5 Steps to Monetize

Recently, a lot of questions about how to monetize a site or blogs come into my mail, from basic requirement, preparations until step by step process. Honestly speaking, it required a careful strategic planning, it is not done in one night or instantly. It was a process carefully planned based on your own goals, type of site/blogs/business models/product or services.

basically monetize is about generating revenue from your asset, converting benefits into payment and become a cash. Few assessment would needed first to identify the step by step process such as type of your product, your own business model, identify the marketing channel, did you have your own community? if not, then building traffic is a must, etc etc, and each of the process required their own KPI (Key Performance Indicator).

To simplify the answer, perhaps this infographics below can help you "how to monetize"

Ways to Monetize

Source : Infographics

What inspire and drive you to buy a new product?

New Product await to launch

New products are a key source of growth and profitability for manufacturers. Unfortunately, the vast majority of new products disappear from the shelf within the first three years of their introduction.

Nielsen’s evidence suggests about two out of every three products are destined to fail no matter where you operate around the globe.

perhaps you don't know yet which new product to buy and wait for a most persuasive awareness that drives you to buy.


below is the informations source that always influence us to purchase the new product.

Source : Nielsen

Gamifications : Winning Technique for Engagement

Gamifications is a term for using a game like mechanism and thinking in a non-game context in order to engage user or solve a problem, learning or getting the Data, including improve user experience and gain ROI.

it can be based on rewarding the point for use by sharing their locations, sharing photo just like Foursquare and Facebook.

This technique include :
Achievement badges, leader boards, progress bar, achievement level, redeeming  trading, claiming, gifting, sharing, exchange point, virtual currency,   challenge, performing some task.

And now, marketing are often used this technique to engage their customer in Website or social media. Why Gamifications is Winning? check this below.

Gamifications is Winning

How Casino Make Money

Everybody loves an entertainment, include adult. 

Casinos are one of the favorite entertainment for adult. we often spend some money in there for fun, but for the casinos this is a Business, they are offering fun, excitement, adrenalin rush, and Hope. did you know what is the detail?

Casinos Revenues

Jack of all Trade - The Key for Future

Business Development is the Jack of all Trade

According to wikipedia : Business Development is conceptualized as or related to discrete projects, specific modes of growth, and organizational units, activities, and practices. Sorensen integrates these different perspectives with insights from CMDs, senior business developers and venture capitalists from successful high-tech firms from Europe, North America and India into one general construct. In this perspective, business development refers to:

"the tasks and processes concerning analytical preparation of potential growth opportunities, the support and monitoring of the implementation of growth opportunities, but does not include decisions on strategy and implementation of growth opportunities" (Sørensen, 2012, p. 26)

Skill sets and experience for business-development specialists usually consist of a mixture of the following (depending on the business requirements):

• marketing
• legal
• strategy
• finance
• proposal management or capture management.
• sales experience

so it is required at least 4 different Skill with each skill consist a set sub skill like :

- Marketing : Brand, Communications, Mapping, agile project management

- Legal : Knowledge of Substantive Law and Legal Procedure

- Strategy : for Customer, Client, Competitor, Market Behavior, etc.

- Finance : Forecast Sales, Balance Sheet, etc

While according to forbes : 

Business development is the creation of long-term value for an organization from customers, markets, and relationships.

so business development have many things to-do, to-think about it, and it looks like skilled in many things. 

here comes the terms Jack of all Trade : 

A person who is skilled at a variety of different things, but not to the same level as a person who is specialised in one of these things.

i'm agree with this terms, its better than Master of One. Actually it feels 

To add another resources, here is some articles about Trade of all Jack and why all  Business Development should adapt to this change in this future : 

1. 5 Reason to be a Jack of all Trade

2. Jack of all Trade, Master of None?

3. It really is ok to be the Jack of all trades

What kind of CMO are you?

We often hear about Chief Marketing Officer or Marketing Director. Known as one of the most difficult job in the world.

