feet grow.

Shoes That Don't Fit Properly Can Aggravate the Feet. Always measure a child's feet before buying shoes, and watch for signs of irritation.

Never Hand Down Footwear. Just because a shoe size fits one child comfortably doesn't mean it will fit another the same way. Also, sharing shoes can spread fungi like athlete's foot and nail fungus.

Examine the Heels. Children may wear through the heels of shoes quicker than outgrowing shoes themselves. Uneven heel wear can indicate a foot problem that should be checked by a podiatrist.

Take Your Child Shoe Shopping. Every shoe fits differently. Letting a kid have a say in the shoe buying process promotes healthy foot habits down the road.

Always Buy for the Larger Foot. Feet are seldom precisely the same size.

Buy Shoes That Do Not Need a “Break-In” Period. Shoes should be comfortable immediately. Also make sure to have your kid try on shoes with socks or tights, if that's how they'll be worn.

Think of a Deck of Cards

Children's footwear sizes start at 1, go up to size 13 1/2, then start over again at 1.  It's confusing because there are two sets of sizes with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

There are BABY sizes 1-5, and YOUTH sizes 1-5.  Make sure you're shopping in the correct category.

To make it more confusing, different companies call these categories different names.  The chart at the right gives you American shoe size, Approximate Age, Common Names and tips for fitting.

Half (1/2) Sizes

Brands positioned as specialty children's shoes usually offer “half-sizes” between each “whole size” for a precise fit.  Half sizes require extra investment throughout the supply chain -- which is why only "serious" children's footwear brands offer them.  Factories must purchase 1/2 sizes of manufacturing lasts, and retailers must carry more inventory per style.

Retailers and manufacturers often choose to save money by only offering Full Sizes.  This is especially the case with sandals and boots.  Sandals are open at the toes, so there's less pinching, and a more accommodating fit overall.  Boots cost more to make in general, so companies try to cut costs where they can.

Double Sizes:    Such as:    5/6     7/8      9/10

Double sizing saves companies even more money by being able to market shoes as fitting in between two sizes.

The savvy customer will know that a double-sized shoe is actually the larger of the two sizes, not a length in between the two sizes.  So, if your child is a 5 and you're looking at a shoe marked 5/6, the shoe is most likely a true 6, and will be too large for a true size 5 child.  Make sure you fit double-sized shoes carefully.  If the shoes are a whole size to big, you will need to go to a specialty retailer who offers at least whole sizes, if not half sizes.

Shoe types that often offer double sizing are snowboots, rainboots, water clogs, and sandals.

Reference for Newborn to Children's Shoe Sizes

Digital Marketing

The digital space is fast becoming a platform of influence and almost anything can be done in just a click of a button.  We always have the human urge to connect, to stay in touch with our fellow human species, to communicate, share our thoughts, ideas, feelings, even a not so smart comments, it is also being use to do exchanges of goods and services and it is what we call, The digital marketing age. For marketers it is vital knowing where their website visitors are coming from. By measuring the metrics behind it they can decide how to divide their marketing budgets between social media and paid ads on various platforms.

Let’s have a look at what you should know to optimally divide your marketing budgets.

Start by digging into your web analytics tool to see where exactly the traffic to your website is coming from. This information will be of great use to decide on either of these two options:

you can optimize your presence on a social site if that channel already provides a healthy amount of traffic

you can put paid ads on a channel if the visitors are converting at a good rate

Your own marketing efforts will determine which channels you should measure against each other. Let’s take a closer look at three main categories, to help you determine where to put your focus, and why.

1. Social Channels

If one particular channel already refers a large amount of people to your website, you should definitely consider optimizing your presence there. However, it has become quite the challenge to track your niche communities on each channel individually because of the ever-growing number of social channels.

Once you have determined which specific social channel most traffic is coming from, you should determine what it is exactly they find appealing about your content. Based on that knowledge, you can further optimize your content to keep encouraging traffic to your website.

2. Organic Search

Many people in the industry have stated before that search is no longer as important as social. However, in a vast amount of cases, SEO is still driving very successful traffic. If you notice that indeed your brand search is providing traffic that actually converts, then investing in SEO is your way to go.

