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Another social media site sells for mega money

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Just seen that Facebook has bought Instagram for $1 billion, 2 weeks ago CNN nearly bought Mashable for $200 million. There must be something these big companies know about the future of social media and I want in, you should as well. I have read about the increasing power of social media in bringing forth new schools of thought and even ushering in new cultures, it may be time to start going beyond reading and thinking about social media.

So, I find myself thinking (as part of doing), what does it take for a social site to “blow up” as they say in social media circles? A name that captures the imagination of the target group is a must, but don’t shout it out loud before you register it as yours, trademark it and copyright it first then shout about it. The next step is to get people to talk about it on other social media sites, there are two benefits to be attained here, free marketing for your sites to potential users but also free advertising for your site to potential buyers in the future. I am only intending to create a site to sell it on, I think there is only so far I can take it but there are bigger players who I would rather take the risk of taking it global. If the buzz is showing signs of growing, the next best trick is to get endorsed by a global cause or personality, this creates great leverage for your site but be clever about it, remember it is social media, any obvious signs of capitalism and profiteering will drive away potential growth. In the process of avoiding being percevied as a capitalist profit making venture also avoid aligning with causes that draw negative appeal.

Watch this space, one more channel to test my marketing education. Check out my friends at 3-MOB, they are an ever growing force in Zimbabwean social media, http://www.3-mob.com/

Blackberry doesn’t need your consumer dollars anymore

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News coming out of the Blackberry head office is that the company no longer want to sell its phones to non business customers anymore, why? Well, consumers just are worth a lot of money to Blackberry when compared to the business demand and consumption.

Looking at sales figures is the last business year, there is a worrying indication that maybe the non-business consumers might not want Blackberry either, the sale of handsets has gone down while its rivals keep posting record figures year after year. But take a look around social scenes you will see that a lot of people have Blackberry handsets and they use them a lot as well. I hate Blackberrys because it takes over people’s lives, especially the socially mobile late teens to late twenties crowd, all they ever do is BBM, a lot!!

So why is there a problem for the brand if, as research and observation shows, they have a stranglehold on the most fertile segment of the mobile consumer market.? In my opinion the problem is BBM, it is free and works on all Blackberry phones new or old. A customer buys their Blackberry because all their friends are raving about BBM but that is the end of earning for Blackberry despite supporting over 1 billion messages to be sent between its handsets per month. Imagine if they charged 1 cent per message, everyone can afford that actually everyone can afford to ignore that.

Second problem for Blackberry is what I call the “Nokia Syndrome” all their handset are the same, use the same operating systems look and feel the same irrespective of the price you pay for the handset. If you don’t know your Bolds from your Curves you can’t tell them apart but there is more to it than those two there is the Torch which is too fat to be a slider, the Pearl which is too thin for the Blackberry format and awkward to use. Never mid about that weird touch screen with the pressure sensitive screen that moved when you types on it. When customers can’t see the difference they go for the cheapest version and when potential customers struggle to find a unique proposition they go elsewhere.

Blackberry may stop selling to consumers and focus on the business segment but everyone who already owns a their handset will still benefit from their free BBM service which doesn’t seem to be much of a strategy for me, because that just means they are selling even less handsets. The solution is to stop giving free service to customers because ut cost money to create that service, even if it cost little to produce, giving free service send bad messages for business. Differentiate hand sets according to features and specifications, the one size fits all mantra or corporate look thinking doesn’t work in products they need mass demand to sustain profitability.

Some of you may already ow, I now have a mobile phone app to allow you to read the blog from your handsets anytime anywhere. If you have a smartphone, install a barcode scanner app on your phone and scan the barcode below to install my app on your phone

Can we do creative?

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It is suggested by some that much of the wealth creating opportunities left in the free market are in the creative industries sector because the production and manufacturing opportunities are all going towards the east due to the competitiveness of their cost to the outsourcing market. Having sat in a symposium on how to teach creative modules at university or even before university, I found myself wondering about the African context in terms of creativity, creative learning and how the continent could tap into these suggested wealth creation potentials that exist in creative industries.