Not all the role of CMOs are the same, CMOs must have an ability to synchronize his/her own capabilities with the organizations Objective and goals : ROI, sustain growth, Innovations, etc. without this ability, the CMOs Can't survive in the fierce competitions in the market.

Based on the experience, observations and working together with several CMOs. Below is a Basic type of CMO and their basic expertise. this combinations will determine the future of the Organizations.

Basic Type of CMO :

Strategist

• Strategist / Thinkers :
• This type is an experience with "been there, done that", but sometimes not really implementing or share his/her experience.
• Got a vision and Goal, Built Long term and Short term objective.
• Good at Branding program, Building Awareness, Hiring Agency & PR Firm
• Always creating an Unique Campaign for Awareness (you can see after 5 years, they still focus on this "Awareness" Things)
• less spending time with the Sales Team in the field, because they are busy with the meeting and discuss about the Value rather than the Result. end up with a lot of activities without generating any cash.
• Smart, Creative, Charming, know much theory  "Know-How-To" type person, and seems like a problem solving guy

Doers

• Doers :
• This type is a fighter and "Spartans". they turn the strategic planning into the Tactical move and actions plan
• Willing to work with the Team and en-roll their sleeves to help out
• Concern about the Sales Figure
• sometimes lack of Vision & Mission, can't think how-to-create a strategy. but always take a Quick actions based on situations in short period (Short term), not in the Long Term because sometimes they can't do the forecast like a Strategist.
• Agility, Passion, Know-Where-To-Go type Person, a Practical type

Good CMO should be a
Strategist & also a Doers

A good CMOs should be a combinations of these 2 basic type : 

• A Strategist also a Doers, vise versa
• A visionary leader for future with experience in the past. Do the thinking and also providing the details and "Lead by Example".
• Tend to be Creative and Good in Numbers for Sales Figure with Unlimited Passion
• Far more flexible, have a different set of skill and experience in the past
• Good at managing people and servicing the customer
• They'll stick their chin out and do what’s necessary to make things right if something went wrong.

Basic Expertise :

Business Developer

• Business developer :
• Pipe lining, Mapping, forecasting, planning
• research, based on data instead of assumption
• Numbers, more process & measure the output, also give recommendations
• balance between the short term and long term goal.
• Resourceful 

• Financial Expert :

• Numbers & Numbers, Sales Figure, expert in balance sheet, forecasting
• More short-term Gain 
• Value is always measure by numbers, but sometimes didn't know how to measure a value of a "Good Will"
• Focus on Output rather on Process

• Creative People :
• Imaginations, think lateral and problem solving
• strong in visual, passionate, charming and sometimes adorable
• Artistic, somehow Moody 

• Media / PR people :
• Don't like conflict, use win-win solutions as problem solving
• a very Good communicator (writing, listening & Speaking) and also connector
• people to people approach, managing people
• Team Player

• IT / Programmer :
• Logic, Zero & One
• Not really Flexible, often are rigid
• very good at detail and explanations since they are used to think for "algorithm"

What if we combine these basic type and basic expertise? what kind of result we can get?

• Strategist combine with Media / PR People = what kind of CMOs in the future?
• Doers combine with Business Developers = Type of CMOs ?
• Strategist combine with Business Developers = Type ??
• Doers with IT/Programmer = Type ??
• Strategist with Creative People = Type ??

Of course this is just some observations and based on the personal experience with some CMOs. No valid data is given here, result is just based on the Observations only.

What kind of CMOs you would become is depend on your skill set and past experience with future vision.

Achor Text : The clickable, visable words

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The Power of Pinterest

by Aaron Pragnell : why-pinterest-could-be-the-next-social-media-giant

Pinterest is becoming the next big name in the social media space.

For those who do not yet know, Pinterest is an online pinboard that lets you put your favorite images on a single Web page. You can share your “pins” with your friends or browse pinboards created by others.