3. Advertising

When we say ‘advertising’, we can be referring to three things: paid search, display ads and ads on social sites.

To measure the efficiency of paid ads on for example Google or Facebook, you should take into account several metrics. For example, the number of conversions per user of each channel, compared to your investments into that channel.

Due to the diverse amount of marketing options, it’s beneficial to calculate the outcome of each of these traffic sources. If there’s room for experiment in your marketing budget, seize the opportunity and you will have all the insights you need to determine which path to take.

HappyFresh Now in the Philippines

With the growing dismay over rush hour traffic and everyone is busy in their day to day affairs that the only time one can ran thru groceries are mostly during weekends or right after work, I am glad to learn that there is now a new application such as HappyFresh in Metro Manila.  Learned about this new online venture from amongst my friends who came from Lazada and had joined this new digital marketplace called HappyFresh.

After checking out the website, they have a personal shopper who will do your groceries based on the selections you have made in their mobile apps or thru their websites.  You can specify the time when you want it delivered, it’s like one part of your daily or weekly routines has been ease out from you time.

The best part is, you can pay it in cash upon delivery or if you have credit card, you can make use of your credit card.

HappyFresh is a one-hour online grocery delivery service based in Jakarta.  The service allows customers to order groceries, fresh as well as dried goods, via a mobile application and website. The company has partnerships with about 20 supermarkets across Indonesia.  HappyFresh sticks to its one-hour delivery promise by having personal shoppers and drivers based onsite in the various supermarkets.  The HappyFresh app is available in Apple AppStore and Google Play Store.

HappyFresh was founded in October 2014 through the funding from AVG (Asia Venture Group) and started operating in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Jakarta, Indonesia in March 2015.

HappyFresh delivers groceries in the next hour after placing an order – a significant change from the market standard of next day delivery. To select the supermarket to shop from, the customer can either select his location manually or use their current location. After selecting the preferred supermarket, customers can either browse different categories or use the search bar to look for specific products. In the App, customers are able to choose from a range of more than 40,000 items available across different stores.  After adding all the groceries to the shopping cart, the app offers various services before checking-out. First the customer is able to choose if items should be replaced if out of stock.The customer can then choose from various delivery slots, starting within the next hour, and up to six days later. Before completing the order, the customer selects his preferred payment method, either cash on delivery or credit card.

Personal shoppers are based in the different supermarkets and will pick the selected groceries. The items will be delivered by drivers using motorbikes, on which insulated boxes are installed to keep the purchased products in a good condition.

Currently the Philippines (Metro Manila) Happy Fresh Service only offers one supermarket chain, The Robinsons Supermarket, but watched out it will soon roll out more and more supermarket and neighborhood groceries that you are fond of.

Seven Marketing P's

Marketing Strategy

Every business management and marketing students knows that there are elements of marketing mix and it is better known as the 7 P's Marketing Mix.  Its common sense strategy to know these as an anchor in achieving an effective market penetration in any organization of business.  Be it a small mom and pop store, to online business, to big institutional businesses.  An effective marketing strategy will help you to define the overall direction and goals for your marketing. Your strategy should articulate how you are going to deliver your products or services in ways that will satisfy your customers.

Once you have defined your customers or target market, you need to start developing and implementing tactics or ways to reach them. The marketing mix will make up the tactical elements you will use to carry out your strategy and reach your target market.

Market Tactics

Identify the tactical action steps which will turn your strategy into a reality in your marketing plan, using the guide below. Here are the 7 P's of Marketing:

1. Your product or service

What product or services are you going to offer? Discuss the branding, the packaging (where applicable), and ongoing product or development. You should consider the features and benefits you offer, your unique selling points (What makes your product/service different from everyone else's) and what potential spin-off products of services might be.

2. The pricing of your product or service

Price is a critical part of your marketing mix. Choosing the right price for your products or services will help you to maximize profits and also build strong relationships with your customers. By pricing effectively you will also avoid the serious financial consequences that can occur if you price too low (not enough profit) or too high (not enough sales).