Without getting to deep into the hows, it may be opportune at this point to quantify just what creative industries are. These are industries that a founded on individual creativity, talent, skill and entrepreneurship that produces wealth creation opportunities and jobs thought intellectual property. So, in a nutshell using your brains to create something valuable enough for others to want to pay for it but still remaining the sole owner of the idea or concept. The best example of this is Music, artist or musicians make music to sell to listeners but still retain ownership of the rights to the music and its future earnings.

So as Africans we are already there, we have world famous musicians both old and new, we have world famous sports people gracng the world’s stage. But this is probably only benefiting those directly related to the owners of the said intellectual properties. I am looking at creative industries in the sense of creating wealth for the continent at large, something similar to how China as a nations is rich and individuals in the country get opportunities to be wealth in that economy. I use the term wealth because that is more sustainable than rich. Riches are exhaustable but wealth builds on itself and can be never ending if done right.

The question at the head of this piece is “Do we do creative?” I suppose what I am driving at is the question of whether Africa as a whole or different countries in part can find a niche segment in the global market to start its own creative industries. The options are many, from advertising, architecture, art and antiques, computer games, crafts, design.

Kenya and Rwanda are selling internet based customer management solutions, using VOIP to run call centres of behalf of western companies. I feel this is the way to go for Africa’s future, creative industries can operate on minimal financial input, require a lot of hard work and ingenuity which a lot of Africans have, how else do we continue to survive in the face of all the challenges that engulf the continent?

Be creative!

These new people are confusing

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This week I have been teaching undergraduate and post graduate students about marketing, the use of research and how it helps businesses to idenfity, anticipate and satisfy customer demand. Doing some reading around the topic in preparation for these sessions I have come across evidence of a changing consumer and an unchanging supplier or retailer.

The best example is how the music industry despite all best efforts has failed to kill online downloads to protect the sale of CDs, DVDs and Vinyl products while also failing to capitalise what is clear a change in consumer behaviour within thier target market. What music retailers like HMV have failed to realise is that physical music product such as CDs, DVDs, and Vinyl are not compatible with their main customers’ lifestyles, just ask people aged between 16 and 35. The people also known as the dotcom generation prefer to have it all in a palm size box, by all I mean 10000 songs in an ipod or whichever other brand gives them that capability. As long as the music industry doesn’t accept this and offer free music while creating other means to make money through that provision of free music or other music related acrtivities like live shows, there will always fight a loosing battle with their customers.

Free music?! yes free music, it is already free to most of the consumers anyway so there is no need to pretend that it is a new concept because it is not. Their marketing teams must now work out how to make money giving consumers free products and services, GOOGLE already do this so it is also not a new concept but it requires new thinking.

Next to be hit by this new consumer behaviour of free online consumption is TV, Satelite and Cable. Already, research has found that within the 16-35 age group fewer and fewer customers are signing up to TV content contracts with companies like SKY, Virgin and Cable and Wireless. The same goes for the American and Canadian markets, the new business is drying up fast from these consumer who can now watch pretty much any programm they like online for free. The question here is how do they avoid the pit that music fell into? Is it viable for TV programme providers to make money of free provision of thier products and services? Probably not because the nature of the product is that there are few alternative for the consumption of the product unlike music which has the capability to offer better exprience as a live performance compared to the MP3 version. Comedies could offer live recording and charge people to sit in on the live recording but films are doomed.

It might take 12 years like it has for music but the end will come as long as technology continues to develop fast internet accessiblity, greater variety of access points and technology.

Calling processes by clever names will not improve Zimbabwe Tourism, Mr Mzembi!

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The right honorable Minister of Tourism in Zimbabwe thinks the solution to revitalising the tourism industry and re-establishing Zimbabwe’s presence in the international tourism market is “Tourism Engineering” Really? He goes on to define this process as follows “Tourism engineering takes a broad, long-term perspective, while focusing on details and identifying the potential that the country has,”

I wish we would stop inventing new names for a critical process that must be carried out urgently, it is simply a matter of asking ourselves three questions as far as Zimbabwe Tourism is concerned “Where are we positioned in minds of the customer as a tourist destination?, Where do we want to be positioned? and how do we get there?” I worked 5 years in Zimbabwean Tourism during its glory days of the late 90s, there was pride and excitement in working in the industry, we kept at pace with developments in customer service, marketing and promotion as well as our international competitors. We won recognition and awards from our peers but more importantly we had a recognisable brand.

