New ways of thinking and acting globally

The Internet has resulted in a completely different world where all of us are or rather can be if we wish so connected in the cyberspace and we are totally integrated on all fronts; the social, the business, the financials, the educational, the geographical the Internet is a new universe with no limits in time and space. Since I am in the business world, I will try to paint a small picture of how I have forced myself to get some insight in the digital new universe with many new rules, a cascade of new IT technical terms in the modern management language. Terms we have to understand completely, we need to identify the implications of the new management tools. However, some of them are just old wines in new bottles.

Today owners, top executives and daily management have to face the numerous challenges posed by globalization, the demands of the market, product development, and level of service delivery, business development, innovation, financial management, human resources development, and adaptability.

We need to understand and accept the new rules for International Business, the Internet forces companies to completely do a rethinking of their marketing strategy and renew all previous business models. In a certain way, we have all become partners in the intranet and extranet age. The Internet forces us to pay much more attention to rapid adjustments of strategies and tactics. In order to keep up with the competition we need to have fast access to all kinds of information needed to produce a new Business Design. A company needs to capitalize on the new opportunities offered by the increasing global integration. I use the term Business Design because I see the necessity for CEOs to establish a new business platform taking advantage of the possibilities to form a network of expertise that work globally.

You may have a producer in the Far East who wishes to penetrate new markets. The company I talk about is a great producer with a lot of solid business within South East Asia but now wanting to expand the business.  Previously it was costly and time-consuming to get complete and reliable market analysis and the changes in the markets took place over a longer period. Today the markets move fast. For many products and services they move so fast that often the time 8.o’clock AM for some is 3 weeks in the past for others. It is imperative to understand that marketing today is the key engine driving the business forwards based on vision, mission and strategies. The marketing function is more important than ever and consequently needs very qualified management. At the same time, it has become less expensive, much more efficient to obtain reliable market information and on top very fast.

In order to move swift the producer in the Far East may now considers some new avenues to meet the present challenges or in other words implement a new set of concepts. The key words are profitable global strategy and execution of it. The implementation of the new concepts necessitates alterations of the basic instruments for marketing management.

No strategy can be determined without a proper homework so to make it simple we will all work in a building of three storeys by the name of Knowledge Warehouse

The ground floor accommodates a team of expertise focusing on Customer Insight and Understanding in short CIU. Services compiling data and information from selected markets with all relevant details by using an advanced market research plan.

The second floor hosts a team of experts in analyzing and evaluating all data and information from the ground floor and present results, suggestions and alternatives for a global strategy to the Marketing Executive Team. I call the second floor team in short AAE.

The third floor accommodates a team of top qualified persons, responsible for the final decision on profitable strategies, but much more importantly overall responsibility for the execution of marketing strategies. I call the third floor team in short EMS.

A fact that can cause some concern is the negligence of the importance of the reliability and quality of step one. Do not try to make quick moves in order to save time or money. Do not make decisions based on impulses or a high degree of uncertainty. Today it is more important than ever to have a deep insight and understanding of the components in the decision process.  The need for qualified collection of relevant and reliable data is exceptionally high and the process will be time demanding since we work across borders and cross functionally. It is imperative with stringent working disciplines and an advanced market research plan. If the tasks on level 1 are not carried out in the best professional manner the result will be inadequate analysis and recommendations for the decision of a marketing strategy and then consequently a catastrophic execution as well as bad image, waste of time and money.

We often talk about ROI and that is understandable. We should focus more on the highest possible return of investments in activities from staff and services from networks as well. We all need to add value to our capabilities and work constantly to improve them. Other facts are that the introduction of the Internet has changed completely the sales and marketing parameters from “the good old days” since the transparency of the Net has made the consumers the kings of the game. A few years back when EU introduced rules to protect the consumers by laws of forcing companies to disclose relevant and important information about their products, the concept aimed at enabling consumers to compare products based on facts.

The speed by which the Internet moves has surpassed the set of regulations as mentioned making it possible for consumers to know from where the products are coming, who is the producer and what is the content of the product. So a few years back a consumer would have to pull down a product from the shelf then another one, compare the two, and then make the decision. Today he will get any kind of information of almost all products he is looking for and then decide. He does not need to move, he just sits behind the monitor and all he is looking for is just a click away.

