Relaxing at Bottle Tree @Yishun

Investment approaches

Method 1:
Lump-sum investing.

• How - Buy when stock at its lowest; Sell when its highest
  
• Pro - higher returns
• Con - higher risk; timing the market

Method 2:
Dollar-cost averaging.

• How - Invest same amount of money on a regular basis
• Pro - spread risk
  
• Con - averaging returns

Method 3:
Value-averaging.

• How - Investing more when market is low and less when market is high; on the basis of a fixed amount of value portfolio u wish to attain. For example, u wish to maintain a value of $1000 each month. Some months market is low, say your portfolio value down by $250, u will invest $1,250 to purchase more stock to maintain $1,000. While some months market is high, say your portfolio value is up $400, u will only need to invest $600 more for that month.
• Pro - more market sensitive and sensible in investment approach
• Con - cant think of any now.. perhaps doesn't provide the highest returns
  

Summary: For good net results, i believe value-averaging make a lot of sense.

disclaimer: author isn't giving any professional advise. just storing info he gotten from some other smarter author.

Branding & Marketing, Advertising

Studies show companies that market their products or services without first establishing their brand identities are not likely to achieve return on investment. "If you're spending money to advertise and market without being connected to a brand position, you might as well pile the money up and burn it," Guge says.

Rob Frankel, a branding expert and author in Los Angeles, calls branding the most misunderstood concept in all of marketing, even among professionals. Branding, he says, "is not advertising and it's not marketing or PR. Branding happens before all of those: First you create the brand, then you raise awareness of it."

extracted from businessweek.

Rich & Poor Attitude

There's a big difference 

between a poor person's attitude - 

wishing you had it -

and wealthy person's approach -

believing you'll get it.

from Andrew Matthews

Marketing concepts

4 Ps / 4 Cs - Tactical

1. Product. Customer value

2. Price. Customer cost

3. Place. Customer convenience

4. Promotion. Communication

STP - Strategic

1. Segmentation

2. Targeting

3. Positioning

note: Above marketing concepts from Philip Kotler.

How small companies can build big brands

The birth of mulist.com

This is the fruit of a few folks who are passionate about creating something from nothing.. It's a dream i cooked up inspired by my beloved wife.. those times when i wish i could put together a list of movies we've watched.. and finally i have my own Internet list! ;-)

So far, we have watched 65 movies on last count.. will have a lot to key into my mulist..

Anyone interested please give it a try at www.mulist.com. We're working on a facebook version now.. ;P

PR during Crisis Management

In an emergency event, you should do the following:

1. Be upfront & honest
2. Be quick to respond
3. Be empathetic
4. Detail the steps to aviod repeat mistakes
5. Detail the actions to resolve current situation
6. Give specific steps for customers to take if necessary
7. Deliver any message by the CEO or President

If you see a company didnt do a good job in handling the situation, it usually boils down to 3 things:

1. They dont have a plan to handle crisis
2. They have a plan but didnt rehearse
3. They become defensive rather than showing empathy

Remember, that consumers do accept mistakes and tragedies if they are handled well.

note: extracted points from Brand Asset Management by Scott M. Davis page 167-168.

Facts about watermelon

Surprise surprise.. i only realised that watermelon is a vegetable and not a fruit! It belongs to the same botanical family as cucumbers, pumpkins & squash.

First harvested in Egypt abt 5,000 years ago. Now grown in over 100 countries.

More than 50 varieties; most are red flesh. But there are orange and yellow flesh ones too.

Watermelon is rich in vitamins A, C and B6, potassium, extremely low in sodium, contains fibre, and no fat.

92% water and 8% sugar. Every part is edible, even the seeds and rinds.

Plan or not to plan

The most important thing about planning is not the plan.

As Eisenhower observed: "In preparing for battle i have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable".

Planning forces you to think deeply and futuristically in a more systematic manner.

Extracted from FAQs Marketing by Philip Kotler book page 97.

So, in my own words, i think that since it's not the plan that matters most, it's the process of planning which forces you to think deeply and critically that matters most. ;-)

Marketing, PR & Branding pointers

Adapted from Philip Kotler and plus my own understanding, the 5 dimensions of a brand:

1. Attribute - function, feature, style
2. Benefits - solving a problem, serving a need, or fulfilling a want
3. Personality - like human characteristics people can identify with
4. Values - if it's corporate brand, it's the corporate values
5. Image - the look and feel.. aesthetics. the physical appearance.