3. Your position (place) in the marketplace

Whether it's a retail store, online shop or on social media, 'place' refers to the channels and locations for distributing your product, related information and support services. This is how you will position your product in the marketplace, it's the location where a product can be purchased. Often referred to as the distribution channel, this can include any physical store (e.g supermarket) as well as virtual stores (e.g eBay) online.

Being in the right location can be a deciding factor in whether a customer buys from you or not. To find out where your ideal customer is buying from it's worth doing some market research.

4. The promotion of your product of service

How do you promote and market your business now (or intend to)? Regardless of how good your business is, if you don’t promote it and tell people you exist, it’s unlikely you will make many sales. Promotion is about attracting the right people to use and reuse your business. There are a number of techniques to use and they can be combined in various ways to create the most cost effective strategy for your needs. This can include online, branding, public relations and advertising.

5. The people in your business (e.g. salespeople, staff)

If you have employees in your business, they can influence the marketing of your products and services. Knowledgeable and friendly staff can contribute to creating satisfied customers, and can provide the unique selling experience that an organisation is often seeking. If an outstanding team provides a competitive advantage, then the quality of recruitment and training becomes essential to achieving your marketing objectives. Make sure you have processes and training in place to get the most out of your team.

6. The process represents the buying experience

Process represents the buying experience the customer gets when they buy your product or service. For example, the way a fine bottle of wine is presented and served in a restaurant, the reaction of a business to a complaint or the speed of delivery in a fast food outlet.A poor process can undermine the other elements of the marketing mix. Budget airlines, for example, may offer very competitive headline prices, but if the final price is inflated by additional charges such as baggage charges and administrative fees, customers may begin to feel they have been taken advantage of.

Try to document your key processes and procedures so your staff and suppliers know what to aim for.  This should include:

• financial
• information technology.

7. The physical environment where the good/services are presented

The physical environment where your products or services are sold and delivered can have a significant impact on how your customers' experience your business. The physical environment can be the quality of the furnishings in your consulting rooms, the design of your reception area or website.

Creating a positive physical environment doesn’t have to be costly – a vase full of fresh flowers or a creative window display can make a big difference.

Fast Fashion and the eventual demise of Aeropostale

Aéropostale Inc., announced early this month that they have filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closing 20 per cent of its stores in North America.  It is closing down 113 of its 739 U.S. stores and all 41 locations in Canada.

So being in the retail business industry, I am quite curious why such a world-recognized brands such as Aeropostale would even go out of business and heres what I learned and I am sharing it to all of you.

Fast-fashion retailers have taken the U.S. apparel industry by storm, driving customers away from specialty casual brands with fresh-fashion being launched almost every week. Designers at Zara, Forever 21 and H&M consistently strive for new designs, conceiving new trends frequently, which subsequently become a must-have for fashion-conscious buyers. Casual apparel retailers like Aeropostale, who earn a major portion of their revenues from basic-logo merchandise, have suffered terribly at the hands of fast-fashion companies.

A lack of comparable innovation and diversity in products has driven Aeropostale’s customers to other retailers in the industry, leaving the company in tatters. Even buyers seeking basic merchandise have shifted their interest from specialty brands to private labels at general merchandise retailers, further adding to Aeropostale’s problems. Due to a significant decline in the number of customers and an increase in traffic driving promotional activities, Aeropostale’s comparable sales have come down substantially over the past four years.

Simultaneously, the retailer’s value has diminished by over 95% over the last five years, and is currently worth just over $120 million in the market. On the outside, it seems a paltry investment for a strategic or a financial buyer, who can revamp the company’s business model and revive its growth away from the investors’ eyes. However, despite long standing speculation around a probable buyout, no one has come forward with an offer. It appears that Aeropostale’s lack of cash, high operating lease and uncertain future have driven investors and potential suitors away.