Pinterest has become a popular tool for users trying to plan weddings, decorate their homes and share recipes, among other activities.

Conceptualized by Ben Silbermann, Evan Sharp and Paul Sciarra, Pinterest was launched in 2009 and since then has experienced rapid growth. According to statistics released by ComScore in February 2012, Pinterest has more than 10 million monthly unique visitors and is now the third most popular social networking site behind Facebook and Twitter.

With these staggering numbers, it looks like Pinterest could be on track to become the next social media giant.

Pinterest originally received a total of $500,000 from about 10 different angel investors in early 2010. In 2011, Pinterest raised $10 million in a series A round of funding and then later in the year, another $27 million in a series B round of funding. The $27 million dollar round of funding valued the startup at roughly $200 million dollars. Funding was led by powerhouse venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

When it comes to successful startups, Andreessen Horowitz has had its hands in nearly every popular one, including Airbnb, Digg, Facebook, Foursquare, Groupon, Instagram, Skype, Twitter and Zynga. Almost all of these companies either were acquired or went public.

Pinterest has grown from roughly 1 million users in July 2011 to more than 20 million today. In May 2012, Pinterest raised $100 million more in funding, which now values the company at $1.5 billion. Not bad for a site in operation since only 2009 and yet to make a dime in revenue.

Pinterest, though, has stated on its site that it has “tested a few different approaches to make money, such as affiliate links” and “might also try adding advertisements, but haven’t done this yet.” The focus currently is on growth and it has definitely excelled in this area.

The Web site industry is all about knowing your user and the more you know the better. This is the key to success in this sector and a big reason behind Facebook’s success. It knows its users and as a result, advertisers have flocked to the site where they can focus their sights on target customers.

Content Strategy for Small Business

Why Content is important for you? there are several reason for it. and of course all of it are essential for your website, blog or social media.

content become important, it is not just a word, or just some stuff, it was an information or a tools that a visitor would find helpful when visiting your site or blogs. It also can be a differentiation for your business in the different things and stand out from the competitions.

A good content is making sure that you provide all the information and useful also making sure these content in the pages are as complete as possible and answer all of a user's potential questions. Make sure your content are easy-to-read, complete, and informative also it can inspiring others before you looking to adding other content.

No need to become a smart-ass just to writing the content, but one thing for sure, you need a Strategy to writing a content. Especially for a Small Business Owner, You look at things like developing, curating, information architecture, writing, editing and marketing. compare to the others Big Company, they have a resources to hire a PR or Marketing Agency to do this. as a Small Business owner, sometimes we have to do this on our own. 

based on this, lets focused on one of these Content Strategy :

Source : http://www.loveinfographics.com

6 Tips for Using Pinterest

Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web.get inspiration from people who share your interests.

A pin is an image added to Pinterest. A pin can be added from a website using the Pin It button, or you can upload images from your computer. Each pin added using the Pin It button links back to the site it came from.

This 2 Descriptions is from : http://pinterest.com/about/help/

now, are you ready to Pin?

Source : http://www.loveinfographics.com

How a Bad Infographic can Ruin your Business

A good infographics should consist a real data, good design, present it with storytelling and can be share to anybody. 

This one is tell us How a bad one can ruin our business, please avoid bad infographic

source : http://www.loveinfographics.com

8 alasan kegagalan Marketing

Banyak marketing plan yang gagal dilaksanakan, atau bahkan jika sudah dilaksanakan, hasilnya menjadi mengecewakan. Concept Low Cost High Impact yang diagung-agungkan akhirnya menjadi High Cost No Impact. Marketing Manager disalahkan, Pihak Agency atau pihak external yang membantu terkena getahnya. Bahkan tidak jarang terjadi pemecatan dan pergantian.

Tentu saja alasan kegagalan tersebut cukup banyak, tapi semuanya hanya akan menghasilkan sebuah kekosongan untuk jawaban yang tidak pasti.