In order to introduce advanced working methods we will take the 3-storey building a step further. We of course still need the same management tools, but we use a circular concept. We take advantage of The Round Table inspiration, let the 3 teams meet with regular intervals face to face and invite the customer to be the center, the guest of honor. We place him in the center, so we all can focus on him; he is the only one who can tell us about the benefits he is looking for and he plus the ones looking for same benefits form the market. The huge advantage by having a round table conference is that the decision makers are not sitting on the top of the building far away from the reality, the market place where all what the executive management is looking for is present. It is not on the top floor of the building.

This new world makes it increasingly difficult to maintain “old style business”. Previously products should have a long lifetime in order to cover high innovation costs for the producers. Here in 2009, close to 2010, we know that these rules have changed. Innovation must be fast because the consumer patterns and behaviors focus on updated features, some products like mobile phones have a very short lifetime because the markets require brand new advanced communication tools with sophisticated gadgets.

The producers act in a smart way. They will develop a basis model that covers the whole range of various consumer needs and then sell in maybe 50 different models each with specific benefits to meet market demands. In this way, the innovation costs are distributed on a massive amount of products and make the products pricewise competitive.

The producers must understand the consumers and the markets making Consumer Insight an extremely important discipline to manage. The modern consumer buys benefits and is less concerned about the product itself. Consequently, the use of advanced marketing tools is more necessary than ever making marketing management a primary managerial tool.

Chonburi 23rd October 2009

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“Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance” (Einstein)

Jeg er helt enig i geniets postulat som anført. Derfor tilstræber jeg med disse små artikler at komme med mine betragtninger og mine opfattelser af Internettet på godt og ondt, men det er en yderst omfattende opgave at sætte sig ind i Internettets utallige tilbud og derefter at vurdere dem på godt og ondt, så indrømmet det er ikke en opgave, der er så nem at gå til.  De gode ting er mange, det er ikke et emne, der skal debatteres. Jeg har været en flittig bruger siden 1996 og har naturligvis anvendt de nye værktøjer som gode assistenter, der kunne lette min dagligdag. I begyndelsen var mine behov 80 % relateret til forretningsmæssige aktiviteter, det blev med et slag meget nemmere at skrive rapporter og ikke mindst at gøre ensformige regneopgaver til en leg og endda til et avanceret styringsværktøj, hvor jeg i løbet af få timer kunne producere lønsomhedsanalyser ved valget af forskellige alternativer, opgaver der før kostede et ocean af arbejdstimer. I takt med den rivende udvikling er jeg naturligvis blevet iklædt rumdragt og deltager i cyber rejserne, som er nødvendige, fordi de fører mig til de værktøjer, vi er nødt til at bruge, hvis vi bare skal holde trit med udviklingen. Så resultatet er, at Internettet eller CYBERSPACE eller hvad vi nu kalder det er ikke alene min, men næsten hele verdens tumleplads, informationscenter, opslagstavle, reklamesøjle, kommunikationsflade og meget, meget mere. Herligt at kunne Skype med familie og venner over hele verden, at jeg med få klik har det, jeg ønsker på ”skrivebordet” at jeg er drønende effektiv og at jeg via mine blogs kan sætte mine fingeraftryk, blandt andet med denne artikel. Endvidere at jeg med nu 5 mailbokse kan kommunikere via alle netværk, de sociale og de forretningsmæssige, at jeg kan vedhæfte bilag, fotos og alskens herligheder. Jeg bruger cirka 80 % af de værktøjer, som Nettet giver mig til forretning, de sidste 20 %, (private gøremål) er næsten blevet en leg lige fra kommunikation med familien, der af og til er ret spredt, til bankforretninger, der desværre ikke er mange af og ikke at forglemme de nye fotoværktøjer, som jeg har ustyrlig glæde af. Jeg kan sagtens få øje på alle herlighederne og prise dem i lange baner og på det forretningsmæssige gebet er jeg med 12 til 14 timers effektiv indsats i stand til at gøre måske 3 mands arbejde og til en beskeden omkostning, ingen ansatte, intet lønregnskab og kvaler i lange baner. Positivlisten er lang og tro mig, jeg har efterhånden fået en del erfaring, så mit hjemmearbejde er gjort, men jeg erkender at jeg kun kan bruge måske 2 % af de værktøjer, der er til rådighed og det er jeg skam udmærket tilfreds med.