Sadly today I personally feel we were left behind in the first part of the last decade. I have regularly attended international tourism  marketing events and the state of tourism marketing in Zimbabwe  at the these events gives a worrying insight into the state of the industry at home. There is no excitement and belief in the product they are selling. The stand itself is a reflection of a lack of ambition especially if presentation is considered against our immediate rivals and those further afield. Year on year we turn up at the World Travel Market (WTM) underprepared and without conviction of what we want to achieve. I personally feel the companies that attend do so out of formality, the tourism attache to the UK also contributeS to this sorry state of affairs by pretending that the market is excited by what she and the exhibitors are doing. Numbers don’t lie, show us the direct impact of participating at WTM  through an increase in tourist arrivals or future bookings.

The solutions is not Tourism Engineering RHM Mzembi, it is being honest about what needs to be done and putting together a strategy to do so, the tourism industry was one of the hardest hit in terms of  the post 2000 brain drain  that decimated Zimbabwe because we had transferrable skills to work anywhere in the world, we had the right training, enthusiasm and belief in our contribution to tourism which made us employeable around the world. So first off, what has been done to replace these skills, Mr Mzembi? Tourism training must take place, bring back exprienced practinioners into the planning process so they can contribute to the development of up to date training that equips those working on the tourism frontline with skills to serve today’s customer in facilities that meet the expectations of today’s customer. Invest in training, bring in exhiled tourism practitioners to foster a new belief and excitement in Zimbabwe Tourism

Secondly, do we really know how the market feels about Zimbabwe, Mr Mzembi? While we train tourism workers, let us go into the markets and ask the customers, agents, wholesalers et al., what do they think of when when they here about Zimbabwe and going there on holiday, what do they know about Zimbabwe? Do their perceptions match with what we would like our customers think about us? Only when we are able to answer these question will we be able to start marketing to the world because we will be able to bridge the gap between expectation and reality on both sides. We will be in a position to speak a language our market understands in formats that are accessible to all of them. Only then can we start to constructiely build a brand that represents us in the way we would like the market to feel about us because through expansive market research we would have collected information that help to bridge the gap between perception and reality. Regardless of how we feel internally about Zimbabwe, tourism thrives on the arrivals of tourist from foreign markets and it is how “THEY” feel about us that determines whether they come or not, which is why knowing their feelings, worries and expectations must form the base of all our tourism strategiec planning.

Lastly, some food for thought, “What is Zimbabwe’s brand image, how has it evolved and is it up to the time, today’s time?”

Here is the article that inspired my thoughts today –

It’s a numbers game!

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This week like many in the past few months has been all about people using numbers to support or justify lack of support for various issues in business and elsewhere. The worry I have about numbers is that a lot of the time the numbers that are being thown about are all historical and not a reflection of the current situation. Today the Obama governement put out numbers to show that a quarter of a million people a back in work reducing the unemployement figure to 8.1%, while the numbers are useful for those that know how to use them there is another purpose to them, 2013 elections! Here in the UK, the energy companies anounced that they have cut their prices by 6%, hooray but hang on, considering inflation and the fact that last time the prices went up by 15% there is no real benefit in the prices being reduced. So they want to appear as though they care, again there is always an ulterior motive in many of these statistics.

Some sad numbers coming out of Egypt and again someone or some groups have jumped to the numbers of an unfortunate incident and started spining the truth to suit their own motives, some say it politics, some say it is revenge but noone stops to think about the dead or their relatives. How callous is it to try and gain political mileage from such a sad situation. Shame on them

Elsewhere the numbers show that times are hard, the transfer period in football has just ended and not a single palyer sold or bought in England for over £10 million, going back 3 years this same window had clubs spending £400 million in January. Last year was crazy as well,  Fernando Torres went for £50 million, and how that has flopped! maybe that’s why teams are not spending money in January anymore. They don’t want to buy another Fernando or Caroll who cost £35 million!