Customers Will Rather Buy Apparel From Fast-Fashion or Department Retailers

Physical store retailing is declining in the U.S., with the exception of fast-fashion retailers such as Zara, Forever 21 and H&M, who have redefined the fashion industry. In order to attract new customers and convince the existing ones to shop frequently, these players have been proactively launching new designs and trends almost every week. This strategy has drawn the attention of customers, who are now spending more on fashion-forward merchandise from Zara and Forever 21, moving away from specialty brands such as Aeropostale and Abercrombie & Fitch, who mainly sell basic merchandise such as jeans and t-shirts.

Also, rather than spending on branded basic clothes, U.S. shoppers are buying private label basic apparel at department stores and supermarket chains, where they get cheaper prices and comparable quality. For basic apparel, U.S. consumers are no longer sporting the brand they wear, and hence there is minimal brand loyalty. Brand is a concern for them mainly when they go for fashion-forward merchandise. In a way, Aeropostale is stuck between the two worlds, not having enough in its arsenal to attract buyers from either side.

As Aeropostale’s stock fell below $10 towards the end of 2013, speculations of a probable buyout surfaced. Sycamore Partners, which is known to acquire troubled retailers, acquired an 8% stake in the company, referring to it as an attractive investment. An active investor began pushing Aeropostale’s management to consider a sale, after which the company adopted a poison pill plan to shield itself from a hostile takeover. Last year, Aeropostale signed an extensive agreement with Sycamore, that provided it with $150 million from the private equity firm in exchange of 5% of its shares. Aeropostale desperately needed the money as it was burning cash at a rapid pace and was finding it hard to raise capital in the public market. Following the deal, Sycamore’s stake in Aeropostale increased to 14%. Many believed that a buyout offer was imminent, but it never arrived.

Meanwhile, Aeropostale’s stock has hit a record low of $1.57. Its resurrection strategies have failed to prevent customers from shifting to other brands, which has led to significant losses. The company is even closing its underperforming stores to dilute these losses and reduce its operating lease liabilities. Aeropostale reported a total loss of $206 million in 2014, but managed to protect its cash reserves as it received a net of $137 million from financing transaction with Sycamore and borrowed $75 million under revolving credit facility.

However, it is evident that the company cannot sustain such huge losses for long, because it now has just over $100 million in cash and cash equivalents. Also, Aeropostale’s strategies to bring customers back are not working out, which negates the chances of any near-term turnaround. Therefore, a potential suitor might not want to lay its hands on Aeropostale, unless they see a possibility of significant returns on their investments, which seems unlikely at the moment.

Moreover, if strategic or a financial buyer acquires the company, it will have to deal with the retailer’s huge operating leases. Aeropostale currently has total contractual obligations of over $500 million, which is enough to explain why no one has come forth with an offer for the company, even when its current market cap is just around $120 million. Even the supposed savior for Aeropostale – Sycamore Partners – seems to be abandoning ship, as a key Sycamore board member declined his re-election to the board earlier this year.

Writing Awesome Book Titles

I have always been fascinated in reading books and interesting magazine articles.  But what really catches a reader to go and continue reading base on the article or book title description.  Just a little bit of work will give you a great description that piques a reader’s interest.  It’s always a good thing when you can pitch your story well. But so many authors settle for lame title descriptions, making their books or article a hard sell. You may have even looked at your description and thought it could be better, but you haven’t known how or where to start.

I want to just share in this blog what I think would best be an attractive and awesome title description.

Research… Lots of research

I’m a big fan of doing research the way successful titles are doing things. The process of writing a title description is no exception. You can learn a lot by spending time looking at the descriptions of other titles and what better way to start than at the biggest online book seller, Amazon.  Here you will find great titles and best seller books.

We may start finding a book’s category in the Top List section of the Kindle store and click the category link to see that Top List. Look at the list for the Top 100 Paid books in that category and choose some books to research. I’d recommend checking out at least the top ten titles on the first page, then maybe two or three that look interesting on the remaining four pages of results. That means you’ll be looking at around twenty to thirty books.

Take a moment to read through the descriptions of these books. Take note of what elements you see. Look at what displays as the description before the Read more link — often called “above the fold.” This may be the only text the reader sees, so it’s very important to make sure your key description points are included in this section.