Hal ini bisa saja terjadi di perusahaan skala kecil maupun skala besar, untuk menghindari kegagalan tersebut, berikut adalah beberapa alasan kegagalan sebuah marketing plan :

1.  Menggunakan Asumsi
   Kesalahan paling dasar dan dosa terbesar adalah menggunakan ASUMSI baik sendiri maupun hanya berdasarkan kata beberapa orang. Tidak ada data yang jelas baik secara kuantitatif maupun kuantitatif. Tidak mengetahui Industry, Market, Segmentasi dan bahkan Competitor.
   Program yang dibuat hanya berdasarkan angan-angan dan kira-kira saja. Begitu dilaksanakan, sudah pasti gagal.
   
2.  Salah sasaran dan fokus
   Karena menggunakan Asumsi, kebanyakan program marketing dibuat hanya karena ingin menyenangkan pihak tertentu, baik itu atasan maupun client demi sebuah perstige yang baik. Atasan, perusahaan tempat bekerja maupun pihak lainnya, terkadang tidak merepresentasikan sebuah market tertentu.
   Terlalu  Fokus ke “Brand Mission” dan juga “Product Superiority” justru cenderung hanya menghasilkan impact yang sedikit saja, karena tidak memperhatikan apa yang sebenarnya di inginkan oleh market dan opportunity yang ada.
   
3. Over Promise
   Brand message yang disampaikan terlalu muluk, terlalu indah dilihat dan di dengar. Tapi kenyataanya belum tentu bisa ditepati. Misalnya  tagline sebuah customer service : kami siap 24/7 untuk melayani anda. Kenyataan adalah sabtu dan minggu libur.
   
4. Over-bearing
   Kesalahan lainnya yang sering terjadi adalah overbearing, yaitu menjadi sombong atau terlalu berlebihan dalam mengerjakan segala hal.  Biasanya hal ini terjadi dalam skala perusahaan kecil menengah atau yang terlalu rakus sehingga tidak REALISTIK. Mereka mencoba untuk mengerjakan segala hal untuk mencapai semua pada saat yang bersamaan. Akibatnya adalah kelelahan, tidak fokus dan gagal serta saling menyalahkan.
   
   Sebaiknya setup saja beberapa goal dan biasanya 2-3 goal yang ingin dicapai dalam waktu tertentu, dan fokus terhadap goal tersebut. Dan Goal tersebut haruslah REALISTIC.
   
5. Over-reaching
   Mencoba untuk mejadi segalanya, untuk semua-nya pada saat kapan saja. Idealisme yang tinggi dan sudah pasti gagal. Karena product anda dibeli oleh customer berdasarkan preferensi tertentu, kebutuhan tertentu dan segment yang berbeda-beda. Concept “One Size Fit All” sudah tidak berlaku lagi.
   
   Alangkah lebih bagusnya jika sudah mengetahui market mana yang dituju dan sesuai dengan Behaviour mereka.
   
6. Terlalu General dan Samar-samar
   “Menjadi yang terbaik”, “Roti terbaik”, “yang paling di inginkan”, “memberi lebih” biasanya akan susah dilaksanakan dan “struggle to be actionable”. Alasannya mudah saja, bagaimana mengukur sebuah intangible goal?  Contoh yang lebih jelas :
   
   a.       Menjadi bank yang baik dalam 3 tahun mendatang
   b.      Target 10% pelanggan baru dalam setiap quartal
   c.       Menaikkan revenue pelanggan 10% dalam 1 tahun ini.
   
7. No Ownership
   Marketing plan yang sudah dijalankan berhenti begitu saja. Iklan yang sudah di tayangkan, promosi yang sudah dilakukan tidak dilanjutkan lagi.  akibatnya pelanggan hilang, antusias berkurang, dan brand tenggelam dalam persaingan. Yang harus dilakukan adalah design dan rancang terus program marketing anda, jgn berhenti begitu saja. Karena marketing itu adalah kegiatan yang erat kaitannya dengan pelanggan dan berlaku seumur hidup.
   