1 point out of a possible 12 for my beloved Gunners in 4 games is numbers that put a damper on things but it’s all real! hopefully tomorrow will bring 3 points because things can’t carry on like this. Still, looking aound the premiership things aren’t all lost yet.

Here is to a great weekend,off to have 1 or 2 cognac and rebulls, hope you do too.

Stay safe!

Where is the money in 2012?

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Back again, this time with weekly updates as usual. Thanks to those that inspired me to stop being lazy and get writing

So, the whispers of a recession are getting louder in the media and Tesco’s announcement that they lost business over the festive period hasn’t been helpful at all. But Aldi and Lidl made profits!, surely not. Well, according to Kenneth it’s only Tesco that didn’t make money in December even Sainsbury’s made money. Why?, well it’s all about clarity of message to the customer, Sainsbury’s are not shy about their prices being a little higher than the rest, they justify it by suggesting that their food is of the highest quality and as such customer are comfortable paying more. Lidl and Aldi on the other hand are also very clear about their offer to customers, low prices and unfamiliar brands. So at these supermarkets there is no confusion for customers, they know exactly what they will get for their money and they problem for Tesco is simple. What do they stand for? Not price because Asda wins that hands down, not quality because Sainsbury’s wins that battle as well. To sum it all up for the first time many customers had no reason to go to Tesco, those with a little extra money went for better quality at Sainsbury’s while those with less money went for quantity at Aldi and Lidl.

Going back to the topic, where is the money in 2012?, I think it will all be about cash, those with cash and other moveable assets will make the most gains this year. Cash or liquidity will give entrepreneurs opportunities to react first and fast. Investing in immovable assets does nothing except tie up your cash and opportunities that come from being liquid. Houses are cheap for a reason at the moment, they are hard to dispose of when you need cash and the low prices are a sign of desperate people trying liquidate their assets.

Movable assets like cash are more useful in a recession because, as you all know, money is good anyway in the worlds so if the economy in the UK continues to shrink you can take your money elsewhere and grow it there. I am developing model for farming without the limitations of owning a farm based on this same understanding. If I can move my farming technology or machinery at a moment’s notice I can get away from drought regions to where the rain is every season. Obviously having movable farming infrastructure will need ready cash and farms available to rent, which shouldn’t be a problem based on observations from my last visit to Zimbabwe. Land redistribution gave farms to people with cash problems, the can’t farm with no cash, Windmill is only selling fertilizer on cash basis and so are the seed companies. Cash is king in these situations.

So, remember to keep you cash ready for use, trade is fast turn around high yield commodities like gold, diamonds, grain and production inputs but only on cash basis because with the current low interest rates financing is not paying much and it ties up your liquidity!

Arsenal plays United following two away defeats, I feel a win coming!! Have a great weekend!!

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Welcome to 2012

Taura Khuluma Say it!!1 Comment

Well, we made it! 2012 here we come with all the supersticious nonsense surrounding it, some say it will be the end of the world, some say it won’t but I say this is my year, evolution of the man!

So I went on a quick jaunt to the motherland for christmas, first ever christmas in africa for 11 years and boy did it live up to my wildest imagination. Zimbabwe is on the up!, I hadn’t been home for 6 years and I had resigned to not going if things were as bad as they got in 2009 but many friends were coming back with rave reviews about Zim and Harare in particular so with little trepidation I set off home. A quick stop in Kenya was not a good advert for African  customer service but I was impressed by the goings on at Jomo Kenyatta, Kenyan Airways have called themselve the pride of Africa and I agree with them. Arriving at 0610 in the morning were hundreds of us all connecting to several regional destionations and the stewardess recited no fewer than 13 conecting flights feeding off that one flight we were on, and all departing within 2 hours. That showed me African airlines can do something that seems to have eluded Air Zimbabwe for decades, why are we even flying other countries’ airlines when our national airline has a departing slot from England? surely it is not because there is no business because the Kenyan flight to Harare was full of people coming from London!, But that is a story for another day

