Hi darling, I am of no pretense to what i am not. I am more than social media.

In a skype conversation a former colleague asked me what services does 7Skies Communication offer.  I rattled off "pr, communications, marketing and social media". He said he doesn't get it.  His impression is it is all "very broad". And he went on to say: "people I met are very specialized in social media. One guy does marketing through mobile apps. Another focuses on product campaigns and leads generation. It helps to remember what they do". Of course, and many called themselves SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) Specialists too.  I was about to add my entry but he went offline.

First, I will not pretend what I am not. I am no technies, I cannot write or market apps.
So what do I offer ?
I help businesses and individuals establish relationships, build relationships, connect, enrich and deepen relationships. Social media is just one of many pr tools to do that. The fundamental purpose of PR is to manage reputation. And social media is a process in attaining the communication goal.

So my friend, I won't bothered to be "less broad" just to get noticed. I am more than social media.

P.S. In case you are reading this blog, please don't take offence I promise I won't spam you if you skype me :)

Be kind when you blog

A mega church was recently under probe in Singapore and the news were widely debated in the bloggosphere. A pastor of another church remarked "If you blog, be kind. After all we are all preaching the gospel of grace". For those who saw the news as a chance to hit back at churches or christianity or anyone, look at yourself first before you judge others.

What to do with your internal blogs

I hate getting emails about when the server is going down. And those employee telephone and email directory listing. On average I received 150 - 200 group emails per day while I was working in corporation. Less than 30% of emails are relevant to me. If only companies see the benefits of blogs as an email killer apps... As I see it, here's a list of ways to use an internal blog:

1. Alerts - Instead of sending out those server failure emails, IT can request employees to subscribe to their blogs to be notified of such updates.

2. Departmental - Besides the intranet where you will find this sort of who's who, services, achievements, monthly/quarterly reports.. here's an opportunity to invite your employees to give their feedback on your department's work eg invite them to brainstorm or show their support for your initiatives.

3. News - Again, promote interactivity. Employees can respond to a topic be it industry or group's news.

4. Sales - Have a sales blog to share with fellow colleagues about a customer's visit or report on the sales developments of a customer.

There are more important metrics than ROI

Love this quote from the new CMO at Dell from her interview in Adweek

Can social media scale and be measurable?

I think it can and has to. We have 2 billion conversations online a year. If I can't scale to the requirements, I can't continue to be a thriving business because that's increasingly how customers are shopping and engaging. It's not even an option not to scale, but it's to figure out how to do it around the customer. We're less focused right now on attributing ROI to everything we're doing. We're focused on "does it enhance the customer experience?" Does it look like revenue and profit are following? I'm less interested in measuring cost per contact. I know engagement with a fan on Facebook is a really good thing. I don't measure if that shortens the sales cycles. The things I can measure I feel great about. Those I can't I'm not losing sleep about.

via www.adweek.com

More than skindeep, touches the heart strings

A DHL courier's red and yellow uniform caught my eyes as I stepped out of a client's boardroom yesterday. I welcomed the familiarity and everything sweet associated with that brand... couldn't conceal my smile to the boy.

I remembered sitting in the Parkview Square office 7 years ago... doing the tedious inventory of the number of vehicles (from scooters, bicycles, cars, vans to 40-foot container trucks),  inferior and exterior office signages (which building is prominently located and facing the freeway? which is hidden within industrial parks?), uniforms, office stationery, airwaybills, tapes, bags, invoices - all things operational.  Every single touch point with Management, Employees, Customers, Media and general publics needed us to move the world with just one aim. That is to show the world the new DHL brand. Yes, "us" the tiny Regional Communications Department of less than 7 leading the mega rebranding project in 2003.

Every single quarter were a report-out to Corporate tracking old vs new assets. Every single month was a party in at least one country with employees, customers, and media. Every week was a mad rush to push news in all propoganda channels to reach every corner and soul of DHLer. Every day we lived a rebranding high ! The power to excel and the can-do spirit was intoxicating. Everyone in the organization embraced the new brand. It was money very well invested to get people excited isn't it - especially when budgets was a free-flow commodity those days.

Within 12 months, all 40 countries and terrorities completed the project. AP topped the world's records to become the first region to wrap up the monster task. I believed it is the positive spirit of all in one and one in all... that got us through in such amazing speed and precision !

Yeah, we painted every city red, and left a specially blended yellow pantone in everyone we touched. I even suspected there was yellow in my blood ! 7 years on, I still love those colours. DHL was a  rebranding success. I had the best time of my professional life.

Branding. Making it come alive like “No Signboard Seafood”

Everyone knows what a brand is. It is about delivering meaning and value.