8. Berdasarkan Budget semata, bukan TUJUAN
   Program marketing yang dibuat berdasarkan budget, iya memang benar, dan harus seperti ini biasanya. Tapi yang paling penting adalah berdasarkan Tujuan bukan hanya Budget saja. Bila tau tujuan yang jelas seperti point yang telah disebutkan diatas, maka alokasi budget anda lebih terukur dan efektif. Dengan kata lain, Budget mengikuti Tujuan.

Untuk semua jenis perusahaan baik skala kecil maupun menengah di industry manapun, sebaiknya perhatikan dan fokus pada marketing plan yang dibuat, gunakan data dengan bijaksana, cari insight dan indepth yang bagus, Kenali market  dan segmentasi, berikan sesuai kebutuhan mereka. Jgn berdasarkan kepentingan pribadi perusahaan semata. Maka hasilnya akan sangat luar biasa.

Sudah siapkah merancang marketing Plan 2014 – 2020? Ini tantangan yang menarik untuk dibahas.

What is Digital Marketing

In this info-graphics  it is very clear about what is Digital Marketing. in-fact you can google it, and learn from google.com.

But for the  Next Question, what kind of Industry and Business type are using Digital Marketing? what is their success factor? what is their conversion rate to the sales? if there is a direct impact to the sales figure. 

Mengapa harus Strategic Planning ?

Dalam Bisnis atau dunia entreprenuer, tidak cukup hanya punya ide yang brilliant, Model Bisnis yang bagus maupun Product atau jasa yang unggul. Lantas apakah dengan demikian Process Bisnis dan Perusahaannya otomatis akan berjalan? Saya rasa tidak. masih ada beberapa faktor yang perlu diperhatikan juga semisalnya faktor Management, SDM, dan Resources yang ada. dan bukan hanya sekedar modal saja.

Memang banyak yang bilang kalau mau Berbisnis atau berusaha, modal bukanlah yang utama tapi idea atau business modelnya harus tepat. saya setuju dengan Statement seperti ini, namun pertanyaan berikutnya menjadi "jika business modelnya sudah ketemu, lantas bagaimana menjalankan Bisnis atau usaha tersebut"?

kuncinya adalah Strategic Planning, 

Dibutuhkan sebuah perencanaan yang matang dan tajam. dibutuhkan juga pengetahuan tentang Market, Industri terkait, maupun Insight tentang konsumen utk menyusun hal tersebut.

Beberapa tips dibawah ini mungkin bisa membantu untuk menyusun Strategic Planning

Mulailah berpikir panjang dan tentukan VISI
dalam tahap awal ini, visi dalam bisnis menjadi penting, karena berdasarkan landasan inilah kita membuat sebuah concept rencana jangka panjang. Misalnya dalam 5 tahun kedepan, "mau dibawa kemana bisnis atau usaha kita","mau seperti apa bentuk usaha tersebut","apakah menjadi penyedia jasa/layana no. 1 di Indonesia?", "apakah visible?" tentu saja dalam tahap ini banyak pertanyaan yang bersifat idealis, namun hal ini wajar saja, karena justru hal inilah yang kadang memotivasi kita dan lingkungan kerja untuk maju terus, jadi tentukan segera VISI Anda.

Merencanakan MISI
Misi adalah sebuah cara, sebuah jembatan untuk bisnis / perusahaan anda mencapai VISI yang telah dibuat. mempunyai sebuah MISI juga berarti membantu karyawan kita untuk melakukan tugasnya berhubungan langsung dengan Customer, Suppliers maupun satu sama lainnya, karena masing-masing divisi mempunyai sebuah MISI yang jelas. MISI yang baik adalah yang simple, mudah dimengerti, langsung ke tujuan tanpa berbelit-belit, dan seluruh partner bisnis maupun karyawan anda bisa langsung memahaminya tanpa susah payah berpikir. Contoh : "Menyediakan Layanan dan content untuk pelanggan dan memudahkan mereka untuk mendapatkannya". Team CS akan langsung mengerti MISI perusahaan kita sehingga akan melaksanakannya.

