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About the Author:

Adrian Lee is a 20 year veteran in the retail industry, having worked with the largest retail group in his state. Currently, he provides website and internet marketing services to local businesses in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. He is also a website publisher, www.aboutsabah.com and www.dotcommembership.com are just some of his websites.

How Well Does Your Brand Communicate?

No Comments »Written on October 30th, 2011 by adrian
Categories: Logo
Tags: advertising, brand identity, branding

Does Your Brand Communicate, Can Your Customers Identify With You?

While your company website is the ultimate sales channel and is the communication tool of choice, you still need to reach the masses of people who are not connected to the internet. To do so, you need to deploy professionally designed and printed marketing materials - brochures, handbills, banners and print ads.

Professionally designed and printed materials have great reach and staying power. It also serves to build your brand image. To achieve this, your marketing materials need to be relevant and informative to your target market. Art direction and copy writing have to effectively convey your message and maintain the identity of your brand.

Marketing Materials To Communicate With Your Market

Print Ads
Direct Mailer
Business Cards
Postcards
Brochures
Identity Branding
Booklets
Office Stationery
Banners
Business Signage
Product packaging
Trade Booths
Website
Company Blog
Emails
Press Releases

Media companies can provide the art direction, graphic design, copy writing and printing to ensure your brand communicates with your target audience. While we design websites and logos for businesses in Sabah, we can also help your company communicate with your prospects.

In today's market, you need to extend your marketing reach using print media, as well as the online media. Our online business directory, www.onlinesabah.com, helps businesses in Sabah extend their reach on the internet. Our directory lets your business showcase your products and services on your own page, complete with your contact details and Google map. We also link to your social network accounts, publish your product photos and videos on the page.

Email us today for you when you need to extend your business reach in Sabah

Create Social Events For Your Business

1 Comment »Written on October 28th, 2011 by adrian
Categories: Retail
Tags: Event Organizers, social events

How Social Events Can Create Word Of Mouth For Your Business

In the retail industry, it is very competitive and the goal is to maintain your market-share. I have worked with the leading supermarkets and superstores operating in Sabah for the last 20 years. Over the years, we have given away 2 units of apartments, 30 cars, 13 motorbikes, and a whole lot more. By having events, we managed to maintain our market-share and increase our dollar sales in a tough economy.

Customers vote for your business with their money. If they chose to spend money with you, then you are in business. If they have an issue with, many times they will inform you and let you fix the problem. If you do not address the issue, then they will move their business elsewhere. Who can blame them?

We realized that no company is perfect and you cannot be everything to everybody. If your product is good, if your customers have a "feel good factor" when they interact with you, then your business has a better chance of prospering.

Creating the Feel Good Factor

What I call the "feel good factor" is when customers feel good about your business. The only way to achieve this is very effective and timely communications with your customers. If you customers care enough to complain, you should care enough to communicate with them. When customers choose to use your product, it is a lifestyle choice. They want to be associated with your brand or product.

This is where Events Organizers come in. Businesses should create activities that involves your customers to make them feel a part of your success. In my last retail company, we did a lot of live performances and contests for our customers. It is to involve them in the business, to say tell them that they matter to you. It is also to have something fresh, something different whenever they come to your store.

There are many Event Organizers who can work with your company to create activities that communicate the benefits customers get when they choose your business, products or services. It creates the "Feel Good Factor" which in turn translate into customer loyalty. You can do everything yourself, but even with an Advertising and Promotions department it is better to out-source this to an event organizer. They have access to sound equipment, stages and backdrops, models, dancers and entertainment performers.

Atlanta Search Engine Marketing

4 commentsWritten on October 13th, 2011 by adrian
Categories: Online Marketing
Tags: search engine marketing, SEO

Atlanta Search Engine Marketing and SEO Services

The first step to getting the sale is to have customers coming to your website. The question many people ask is how do people know about our website. This is where search engine marketing (also called Search Engine Optimization or SEO) comes into play.

The aim of search engine marketing is to make your website visible to the people looking for the services you offer. Companies such as Atlanta Search Engine Marketing, provides SEO services that positions your website to appear near the top of the SERPs (search engine results pages) across the major search engines.

Home Page, Keywords and Titles

Your home page should introduce what your company is about and how it can help your customers. When your customers visit your website, you have to get them to be interested in your products and motivate them to buy your product. The keywords that you use are relevant to what your customers wants. While your home page is about your company, it should focus on what you can do for your customers, by providing clear and unambiguous information.

Your keywords serve to identify your product and service to your customers. It is the words they would use to search for your service, ie CCTV installer in your location, security services in your location or pest control in your location.

Your titles are the titles in your web pages, such as articles and posts. Depending on your industry, this might include a brand and product model if it already has some market share. An example would be if you sell new or used cars, in which case people will likely be searching my brand and model. Titles can also serve to sell the benefits of your product, you might say, "How to make international calls to anywhere in the world using your product".

If you happen to sell more than one product or service, provide all necessary information about the products by giving each product their own page. If you design a website you think will attract customers but you don’t really know who your customers are and what they want, it is unlikely you make generate much business. A business website is an extension of your storefront or part of your sales channel.

Is Your Contact Information On Your Website Clearly Visible?

Always provide your contact information, preferably on every page of your website, complete with mailing address, telephone number and an email address that reaches you. Include a Google map and your social media accounts, such as Facebook or Google Plus. People may need to contact you about sales, general information or technical problems.

For an example of a website that is well search engine optimized, visit Atlanta Search Engine Marketing. They provide internet marketing and SEO services. You can contact them for a free internet marketing analysis.