You’ll want to do the exercise for yourself with your own categories. Different genres will often have different strategies that work to sell books. But to give you an example, here’s a list of some of the things I saw when I did this exercise with books in the Science Fiction Adventure category.

Bold teaser text with an eye-grabbing tagline. A vague statement like “humanity might not survive” doesn’t say much about the story details, but it sets the mood draws the reader’s eye to the description area.

Simple formatting, but a very compelling description in brief paragraphs.

A sentence near the top of the description that offers an interesting idea. Varying list will probably look a little bit different due to different genre conventions, but some of the elements should be similar. With the list, you can get started crafting a description that fills these parameters, which makes the job less daunting. Instead of approaching the task with the goal of, “I’m going to make a great book title description,” you can say, “I need a tagline, a compelling summary, and an interesting idea.” It’s much more manageable to take it one piece at a time.

Let’s take a moment to look at two keys that are important for any title description:  An intriguing summary and an attention-grabbing tagline.

Attention-Grabber

Many book descriptions use a bolded tagline that’s designed to stand out. It catches the reader’s eye and directs their attention to rest of the description. Get someone reading the tagline, and their eyes will often continue to the description on autopilot.

There are two ways to make an attention-grabber: Pull a quote from your book, or write a really great tagline.

Book Quote

Have you ever opened a novel and found a short paragraph from the book on the first page? That’s the idea here. Find an iconic, amazing section from your book, put it in bold or italics, and you’re done. Since every book is unique, I can’t tell you what to pick, but I can tell you that you may get some good suggestions by asking your readers what part of the book stood out to them visually or emotionally.

Tagline

A tagline is just one sentence. It’s typically something vague that sets a mood or tone for the description that follows. Again, I can’t tell you what would make a good tagline for your book, but if you’ve done your research into similar titles in your categories, you should already have a wealth of inspiration.

Make It Look Awesome

Now that you have an incredible description, you might want to think about making it even better by applying some basic formatting.   There you have it! You are now equipped to create an incredible title description for your book. It’s completely worth the couple of hours you might spend doing research and crafting your description. You’ll stand out from the crowd of inept descriptions and make your book look like a great buy for someone’s book shelf.

Going Digital is a new way of life

The Internet has forever changed how we work with innovation. 

For the last five years I have gathered my musings on the Internet, innovation and startup tech companies. I have blogged about these topics part-time at the same time I was working as a strategy consultant and taught innovation courses. On the fifth anniversary, I started screening and sorting out the notes. It was then that I grew conscious there was a common thread that connected the notes.  In the span of five years from 2010 to 2015 the Internet and the digital wave have impacted innovation, the world and your business.

There were 22 impacts that most of us (me included) didn’t know about and that show how profoundly digital innovation has shaped our businesses and our world. Here are the impacts on: the origin of ideas, the new unicorns, competition, transformation, and the valley of death.

The new theory about origin of ideas

1. It’s the innovation, stupid!
To innovate is to exploit an idea commercially. Any idea that is new. Ideas in isolation are never to be called innovation but creativity. New means advance for consumers. Some examples: Technical advances are Internet, broandband and smartphones. Non-technical advances are non-traditional distribution and low cost models.

2. True innovators
True innovators act like giraffes: they emerge from the forest. True innovators can think without constraints from the market or their current customer base.

3. Ideas, the good and the bad
Ideas can be selected 1) By hygienic attributes 2) Like an entrepreneur and 3) Like an intrapreneur. A good hygienic idea is one that solves a problem and is applicable, relevant and deliverable. A good entrepreneurial idea is original, uses technology and is profitable. A good intrapreneurial idea is one that has a big market a sound margin and has been tested with clients.

4. One of the three
For your business to be innovative you must be one of the three: 1) Better, 2) Easier or 3) Cheaper.

Great life to new unicorns!

5. Disruptive
Google glasses, 3D printers and big data are often thought of disruptive innovations. But disruptions can only be verified in retrospect. If five years from now any of these great technologies 1) has changed the strategy gear of other companies and 2) has put an entire industry upside down, then they have proved disruptive. No losers, no disruption.