Som jeg ser det, er Internettet nu domineret af en række feltherrer, som jeg opdeler i små bokse; Business, Finansjonglører, Videnskabscentre, Politiske Organisationer, Andre Organisationer for at omtale de vigtigste, men fælles for dem alle er, at de tilsammen repræsenterer en ny verdensorden. Klik på skærmen og en ideel verden åbner sig, overfladen, skrivebordet, skærmen ser dejlig og indbydende ud, men bag den velpolerede overflade gemmer der sig en del uhyrligheder. Dem er der også mange af, misbrug, netterror, misinformation, manipulation af børn og desværre børneporno, meget bekymrende.

Så jeg gør mig mange tanker og vil her starte med brugen af Internettet på den private front.

Vi har fået en ny verden, et univers, der kaldes for CYBERSPACE, et kommunikationsforum, der tillader de fleste af denne verdens medlemmer at udtrykke sine meninger om alt og alle, vi har internationale og lokale fora, blogge, weblogs, vi har netbank, kan købe alt, hvad vi skal bruge enten et produkt eller en serviceydelse, vi kommunikerer med det offentlige, ordner selvangivelser, bestiller tid hos lægen og sociale assistancer og nu langt mere vigtigt; Vi har fået Facebook og Twitter, Skype plus et hav af portaler og Internet kommunikationsværktøjer, vi er i musefælden, men er nu så afhængige af alle herlighederne fra Alladins hule, at vi har indordnet os. Står vi ikke trofast i afgangshallen i lufthavnen og venter på udkald til flyet eller på hovedbanegården ventende på afgang, alt i disciplineret orden som en flok får, for vi bestemmer jo ikke alligevel, har ingen indflydelse på situationerne vel at mærke, hvis vi vil bevæge os fra punkt a til punkt b. Jeg kan sagtens opsummere, hvor glad jeg er, medens jeg nu sidder i mit IT cockpit og ikke skal bevæge mig ret meget for at flytte mig fra a til b. Det meste er kun et klik fra mig og jeg bliver kun sur, når hastigheden på Nettet er lav, så jeg skal vente, men jeg er også sur, når DSB’s skrattende højttalere meddeler, at toget til Kolding, normal afgang kl. dit, dut, dat er forsinket 20 minutter. I begge situationer har jeg underkastet mig viljeløst de nye herskeres magt, teknokraterne, IT guruer og deres trofaste disciple og udnytter så ventetiden bedst muligt.

Det, der bekymrer mig, er at vi ikke i tilstrækkeligt omfang er opmærksom på den grove manipulation, vi er ofre for. OK i sandhedens interesse, den har altid eksisteret, vi har bare ikke tænkt på det. I mine år som leder af Falkoner Centret på Frederiksberg, havde jeg tæt kontakt til mange fagforeningsbosser og ledende socialdemokratiske demagoger, herunder den kendte chef for DR Hans Jørgen Jensen, som jeg havde en del gode dialoger med. Han lagde ikke skjul på, at PARTIET så det som en hovedopgave at fastholde stemmekvæget indenfor rammer, styret af dem. Presse, Radio, TV, Arte samt folkebiblioteker. Partiet ønskede ikke, at folk selv skulle danne sig en mening, det var en stor bekymring da danskerne kunne begynde at se TV fra Sverige og Tyskland, nu kunne de danne sig alternative indtryk. OK denne kommentar hører nok hjemme, når jeg i et kommende indlæg vil skrive om Internettet og de politiske manipulationer.

Så tilbage til mine observationer af Facebook, MySpace og Twitter.

Særligt børn gør, hvad TWITTER beder dem om uden tanke på konsekvenserne.