Back to Harare, the vegetation was green for a change, air was clean, there was a breeze unlike the stiffling humid stillness at JKA. There was a certain vibrance in the people that was distinctly lacking from my previous visits when people were grappling with the ever changing prices and exchange rates. The US dollar was a both an economic and political master stroke for those that championed dollarisation, because it brought back life into the economy. I noticed cans of coke were being made in Harare and not somewhere in South Africa, shops were full with anything you could wish for, I felt prices were a little too experience for an African economy but people seem comfortable with them so why worry? at least for now!. I remembered Cornelius coming back and inboxing me about the cars in Harare, wow, if it’s not there it’s not worth buying because you name it there have it, including a Jaguar dealership and the new VW truck, which I haven’t yet seen in the UK, they have it there, loads of them! I remember remarking to Tate about the calibre of people driving big ticket cars, it doesn’t matter anymore because a person’s outward presentation has no bearing on the car they drive, gardner looking dudes are rolling in benzez and bimmers in H-Town!

But some things never change, I went to the passport office to get a new passport and it seems the vibrance that has gripped everyone and everything else in Zimbabwe hasn’t found it’s way to the workers in the passport offices. Customer service is not a term or practice they have heard off but more on that later.

For now, welcome back to the blog, thanks for the time you have taken to read my rumblings and here is to a special 2012!!!!

Who are you without a history, where did you come from?

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Oh I am mad right now!

Just been on a website reporting the felling of a historically and spiritually eminent tree in Harare were a lone woman is pictured with her head bowed down in deep meditation or prayer and on the web site is a whole host people berating her actions as demonic! The people are judging her actions as demonic go even  further to suggest that she should be baptized or cleansed of her demons!

Since when has one’s faith and belief in whichever higher being become demonic, the bigotry of these “Christians” is shocking, does the bible not teach tolerance and not to be judgmental? Besides how does their knowledge of a bibles that has less than 200 years in history of Zimbabwe become more important than her beliefs in a culture that has been a part of the African people since the beginning of time?

Stop acting like people without roots, all your roots are the same as that woman, do not mock what you can’t understand based on little knowledge. Live and let live because for all you know, we all speak to the same god but use different channels to do so just like Christianity is different to Islam, Bhuddism, Hinduism and all the of the world’s other religions.

Pheeww, calming myself down!

Oh bugger!!, did he just say “credit crunch”?

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It’s doom and gloom again and the recession is coming to your economy in the not too distant future!

Merv King, UK money man, as the Jamaicans would put it, has said that the western world is in the middle of a credit crunch, no banks want to land money to other banks and banks that are struggling for money could well collapse because of it. Deja vu or, didn’t this happen to Lehman Brothers, some fear that this time it might be a European bank collapsing, I hope it’s not the one I keep my money in! The UK government posted some more gloom in the autumn report, everything is pointing to a slow xmas.

This mgiht be the right time to think of leaving the western world, Angola is making pesos, Brazil is making pesetas, China and Russia are making something, they won’t say how much but they are! The lure of new money will get some of us out of this never ending misery of reactive economic decisions and chase some sunshine while getting paid!

So there was a big walkout on Wednseday and people voted with their feet as one BBC reporter put it. I struggle with the concept of striking, because after the one day stay away, everyone filed back into work, pensions are still not resolved and they were pleased with themselves that they had showed the government that the man on the street will not take shit lying down. As if! nothing has change and probably won’t change until there is change, in government.

Too much politics

How strange is this winter? It’s december and temps are still above 10!, I fear for everyone after january, I bet nature is sunning us into a false comfort, only to drop a huge winter past xmas, no white xmas here this year. Still, bugs everywhere though people sneezing on the bus kills me coz their bugs join the general environment of the bus and I can’t avoid them after that, today might have been my last bus ride till the end of winter, people are starting to avoid daily baths which makes these modern no opening window buses rather inhospitable! Suffering a concortion B.O and bugs  undermines the health benefits of my 2 mile walking roundtrip from home to the bus station!

On that smelly note, have a great weekend, start taking notes of hints about xmas presents!