6. It’s the value, not the price
Here’s an experiment: Some parents come late every day to to pick up their kids from school. Tweak the experience: Tell them next time they are late they will pay a 10$ fine per each 30 minutes of delay. At the end of the week I guarantee you’ll have a big piggy-bank and a full class of kids waiting. The important lesson: consumers are eager to pay any price worth value.

7. The simplest format of a business model
A good business model must solve a problem, have customers, generate income, as well as be scalable. In short, a good business model is one that creates true value to a customer. There is no business model in bringing water where there is water.

8. Pizza rule for market size
Your market size is always much smaller than the total available market. I called it the “pizza rule”: never expect a big pizza but a small pizza. You must feed from your potential market not the total available market.

Changing competitors

9. The pricing problem
Paying for what you want is okay. Paying for things you don’t want is not okay. Welcome to the context of abundance in Internet! We were 6 billion people in 2011. Then: 3 billion had a smartphone and 1 billion had Internet. Now: We are over 7 billion and 2 billion have Internet. Joichi Ito (MIT and Creative Commons) says “in the future consumers will be like sponsors”. Till then a problem remains unsolved: how to price consumers?

10. Fear is good in innovation
You choose the ideas you want to work on. Innovation is a game of resisting fear. But fear is also good. Fear helps you with “your (business) first times”: starting a project, dealing with the irrational… Innovation is a path of uneasy moments. You need to pass those steps to (hopefully) get to transformation.

11. Competition DOES exist
Most entrepreneurs and innovators would rather not look at their competitors.  Finding there is a competing innovative idea is bad news. But knowing it is good news. Innovators can learn about 1) diseases similar failed businesses died from, 2) what is a good growth rate in their area, 3) who is competing with you outside your business.

12. A tech trend victim?
Most people feel they are always late for big tech trends. Here are three possible strategies. “The academic model”: go and make lists of influential people to follow. This includes investors, startups, tech news journalists, Stanford and MIT professors. “Against the tide model”: go and look for unsolved problems. Mark Cuban says: “Look where others are not looking”. Finally, “Being late but nailing it”: better to be the best than first like Facebook, Google, Apple, Ford, Boing, Quora and Tumblr.

Transformation and the valley of death

13. Valley of Death
You start your idea between the 19th and 22nd months as the curve of interest stagnates. Fresh ideas are like TV show scripts: episode one thrills and early adopters get interested, but then you have to probe the idea’s worth to the mainstream.

14. Your product is “fiction”
Lisa Gansky says “any new idea you start is a fiction product”. To create an original thing means doing a puzzle. There are technology pieces. And there are non-technology pieces: Do customers want it? Does a market exist for it? Pricing? Did early adopters tell you any clue for adding new customers? Who I should partner with? Many people use a shortcut “The bestseller strategy”: they launch many short and low cost projects hoping that one of them will make it.

15. At your service
Here is a new customer service paradigm. Prior to social networks clients were at the service of a company. With social networks it is the company that is at the service of the customers. Customers now click the search box. If they like the opinions they find… they will trust you.

16. On Pivoting
Making decisions is not for dumb people. To pivot to a new model is not a piece of cake. It takes loads of courage. Sarah Lacy (Pando) says: “I criticize euphemisms like to pivot. Few startup leaders are able to recognize they made an error”.

17. On cockroaches
Startups should be like cockroaches. A famous quote by Paul Graham (YCombinator) says: “Apparently the most likely animals to be left alive after a nuclear war are cockroaches, because they’re so hard to kill. That’s why you want to be as a startup, initially. Instead of a beautiful but fragile flower that needs to have its stem in a plastic tube to support itself, better to be small, ugly, and indestructible.”

18. The F Generation
Hackers are the new heroes to a generation of millennials that enter the workforce. Gary Hamel called them “the F generation”. Instead of hierarchies, fixed tasks and closed groups the new employees will demand open companies. Users (and not the bosses) will have the power.