Uanset deres navn dækker de alle over et omfattende socialt netværk. De har tilfælles at de dækker over et antal spektre, der næsten er grænseløst. Jeg kan ikke opremse dem alle, men mange af dem er målrettede og findes i form af fora, blogs og artikelbaser. Vi netværker som aldrig før. Internettet har skabt nye sociale strukturer, der langsomt æder sig ind på vort kulturmønster. Vi har med Internettet fået en virtuel verden, et nyt Univers, der øver en utrolig indflydelse på os alle. Det, der bekymrer mig mest, er børnenes totale underkastelse af alle de muligheder Nettet giver dem. Nogle har jeg tidligere omtalt. I denne verdensdel, hvor jeg bor, er der rekord i alt, hvad der hedder IT med Japan og Korea i førertrøjerne. I Japan kendes et problem, der hedder hikikomori, et fænomen, hvor de unge trækker sig ind i sig selv, lukker sig inde i en kunstig virkelighed Cyberspace, en anden virkelighed, hvor deltagerne placerer information, personlige oplysninger, fotos og data, der først og fremmest deles med udvalgte deltagere i netværket, men de glemmer at netværksudbyderne lagrer alle data, analyserer dem og sælger data videre, som jeg tidligere har omtalt. Det foruroligende er, at deres virtuelle verden ofte har for lidt relation til den, som samfundet betegner som den rigtige med regler for dets borgere.  Jeg vil her slet ikke omtale problemstillingen computerspil, der repræsenter en verden for de unge med så mange aspekter, at de ikke kan omtales her.

I gamle dage sendte vi børnene i skole for at give dem viden og uddannelse. I dag er indflydelsen fra de unges netværk så stor, at nogle skoler nu må tage udfordringen op. En dansk skole har givet dens lærere et kursus i anvendelsen af blandt andre Facebook for at lærerne skal være i stand til at kommunikere med eleverne på Internettets betingelser. Men også kommunikationen mellem forældre og skole sker nu via Nettet. Borte er de små sedler med ” Peter var syg i går” underskrevet ” Peters mor” i dag går mor på nettet og sender samme budskab til skolen, men ungen pjækker måske og bruger mors computer og E-mail adresse til at sende budskabet. Forældrene kommunikerer med børnehave, fritidshjem og ungdomsklubber. Men naturligvis er det praktisk at en klasselærer med et klik kan forbinde al kommunikation mellem alle elever og deres forældre om skema, om udflugter og andre fælles tiltag. En udflugt planlægges nøje og da de fleste forældre er glemsomme, sender skolen en SMS som reminder, husk nu at Peter i morgen skal medbringe badetøj osv. Nu er sidste skrig, at hjemmesider skal hjælpe skilsmissebørn, der via en portal delebørn, skal hjælpe forældrene med at huske og planlægge, hvordan de skal dele barnets opgaver og timer mellem sig, dets skolegang og fritidsaktiviteter. SMS til mor fra fraskilte far ” Husk nu at lille Peter skal til ridning i morgen, du kører ham, jeg henter ham” eller ” Hans, se lige på hjemmesiden www.voredelebørn.danmark, hvor jeg har ændret på planerne for delesommerferien”. Nu kan forældrene bede Peter om at se på hjemmesiden, hvor han kan læse om de fraskilte forældres kommentarer om, hvorfor de blev skilt og huske at fortælle ham, at det ikke var hans skyld. Der er ikke mere tid til at TALE sammen, at være rigtigt FACE to FACE. Dette er efter min opfattelse en meget trist udvikling. Vores face to face er nu by the BOOK.

Sandheden om de unges ny virkelighed, den It virtuelle verden, er nok at kvaliteten af tilværelsen for de unge ligger i deres branding af sig selv, imagepleje. Jo mere IT grej, jo mere status.  Mange lever i en form for ensomhed uden relationer af værdi til det omgivende samfund ikke mindst forældrene.

Tilbage til FACEBOOK og de andre.

Facebook er et af de hastigt voksende sociale netværk på nettet. Alene i Danmark har over en kvart million oprettet en profil. Her ligger info om alverdens forhold i folks privatliv med links til venner, familie og foreninger – alt sammen spædet op med billeder, sange og tv-klip. Facebook vil, ligesom de andre tilsvarende sociale netværk og dating-sider, have den fulde og uindskrænkede ret til vores liv på nettet., der er millioner at tjene ved at sælge oplysninger videre til andre eller ved at bruge dem til at reklamere for sig selv. Det kaldes datamining, og det er det, som gør Facebook til en god forretning. Annoncører betaler dyrt for at få adgang til de helt rigtige, potentielle købere i stedet for at spilde millioner på reklamer, der henvender sig alt for bredt i forhold til, hvad Facebook kan tilbyde med deres data.

