Beneficial ideas for a successful start next year

2020 is over in two months and you still have some limited time to wrap up your Q4 and maximize your marketing budget. Every organization has an annual marketing budget and if, somehow, miraculously, you have some leftover marketing budget, don’t let it go to waste. By now, all major marketing spending should be settled and you may have some leftover money.

However, what often happens is that marketing teams try to utilize as much money as they can towards the end of Q4 so that they could easier justify the budget for the upcoming year. …

Why should you also use pop-culture in your marketing strategy?

When comedian Sacha Baron Cohen released his satirical mockumentary (Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan) about the fictional Kazakh reporter Borat Sagdiyev in 2006, it was banned in Kazakhstan. However, the Kazakh tourism board has just realised the country’s promotional video with Borat’s “Very nice!” catchphrase.

The campaign includes four promotional videos that show tourists exploring Kazakhstan’s beautiful landscapes, local food, mingling with locals dressed in traditional outfits, bustling markets and cities. At the end of each short video, the tourists say some variation of: “Very nice!”

Surprisingly, what could have been an amazing PR campaign in 2006, became more of a disaster for a country that was not able to accept the joke. Not only did the movie was banned in Kazakhstan, but the Kazakh government also threatened to sue Sacha Baron Cohen and took out a four-page ad in the New York Times arguing against the film. …

Brands in Malaysia and Singapore are putting a creative twist to the recent hype surrounding Netflix’s latest comedy-drama

“Emily in Paris” is one of October’s top shows on Netflix. It features a girl, Emily, who moves from Chicago to Paris to work in a Parisian marketing agency. Her struggling to be accepted in the new workplace while experiencing the new culture is something that captivated many viewers. Maybe that’s because, one way or another, we want to be like her.

Despite the pandemic, Emily was able to visit Malaysia and Singapore. Many brands across these two countries have used the trending Netflix show and brought Emily to Southeast Asia — virtually, not physically.

Famous local and international brands featured Emily “visiting” their establishments, and this marketing strategy generated a lot of buzz around them. People went crazy and the posts became viral — shared across WhatsApp, Instagram, forums, and other platforms. …

Avoidable mistakes that made you lose a potential customer

According to DMR Business Statistics, we send and receive 121 emails every day — that’s about 15 emails in an eight-hour working day. Indeed, the number is more significant if a person has more authority and responsibility in an organization.

This is why attracting someone’s attention with an email sales pitch has been becoming harder and harder. Especially nowadays, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, where everyone is desperate to make sales and email remains the most reliable option to engage with your audience.

Every morning I come to the office to at least 40–50 new emails. These can be newsletters to publications that I subscribe to, meeting invitations, internal email correspondence, invitations to events, awards, or other activities, and some of them are also random sales pitches from other companies that try to offer their solution to my company. …

Business Insider has just published a video saying that it is. But is it really?

Business Insider has just published a video on its YouTube channel that asks if the ethnic food aisle is racist. They claim “aisles labelled as ethnic, Asian, Mexican, or international are frequently found in supermarket chains across the US. With America becoming more and more accepting of their individual flavours and differences, what is keeping the ethnic aisle in existence?”

My answer to their question is — the structure.

Grocery stores started devoting shelf space to international products in the 1950s. The push came from independent distributors who specialized in foods then considered outside the American mainstream — Chinese, Jewish, Italian or of another origin. …

Do you do business online? Content marketing has never been more important for you

The COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed the whole world, and our lifestyle has changed dramatically. Our habits have been changing; the way we interact is now also different. The way you run your marketing activities should also follow the lead and change.

Let me share with you a marketing activity that will have a lasting impact on your business, blog, podcast or anything else that you wish to market. I’ll give you two words: content marketing.

Even though you may have a content marketing strategy in place, the quarantine is an excellent time to relook at it and strengthen your position.

For many marketers, content marketing is often a time-consuming activity. Thus maybe it stands as a lower priority, compared to active lead generation, such as Google Ads and social media advertising. …

My eight tricks that can help you achieve more on Instagram

Instagram has become more than just a platform to share your photos. It’s a powerful marketing platform for businesses, bloggers, influencers, and even your pets. With over one billion active users per month, the opportunities are vast.

However, even though Instagram has grown exponentially, it has never been harder to grow on the platform.

It may be even harder to grow now that Instagram is testing hidden overall likes. The first reports have indicated that the engagement rates have dropped.

In fact, I’m one of the accounts that no longer see the total number of likes. I’m still assessing the impact on my account, but so far, yes, the engagement rate on my posts has dropped. …

A documentary on how tech companies have manipulated human psychology

Only two industries that refer to their customers as " users": illegal drugs & software.
- Edward Tufte

You may have seen The Social Dilemma that has just premiered on Netflix. It’s on the top 10 list in many countries and is something that you don't want to miss. I will admit, I was a bit sceptical at the beginning; it is a 90 minute documentary on social media. I believed there was something better I’d rather watch, as being a social media marketer, I thought it wouldn't wow me that much.

Well, I was wrong.

It is definitely something that everyone should watch. Not only because we all are heavily addicted to social media, but actually to hear out what people who were building our favourite platforms (Facebook, Google, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest) have to say about them. These people (former engineers) are pretty concerned about what social media has become. …