19. Students for a lifetime
Sebastian Thrun saw it first: “the very pattern of employment is changing. A few generations ago, a single job often lasted for a lifetime. In 2012, the average job tenure was a mere 4.6 years. Tech start-ups like Airbnb, Lyft, and Uber are using freelance employment models to disrupt hospitality, transportation, and many other industries. As a result, workers are under increasing pressure to keep their skills current. This has enormous implications for the educational needs of the global population.”

20. Crucial Imbalances
Kodak had on its peak over 140,000 employees. Instagram had 13 employees when it was sold to Facebook. Technology and Internet has been good for our society and our world. But new voices from Internet skeptics are arising. 

21. Innovating on the move
Ideation is an important but insufficient part in innovation. “To act in innovation you have to ideate new things”, we were told. But innovation means solving problems. Innovation is more than that unique time that you started your business. Innovation is not sole harvest.

22. Design is the new black
Design thinking is like Lego bricks: blocks to work on original concepts. Map, Explore, Built and Test.

Altogether, one can look at these 22 changes as a new wave of thinking that is revolutionizing the way we work with and integrate innovation in our companies. And it all started with the digital wave.

Fundamentals of Branding

Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, large or small, retail or B2B. An effective brand strategy gives you a major edge in increasingly competitive markets. But what exactly does "branding" mean? How does it affect a small business like yours?

Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from your competitors'. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.

Are you the innovative maverick in your industry? Or the experienced, reliable one? Is your product the high-cost, high-quality option, or the low-cost, high-value option? You can't be both, and you can't be all things to all people. Who you are should be based to some extent on who your target customers want and need you to be.

The foundation of your brand is your logo. Your website, packaging and promotional materials--all of which should integrate your logo--communicate your brand.

Brand Strategy and Equity of the Brand

Your brand strategy is how, what, where, when and to whom you plan on communicating and delivering on your brand messages. Where you advertise is part of your brand strategy. Your distribution channels are also part of your brand strategy. And what you communicate visually and verbally are part of your brand strategy, too.

Consistent, strategic branding leads to a strong brand equity, which means the added value brought to your company's products or services that allows you to charge more for your brand than what identical, unbranded products command. The most obvious example of this is Coke vs. a generic soda. Because Coca-Cola has built a powerful brand equity, it can charge more for its product--and customers will pay that higher price.

The added value intrinsic to brand equity frequently comes in the form of perceived quality or emotional attachment. For example, Nike associates its products with star athletes, hoping customers will transfer their emotional attachment from the athlete to the product. For Nike, it's not just the shoe's features that sell the shoe.

Defining Your Brand

Defining your brand is like a journey of business self-discovery. It can be difficult, time-consuming and uncomfortable. It requires, at the very least, that you answer the questions below:

What is your company's mission?

What are the benefits and features of your products or services?

What do your customers and prospects already think of your company?

What qualities do you want them to associate with your company?

Do your research. Learn the needs, habits and desires of your current and prospective customers. And don't rely on what you think they think. Know what they think.

Because defining your brand and developing a brand strategy can be complex, consider leveraging the expertise of a nonprofit small-business advisory group or a Small Business Development Center.

Once you've defined your brand, how do you get the word out? Here are a few simple, time-tested tips:

Get a great logo. Place it everywhere.

Write down your brand messaging. What are the key messages you want to communicate about your brand? Every employee should be aware of your brand attributes.

Integrate your brand. Branding extends to every aspect of your business--how you answer your phones, what you or your salespeople wear on sales calls, your e-mail signature, everything.

Create a "voice" for your company that reflects your brand. This voice should be applied to all written communication and incorporated in the visual imagery of all materials, online and off. Is your brand friendly? Be conversational. Is it ritzy? Be more formal. You get the gist.

Develop a tagline. Write a memorable, meaningful and concise statement that captures the essence of your brand.

Design templates and create brand standards for your marketing materials. Use the same color scheme, logo placement, look and feel throughout. You don't need to be fancy, just consistent.

Be true to your brand. Customers won't return to you--or refer you to someone else--if you don't deliver on your brand promise.

Be consistent. I placed this point last only because it involves all of the above and is the most important tip I can give you. If you can't do this, your attempts at establishing a brand will fail.