Mange brugere skriver under på de 20 siders lange betingelser bare ved et klik på linket ”Jeg accepterer” uden at de overhovedet fatter, hvad de skriver under på. De overser (de fleste gør) at de giver FACEBOOK alle rettigheder til at anvende al form for information fra deres profil samt deres daglige kommunikation og nu prøver FACEBOOK at få adgang til medlemmernes E-mail konto, så de også fra den, eller fra disse, kan hente data, som kan indgå i pakker, der kan sælges til annoncører. Der er over hele verden en stigende kritik af disse sociale netværk, det mest kritiske punkt er, at man har meget svært ved at melde sig ud, og har man en gang, måske i et øjebliks stemning, lagt kommentarer ind på sin fjæsbog, kan den ikke fjernes igen, skaden er sket og den kan ofte være uoprettelig. Fjæsbogen har i år tabt mange retssager for at stjæle og benyttet data, der har ophavsret eller privat beskyttede, men FACEBOOK har ingen hæmninger.

Men uanset vore holdninger så er FACEBOOK og TWITTER her for at blive og de er hurtigt virkende bidragsydere som kommunikationsværktøjer, der på millisekunder kommer verden rundt. Da paven i 2007 fortalte de måbende får, at man ikke må anvende kondomer, var der på få timer tusindvis af indlæg via de omtalte medier.

At samme medier nu er ved at blive et alvorligt problem for arbejdsgivere er forståeligt. Flere og flere virksomheder må i dag have en IT politik. Det betragtes som et personalegode, men med retningslinjer som f.eks. brug af firma computere til private formål, herunder at ajourføre Fjæsbogen, må andrage maksimum ½ timer per arbejdsdag. Men hvordan er det med den gruppe i samfundet, der ikke har adgang til nettet? Mange ældre, der ikke enten kan eller vil være passagerer i IT toget, må have store problemer, f.eks. fordi mange kommuner i stigende grad lægger adgang til mange services over på nettet, så borgerne skal kunne anvende dette medie for at få oplysninger. Eller seniorer, der ikke kan fysisk bevæge sig ud for at købe ind, men må bruge Nettet som supermarked.  I Danmark er kun 30 % af de ældre i stand til at gøre brug af nettets muligheder, nu langt mere nødvendig end tidligere. Og hvordan vil det danske velfærdssamfund udvikle sig under presset fra IT? Og ikke mindst, hvordan klarer seniorgenerationen at udvide dens ordforråd med alle IT termerne og IT verdens mange forkortelser? Er den INTERNETPARAT?

En anden interessant betragtning er, at de omtalte medier klart adskiller sig. I USA f.eks. er FACEBOOK mest anvendt af bedrestillede unge, og MySpace er for ”underklasserne” MySpace er benyttet af kriminelle og ghettomedlemmer. Der er mange andre inddelinger og dem skal jeg prøve at komme nærmere ind på i kommende artikler. Jeg er meget optaget af de mange aspekter den virtuelle verden indeholder. Den er så stor, at det er umuligt på den korte plads en artikel bør have, at beskrive emnet indgående, men så er der jo heldigvis nok at tage fat på.

Her på falderebet kan jeg glæde mig over at USA indfører en lov, der gør det strafbart at lyve i annoncer og på nettet. I dag bruges ikoner store sportsidoler, der for millioner af penge vildleder forbrugerne med at fremhæve et bestemt produkts fortræffeligheder, uagtet at disse ikke har rod i virkeligheden.

Fra den 1. december 2009 medfører den nye lov,  at al information skal være 100 % korrekt, en sandt fremskridt for forbrugerne og et mareridt for producenter og de reklamebureauer og sportsidoler, der har ført forbrugere bag lyset. Loven rammer heldigvis også FACEBOOK, Twitter, bloggere og alle, der bevæger sig på Internettet eller bruger SMS til at udsende annoncer med. Da jeg er en ivrig blogger skal jeg altså fremover tage mig meget i agt, UPS!

Så denne form for annoncering er ikke mere tilladt!

Læs mere om mig her

Chonburi 20.oktober 2009

The meaning of consulting is to provide advice in a special area of expertise. A better way to translate this definition is to facilitate companies and or organizations improving their performance by analyzing the present situation and developing plans for improvements.