My job is to make brands come alive. I describe brands as:
A promise, a personality, an image, a trusting relationship, a sense of purpose, security in purchase, satisfaction in use, leadership and authority, a sense of community, experience, and authenticity.

With decreasing product differentiation, product convergence, acquisitions and mergers, it is hard to tell products apart especially the white goods, automobile and others.

Only 20% of the brand is seen by customers who are able to recognize a logo and or a name. 80% of the brand convey values, that are unseen by the consumer, happen at the unconscious level.

Yes, big boys have money to burn so they have higher chances of getting their branding strategies right. However companies of any sizes have an equal footing if you are passionate about your business.

Even a well-known seafood chain in Singapore which does not have a brand before, has branded themselves as “NO SIGNBOARD SEAFOOD”! The name was given by their customers and they are wildly successful. http://www.nosignboardseafood.com/

So given the challenges, where do you start on branding?
The emphasis now is focus on the intangible or abstract value of brands. The big boys’ various branding architectures well illustrated this.

• SIA: a great way to fly - Corporate Branding
• Procter & Gamble: touching lives, improving life - Product Branding
• Nestle: good food, good life - Endorsed Branding
• Vidal Sassoon (under Procter & Gamble) - Line Branding

Recently I worked with a startup to conceptualize a new brand for a new company. We started by defining positioning in 7 levels: attributes and benefits, price, product class, use and application, competitor, value, and personality. Finally we developed the branding architectures before wrapping it up with messaging and proof points.

The entire process took 3 months from inception to launch, before a new brand is born.

The social web media battle against corporate

In this technology and ideas age, if your corporation does not have an official blog or a facebook fan site. Then your company is considered "old-fashioned". This is not only a beauty label. You should be seriously worried if your major competitors are ahead of you in the social web curve.

Many reputable corporations today have official blog sites and facebook fan pages. General Motors, Dell, UPS, Fedex are great examples of well-established companies who are using the new media to their full advantage. They recognized the importance of bringing people together online!

In my work with a regional client, he is keen to embark on this media plaform to expand his reach to employees and customers. His openess to explore new ways of communications is commendable despite his corporate's alienation of social media for years. Close to 70% of the employees in his organization are active social networkers through facebook, despite not having fb access at work !  Huge potential for internal communication ! We discussed possibility of developing a blog for customers and industry where it operates. However we still have to work through layers of resistance and challenges his corporate HQ may present.

PR department manages corporate reputation. A blog or a facebook are just two of these channels for reputation building. There are no different from interviews with analysts, press, and public speeches - all of these are documented anyway. The fundamental is to make sure that all spokespersons are well trained in what can and can’t be said. However, if the CEO has proven him/herself to be a loose cannon, perhaps some second party should advise on blog posts as well as during interviews.

There is only so much a provider like myself can do, it still boils down to who can win those corporate battles to reach new communication frontiers!

Day 5 of Shanghai World Expo 2010 - bigger bang than Beijing Olympics

Today is day #5 of the six month long Shanghai Expo 2010. The event ends on 31 October. While I have not booked my ticket yet, I am looking forward to visiting the event in September. For sure, this mega pow-wow has been well marketed on an international level, stacking up well above the Beijing Olympics in 2008 - except for that controversial theme song lifted from 1997 Japanese hit (Oops!) http://www.chinabuzz.net/buzz/shanghai-2010-world-expo-plagiarized-mayo-okamotos-song/

Well, well beyond plagiarism, there is still worthwhile facts to know :

Infrastructural cost:                                             
Shanghai Expo        US$58 billion         
Beijing Olympics      US$42 billion

Tourist traffic:
Shanghai Expo         70 million (forecast)
Beijing Olympics       6.5 million                       

Economics benefits:
Shanghai Expo          100 billion yuan (forecast)
Beijing Olympics        29 billion yuan 

Oh, ladies forget about your 3-inch heels and pack a pair of good walking shoes. In China size does matter, but your comfort comes first !

Lili Koh
7Skies Communications

Making a masterpiece out of flies!

Dear friends
What do you do when you are bored? Time flies when you make a masterpiece out of flies ! See this creative work by Max, the Gen-Y designer working with me ...
http://www.mexzhouse.com/what-to-do-when-you-are-bored-at-work/#more-578

Enjoy !

Lili Koh
7Skies Communication

Trade logistics matters, and Asia knows it

Trade logistics matters, and Asia knows it

To all my friends in the logistics industry, here's an interesting read:

The World Bank has released its Logistics Performance Index and Indicators 2010 (LPI), a ranking of 155 countries by their capacity to move goods and connect manufacturing and consumers in international markets. Germany tops the ranking this year. Of the top 10 countries, 8 are wealthy European economies (not suprising), and two - Singapore and Japan - are wealthy Asian economies (hooray!). Singapore is ranked 2nd and Japan is ranked 7th!