Workplace Safety In Your Company

3 commentsWritten on October 12th, 2011 by adrian
Categories: Business, Retail
Tags: consultants, health and safety, workplace safety

Do You Practice Workplace Safety In Your Company?

If you are a business owner or in a managerial position, you should be aware of the importance of workplace health and workplace safety. For two reasons, the first is because it is the right thing to do for your employees as well as your customers. The second is that you can be held liable and be prosecuted when workplace safety goes wrong.

Many businesses, all over the world falls short on workplace safety and often it comes to light and it gets plastered all over the news channels. This happens in all industries, and while some incidents cannot be prevented, there are many that could have been prevented. It comes down to awareness, training and equipment, and the management.

veritas consulting for workplace safety

Speaking from experience, I can tell you that the manager is the first person to be held responsible and it goes all the up to the board of directors. When some incident happens, the spotlight is on the person in charge. The person in charge must demonstrate that work safety procedures are practiced and carried out on a daily basis. There must be an awareness of workplace safety practices, and companies that practice workplace safety will include this in their quality policy and procedures. In other words, it has its place in the company's handbook or manual.

What Does Workplace Health and Work Safety Involves?

Workplace health and safety starts with a risk assessment of the workplace. It could be a construction site, a factory, a supermarket or an office. It identifies the potential working hazards that exists in the work environment. This could include the construction materials used, placement of structures and equipment, fire hazards, blockage of walkway, and emergency exits. It should also detail the work practice, storage areas and documentation used. Depending on the work environment, an assessment of legal and health risks should be included.

It is recommended that you involve qualified workplace safety consultants who are experts in health and safety regulations, such as Veritas Health and Safety Consultants if you are based in the UK.

Workplace safety consultants provides:

Asbestos survey
Training courses
Construction safety
Workplace safety
Office safety
Health and Safety audit
Fire risk assessment
Documentations
and other services

Workplace Safety In Retail

To give you an idea on the workplace safety practices we use in the retail industry, we have to ensure the safety of our employees, as well as the safety of our patrons.

Display racks - properly secured and in no danger of toppling
Walkways cleared of obstructions - in common areas as well as service areas
Lighting - to provide ambiance, as well as safety
Fire systems - sprinklers, alarms, extinguishers and fire hoses, emergency lighting and exits
Electrical outlets - routine inspection for safety
Electricity usage - appointed qualified charge-man
Cold storage - chillers and freezers at the correct temperatures
Food storage - edible foods are stored away from non-edibles
Food handing - from preparation to display
The list goes on

From the manager to the duty officer and department heads, we are always looking out for something that is out of place, inside and outside the store. It is part of managing a business well and providing a great customer shopping experience.

To get more information on workplace safety, visit www.veritas-consulting.co.uk.

Creating a Call to Action On Your Website

1 Comment »Written on October 3rd, 2011 by adrian
Categories: Online Marketing
Tags: call to action

Do You Put In A Call To Action On Your Website?

A call to action is simply the next step you want your reader, visitor or prospect to take after they are done reading your initial post. Simply tell them what to do - fill in your name and email to get your 7 days to wealth book or where to click - click on the order button below.

Your call to action should be clear:

Fill in your name and email
Click on the following link
Click on the Buy Button
Call this toll-free number
Would you like to learn more

5 Steps to Creating a Call to Action on Your Website that Gets Results

The following 5 Steps to Creating a Call to Action on Your Website is from a post on Stacy Karacostas's blog. You can read the entire post here, The Unchained Entrepreneur.

Five steps to writing a powerful call to action

STEP 1: Decide exactly what you want someone to do after they read each page on your Website. Then write your copy to lead them to the decision that taking that action makes good sense to them.

STEP 2: People need a good reason to take action. So make them a specific offer they can’t refuse. These days, a free consultation isn’t enough. A lot of folks think this will just be a pitch-filled waste of time. Ditto for just saying sign up for my free e-newsletter. Who wants more random stuff filling up their inbox?

STEP 3: Tell them exactly what to do to take advantage of your offer. IE: Do X to get Y.

STEP 4: Make it painfully easy. Put the phone number, link, sign up box or BUY NOW button right there. Don’t assume they’ll take time search for it.

STEP 5: Whenever possible, add incentive with limited availability (only 10 left!), deadlines, or special sale prices. People are busy. The more reasons you can give them to take action now, the more likely they are to do so.

The Following Content Below Are Free.

The Definition Of Online Marketing

No Comments »Written on October 3rd, 2011 by adrian
Categories: Online Marketing
Tags: Definition Of Online Marketing, Marketing

The Definition Of Online Marketing As Posted On Online Sabah Facebook Page

Marketing anticipates and measures the demand of a specific group of consumers, and responds with a product or service that serves the wants of this target market.

There is a specific demand
There is a specific group of consumers
Creates a product or service that serves this market

Online Marketing serves the same function using the internet as a marketing channel. It uses all the principles of marketing in a traditional business; the marketing channel may be different but the same rules apply.

The advantages of online marketing are:

The relatively low entry cost in using the internet as a channel
The ability to reach and communicate with your target market
The ability to reach and test multiple markets
The speed and ability to test and measure your marketing results

Online Marketing is building an asset that operates 24 hours, where your market can communicate their user experience, demands and needs with you. In turn, you can connect to your market to gain feedback for product and service improvement. Imagine building a information channel where your target market can access, review and evaluate your products and make a purchase.

What Online Marketing is not:

It is not just advertising
It is not just a sales channel

Online Marketing allows you to communicate your marketing message to your target market. You can to connect to specific segments of the market - making your marketing more effective.

www.onlinesabah.com connects your business to your target market in Sabah. Create a business page in our Sabah business directory and you will extend your reach on the internet. Our business listings are found on the search engine results page, with your business contacts.