• The art of marketing is the art of branding.
  
• Brand price premium you can charge is 10-20% today.. unlike early days of up to 50% were gone.
• Customer's attitude towards a brand can range from dislike, indifferent, slight preference to strong preference, to devotion.
• There was a book written on the fall of advertising and the rise of PR.

PENCILS for PR:

P - Publications

E - Events

N - News

C - Community Involvement

I - Identity tools

L - Lobbying

S - Social Investments

Will there be heaven when i die - Song

will there be heaven when i die

will there be angels by my side

and lift me off my feet

and take me to your solemn side

will there be heaven when i die

if there isnt where will i be

be the food for the trees

so the song that they sing to remind

will there be heaven when i die

will you lay by my side

cause that would be nice

i call it heaven if i should die

i just wanna lay by your side

that's heaven if i die...

notes: This song is written on 16 Apr 1999. It's a defining song for me as i was at a cross-road in my life; just before i knew Buddhism. There's some cheekiness in the song as well - the first portion of the song talks about if there's heaven.. as the song moves on, it's actually singing about love.. about a girl.. Ultimately, it's love or the girl that i care about.. not whether there's heaven or not..  ;P

Anti virus software that doesnt need updating

A new anti-virus software Rudra doesnt need updating.. coz it uses advanced form of heuristics-centric protection, that's proactive form of intelligent threat scanning that seeks to understand the behavior and patterns of viruses in order to thwart unknown threats.

Local S'pore startup Rudra Technologies developed it, and retails it at S$75 for single licence; works for Windows 2000 and XP.

Customer Equity

from HBR May 2008 pg 118, Customer Equity is the present value of the anticipated lifetime revenue the company's customers will generate, minus their acquisition & retention costs

3 measurable components of Customer Equity: (i) customer acquisition, (ii) customer retention, (iii) share of wallet.

Brand Equity? probably similar in nature with Customer Equity. It consider the (i) brand creation/acquisition, (ii) brand sustainability/growth & (iii) brand performance/revenue.

From another source:

Brand Value = Brand Equity + Price + Product Features.

You will find - song

It's okay if u wanna cry

Let your tears flow Rain drops autumn nite

It's alright u can let it go

There's still light ahead of your life

It's time now to walk the green

Breath the air that's freedom fresh as spring

Dont look back those crazy times

it's the future that matters most this time

Just dont give it up

Keep on moving on somehow you will find

note: This song is inspired by my friend Ferlin. In fact, she asked me to write her a song since i wrote one for JW.. So, I promised. I delivered. I think this is a beautiful song. Hope she will like it. Even Shini thinks is a nice one.  ;-)

Brands and Branding by The Economist

Brands and Branding put together by The Economist is really a fantastic read! 

One important process that i learned is the brand positioning process: 

1. Understanding all stakeholders needs & desires
2. Opportunity modeling - include elements of Relevance, Credibility, Differentiation & Stretch
3. Brand Platform
4. Brand Identity
5. Brand Architecture
6. Continuous evaluation and development

I'm still reading other branding books.. so no comment on which is the best model to use.. i think i will likely end up with a set of tools for various scenarios..

baby Joash.. happy mother Sarah

more friends pictures

4 Ps of Business Success

Like 4 Ps in marketing (Product, Price, Place & Promotion), Business Success also has 4 Ps.. except that it's coined by me, a nobody lor.. ;-)

The 4 Ps are:

1. People. Especially important if u're a start up. Any organisation needs good & trusted people to achieve anything at all.

2. Process. When organisation grows big, process will determine the sustainability of success. Typically, an organisation of more than 30 employees must really look at defining key processes.. otherwise, things will breakdown..

3. Plan. At the end of the day, business strategy determine how you intend to win the business game. U definitely need a plan.. a good plan, that is.

4. Patience. As long as you're working with people, u need lots of patience. No one will be like you - in terms of capabilities & expectations. So, sometimes hv to learn to accept less than your expectations.. fortunately, most cases need only make do may/will do standards..

friends

Colleagues, or ex-colleagues i should say.. They're my friends today! ;-)