Business advices fall into many categories: General Management, Organizational Changes, Development of Coaching, and Implementation of new Technologies or Operational Improvements, just to mention examples from a broad selection of relevant issues, all of equal importance to all business regardless of size.

Business (or Company/Organization/Enterprise) is legally defined as a vehicle providing goods or services to customers/clients with the clear goal to make a profit or in other words to receive a financial reward in return for working and for taking risks.

As you may see from my website www.occo.asia, I have a fair amount of experience in consulting over the years and have chosen to function as a so-called Boutique Operation aka a Niche Operation focused on small and medium sized Industries. However, maybe more importantly I have hold positions as CFO or CEO in large international companies, which add to the quality of my consulting since I have many years of practical Business Experience. On top, I have a theoretical background on MBA level.

Based on a solid theoretical education plus experiences from 20+ countries, and from various industries, I have developed some excellent management tools among them a Simulation Program (in cooperation with KPGM) that enables me to calculate the financial consequences of various tactics/scenarios before they are implemented as part of the Over All Strategy. So today, this is then what I can offer:

Provide advices in order to help senior management and or owners to improve effectiveness by the help of a workable strategy, process or operation by accessing the realistic needs, reviewing the existing business plans, functions and directions, furthermore to add values to your Business.

I am 100% independent and work today based on simple methods developed over the years and consisting of 3 important steps; Step 1 all historical data related to the present state of affairs, Step 3 a scenario of how the management sees the company’s position on the market place in 2 to 3 years. Steps 1 and 3 are easy to generate, but step number 2 is the most difficult because it has to provide the answer to this important question: How do I get from step 1 to step 3? This is better known as an Integrated Business Solution. I describe it as how to build the bridge between Visions and Reality.

The answer is in general terms found in the term STRATEGY. The definition is clear; Strategy is the direction/scope a company takes in order to over a period to gain advantage over the competition or to meet the market needs and to fulfil the financial expectations of the shareholders. The name of the game is like playing chess one needs to make accurate and well-considered choices:

To produce all the answers in Step 2 is not easy and involves analyzes of many important elements that normally structure the complete Business Plan. Some small companies especially if owned and operated by entrepreneurs do not care too much about plans, before it is too late, and sometimes produce their plans by looking into a crystal ball like a fortune teller.

It would be nice if that was possible, but unfortunately it does not work that way and I am grateful for that for had it been the case I would be out of business. So again Step 2 involves taking a closer look into these areas: In which markets should we operate, with which products, allocating the necessary resources (organizational, financial, technical competences, facilities and relationships), the competition, the USPs for your products and same for the competitors USPs, how strong are you compared to the competition, where are your weakness? (SWOT analysis). These are just some areas that need cautiously studies and you can add many more.

A clear STRATEGY is necessary for any business. It is the planning and execution of the actions you need to take in order to achieve your goal. Strategy must be combined with a careful resource allocation, intelligence, logical thinking and leverage. However, it is important to realize that all goals should be determined based on down to earth visions. After the Over All Strategy has been defined, next steps are to work out the tactics. To participate in the battle for maintaining or improving the bottom line is like play in a soccer game, you must put together a team that wants to win. If the team does not win the Coach is fired most likely because he did not choose the right tactics. These must be integrated with the Over All Strategy.

My Business and Management services are targeted at medium sized companies (small is beautiful) that show some of these signs:

• In need of Restructuring
• Have an unacceptable profit situation
• Underperforming activities
• Leadership that is not focused on the profitability

So in concluding my comments: I can assist you building the Bridge between Visions and Realities. My favourite Management Guru is Peter F. Drucker who once stated:  “It is not the question of doing things the right way, it is the question of doing the right things “.

On the personal note: I work based on solid and proven business principles adjusted by modern thinking. I keep my head high but my visions and expectations are down to earth. I never lose focus, I work hard and dedicated and never give up before I have delivered what I have promised and I always aim at delivering more than expected.

I am a strong believer in quality rather than quantity and I am a student of Ayn Rand thus strongly believing in Science and Philosophy. In all modesty, I think that the combination of strong ethics and future oriented business scenarios shape the services, which I offer you, that will contribute to establish a workable Strategy resulting in a greatly improved situation for your company.