Membuat Goal
Buatlah sebuah GOAL/Tujuan, baik jangka pendek maupun jangka panjang, yang bisa di Breakdown dari VISI dan MISI,  Goal tersebut juga merupakan sebuah Target. Tentunya harus merupakan GOAL yang Visible dan DO-ABLE, bukan hanya indah dilihat oleh mata dan mudah diucapkan. Contoh : "Mencapai 420 Jt Pelanggan di INDONESIA dalam 1 tahun". Angka yang terkesan indah dan menjanjikan, namun sebenarnya salah, karena jumlah penduduk indonesia sendiri ada berapa? dan apakah visible dilaksanakan dalam 1 tahun? Ada baiknya coba lihat dulu resources perusahaan tersebut.

Lakukan Analisa
Cobalah analisa kekuatan dan kelemahan competitor, pasar, consumer, peraturan pemerintah dan regulasi daerah maupun perusahaan (External analisis). kemudian analisa situasi perusahaan/bisnis/usaha anda sekarang, tentukan critical issue, check resources berupa SDM dan financial. (Internal analisis). Cara yang mudah adalah menggunakan SWOT Analisis

Mulai menyusun Strategic Plan
Sekarang anda telah mempunyai VISI, MISI, GOAL dan Analisa lengkap External dan Internal. langkah berikutnya adalah menyusun Strategic Plan, kunci utamanya adalah JUJUR terhadap segala hal yang ada. susunlah dengan detail dan jangan membohongi kondisi apapun (teutama kondisi terburuk sekalipun). Mulailah menjabarkan setiap tujuan dengan melihat peluang apa yang tersedia? resources mana yang cocok dengan kondisi tersebut, kapan akan dijalankan? oleh siapa (set timeline) dan action plan tersebut.

Strategic Plan yang bagus merupakan hasil dari proses menyusun dan menjabarkan kembali semua hasil analisa maupun process yang telah dilakukan dan mencocokkannya dengan GOAL/Target yang ada.

Make it  SIMPLE / KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)
tetaplah berusaha dan menjaga agar strategy tersebut mudah dipahami, sederhana dan bisa dijalankan oleh karyawan anda, shareholder, stakeholder, partners maupun lembaga terkait lainnya, bahkan sampai ke CUSTOMER anda harus paham VISI-MISI dan perusahaan anda. feedback dan umpan balik sangat penting untuk menyusun sebuah Strategic Planning yang ada.

Strategic Planning yang benar juga bisa membantu merumuskan tujuan, memberikan solusi, bahkan memberikan sebuah pencerahan bagi yang membutuhkan rencana ke depan.

Inilah alasan kenapa harus menggunakan pendekatan dengan "Strategic Planning".
Siap untuk merencanakan Strategy anda untuk 2014?

"Strategic Without Action is a Daydreaming, Action Without Strategic is a Nightmare"

5 Internet Entreprenuers

What is Entrepreneurs?  they are a person who take care and in charge for Business and Financial, also taking a risk into it. They are providing an employment, seek a revenue for company. They are also a creative people who can distinguished their business from competitions.

These Infographics show 5 of the Biggest Internet Entreprenuers in 2012. 

5 Top Crowdsourcing

Inside Google Wallet

Fast Cash using Assets

Current assets are important to businesses because they are the assets that are used to fund day-to-day operations and pay ongoing expenses. Depending on the nature of the business, current assets can range from barrels of crude oil, to baked goods, to foreign currency. 

In personal finance, current assets include cash on hand and in the bank, and marketable securities that are not tied up in long-term investments. In other words, current assets are anything of value that is highly liquid. 

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/currentassets.asp#ixzz2KQwZ18i1