To read more, click on the headline.

Source: Supply Chain Asia

Lili Koh
7Skies Communication

The Art of Storylistening

Everyone loves a good story. Storytelling is a powerful way to communicate. But it is storylistening that gets you the right story.

As organizations grow and become more complex, managers are facing the challenge of delivering clear and concise messages to stakeholders. Employees do not know how to make good use of information while Leaders are bogged down with lengthy explanations of technicalities, when it comes to cascading new policies. How do you inspire, influence and persuade ?

Clearly, there is a need for a guide to help corporations - using the storylistening techniques I learnt from Shawn Callahan of Anecdote. Shawn explored how narrative techniques can be used in a business setting.

Here's how:

1. Where do you start? Every single employee is a storyboard. With 100 employees, you have 100 story ideas! First task is to decide the project themes on the type of stories you want. Then craft questions that will elicit responses eg what is the major turning point for your life?

2. How do you collect anecdotes? Invite employees, transcribe recordings and extract anecdotes.

3. What do you do with the anecdotes collected? Sensemaking. Immerse employees in narrative and identify the patterns, encourage dialogue and tell stories to explain, test and reinterpret.

4. What do you want to achieve with the anecdotes? Decide what and how you want to achieve out of these information. Select an Endorsement Committee to help with the decision.

5. Understand the impact. Monitor at intervals and polish process.

Start with these listening techniques and you are on the way to building up a repertoire of stories for your organization. Tell it well and you will create a shared experience with your audience.

Lili Koh
7Skies Communication

The Bad Eggs in Corporations

Having worked with dozens of agencies and suppliers, I have always prided myself for having the tenacity to build strong, lasting relationships, whom many became good friends including friends from Ogilvy, Burson Marstella, Senses Communications, PictureComm, Waggener Edstorm etc. I am cordial and respectful in every human sense until the trust is violated and I will not hesitate to set things right. In fact I took one to court not too long ago. This one has definitely been blacklisted - eternally!

The reason why I share this with you is not to forewarn or scare the wits out of anyone. No, this is not my style (In fact, I prefer to tell it like it is to your face:)). I endeavour to point out that every smart Communications Director should know how to get the most out of an agency. Work ethics tells us to treat them right and they will go the extra mile. I think most clients understand this. However I also saw for myself that many don't.

As the client, you always have the upper hands to almost everything. You have the power to throw out proposals, deny pitches to small unknown agencies, bargain prices in a cut-throat manner.. you can demand the sky, really... So what is acceptable and what's not?

Personally I did all of the above which I deemed as reasonable. As long as you know what you want, you raise the bar with each challenge to get the best deal from your agency. So that's my motto. However I detest despicable ways to demean people.

This story I heard just last week is by far the most outrageous!
This client from hell, let's call her "Miss Idiot" called up her PR agency on Friday late evening 7-ish and demanded for a proposal to be delivered to her house the next morning by 10 am. She said she has a very important meeting with her boss on Saturday.

The agency abided by her instruction, worked through the night (until 4 am) to deliver the proposal on time. The parcel was dropped off at Miss Idiot's condomnium's security checkpoint as per her instruction. The weekend came and gone. However the parcel was not picked up until the security officer alerted the agency that the house owner (ie Miss Idiot) had gone off for holiday during the weekend !

The horrible fact they discovered was Miss Idiot's boss cancelled the meeting on late Friday night and she decided to go to Batam for the weekend ! Not even a courtesty call to stop production?!!

Apparently Miss Idiot thought that her outrageous act stays within her and the agency. Well, she is so short-sighted on a few things. First, she better keep her job FOREVER because of her well-known records of abusing agencies. Second, she forgot that Singapore is just a tiny dot where words travel at a lighting speed. True enough, a headhunting firm who was bouncing off names within the industry found her horrible records through this very agency's Managing Director.

So the morale of the story? if you are a bad egg, it's time to quit. It's not too late !

Lili Koh
7Skies Communication

The PR deathbed without digital

A friend shared with me over lunch today that a well-known local PR house is about to close down after 10-15 years of establishment. In their good old days they managed major mncs and they were in big demand so much so that they probably won't get out of bed if the account is not worth half-a-million! Today, the founders are well into their 50s. Old school thinking, laid-back and too tired to learn new tricks to stay relevant. One of them was quoted saying "digital media is too hard!". So gone too were the major accounts and they are losing money every day.

For those practitioners - be it in corporations or agencies, if you are still betting on press releases, media conferences and 1-1 interview pitching to make news... you will face the same fate as this PR house. Multi-channel PR is the way to go with the advent of the social web. Innovate to create more value-add or you will find yourself at your very own PR deathbed.

Lili Koh
7Skies Communication