Chonburi

October 12th 2009

If you want to secure a long-lasting and profitable Online Marketing program then forget all about Search Optimization and a top ranking in the Search Robots at least for now. They are merely tools that form a part of the complete marketing program while management tools such as Business Insight, Market Insight and Consumer Insight are the most important instruments. How do I form this opinion?

Too many SEO companies focus entirely on keywords or search terms related to the core business of the client. They do think that the most important issue is to get a high ranking on the Search Engines, but that is not very difficult by the means of all the advanced tools available today. At first sight seems to make sense but if the client digs a bit deeper he will soon realize that most likely one of the most important rules for being in business is ignored. All investments must result in the highest possible return better known as ROI. The fact of the matter is, that companies today compete on the Internet, the world’s market place number one and it is extremely competitive. Rule number 1 is then to be visible on the Internet now a necessity but unfortunately most companies will find themselves situated as the well-known needle in a haystack.  The state of the art is to generate traffic and convert this into profitable business. To do this you need much more competence than merely being an IT expert.

I would venture to say that many SEO operators do not have sufficient knowledge about the market conditions under which their clients are operating. So how can an SEO company assist a client in promoting a product about which it has no knowledge? In spite of this, every day I see more than 1,000 companies showing complete confidence in SEO operators believing that they can generate miracles for them on the Internet.

By now, many companies have realized that it is better to pay an SEO company hundreds of dollars per month than to advertise in trade journals and magazines or participate in various trade fairs. The problem is however that only a few SEO companies are 100 % focused on a specific industry. The result may be improved traffic but with a low conversion rate resulting in an unsatisfactory ROI.

Another neglected issue is the complete overall picture of the financial consequences of alternative possibilities. Not many SEO operators sit down with their clients and try to uncover the most vital facts for the actual business; the industry, product mix, services, which products generate the best margin contribution, the competition and an overview of the marketing tools being used right now? Then a very important question “Is the client’s organization geared to handle the marketing tool Online Marketing”? Without a solid knowledge the product’s USPs and the marginal contributions for same, how can SEO companies produce the platform for the optimal Online Marketing for their customers?

When promoting products on the Internet a company should rank its products according to profitability, analyze the actual market conditions (now changing rapidly) have a clear profile, strategy and tactics and relate this picture to selected keywords and search terms and of course establish how often, where and when they are used on the Search Engines. If increased traffic results in a higher conversion rate, the company must be able to handle this professionally.

My advice is to focus 100 % on the marketing alternative that will result in the highest return on the necessary investments and maintenance costs (also called a cost/benefit analysis) compare an SEO job with the traditional marketing tools and go for the one with the best ROI. Focus on your target group shoot sharp and target with a rifle instead of using a shotgun with pellets hoping to hit something. The first proposal will prove to be the best. We have solid proofs from cost/benefit analysis.

Furthermore, I would like to stress that a 100 % SEO solution is not sufficient in order to obtain the targeted results especially today when the Internet represents an international marketplace marked by heavy turbulence. In order to be able to offer my clients proper solutions, I have formed a network of specialists and the total knowhow of my network contributes to the high quality level of all services I offer.

I do however admit that the whole SEO industry is undergoing a rapid change that segmenting is necessary and that standard SEO solutions do not work anymore. Consequently, my network does not promote only low priced standard solutions just in order to make some business creating cash flow. We select qualified assignments only and make it a condition that the client gives us access to his entire marketing platform so we can work out the most profitable marketing tool.

I also admit that this strategy is not easy to implement but today I know that it has proven to establish respect and confidence. Furthermore, we can assist our client in calculating the most important factors related to a high return of his investments. Finally, our goal is to find the compensation that serves both parties best. We do not use the “per click payment method” as we consider this unfair. Understanding the interactions between all advanced tools needed combined with a reliable network of international partners and research teams have resulted in profitable business for our clients and us. Our working methodic is based on simple business principles; define the potential markets by using competitive market intelligence and implement strategic market decisions in order to ensure the best ROI under the prevailing financial circumstances. We also base our services on updated expertise and understanding of the new dynamic Internet industry resulting in offering our clients cost effective services. We focus on increased number of leads resulting in reduced costs per contact. In this way, we contribute to our client’s ability to enhance their position on the global scene, where the life cycles undergo rapid changes forcing the companies to innovate instruments to ensure best possible positions in selected markets.

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Chonburi Thailand

October 11th 2009