I really admire how Hyundai made a killing in the US market mostly through clever marketing techniques. Offer a buyback option without impact on credit score to car buyers who are to lose jobs after the purchase during the recession? Gutsy and risky for the company but it worked and whoever thought of that can now be regarded as genius.
Some people call it “anxiety” marketing and who doesn’t want to place themselves on the safe side when it comes to big purchases? I would. Heck, even I would consider getting a Hyundai with that kind of deal even if I’m all for Japanese cars.
Anxiety marketing is about placing the buyer in a “no-worries” mentality. Worked pretty well during the height of US recession. While most companies try to do that through hyping on product benefits and brand loyalty, long-term money-back guarantees, credit score security, and the chance to get out of obligations look much more appealing.
Details. Details. Details. Can’t emphasize this enough. A few of my acquaintances who have just recently graduated are wondering why getting a job suddenly became so tough compared to how graduates from last year had it. Well, for one, the global economy is really shot. Most multinationals (the biggest employers in the country) have frozen their hiring leaving a lot more people to compete with a few positions across industries.
However, one X factors to getting jobs is how an applicant presents himself or herself. Here’s a reality that you really have to consider. You might be good and quite competent, however, the odds are that there are other good people around, probably just as good or even better than you. Don’t let your school, degree, or honors be a guarantee that you’re the fastest gun in the west and that you have to be paid top dollar.
With the financial crisis sending even the best people in other industries back to the job market, companies can hire people who have three times the knowledge and experience at the say pay grade. At the end of the day, the it’s the person who can make compromises and position himself or herself as of the most and best value to the company who will get the job.
As far as organizational communication goes, this is one question that many a communicator should always take into account. Place oneself into the target audience’s shoes and ask, “What’s in it for me?”
Whenever I teach business communication, the part on which I give most emphasis always is communication planning and audience analysis. The problem with some writing manuals is that they prescribe the “best” formats and step-by-step processes failing to take into account the various communicative contexts.
For example, many writing manuals would prescribe the up-front format – a brief and concise format that begins with the summary of the message. While this does work effectively in most business organizations, I have observed that some more traditional organizations would prefer a more academic format – the one with the typical intro-body-conclusion structure. It’s always a choice on what format would probably better suit specific contexts.
Everyone in the organization has his or her own politics to consider. The simple existence of management and subordinates and yes-men and rebels in organizations are a testament to that. It often hard to identify these from an outsider’s perspective. However, for internal communication, one can have a fairly easy time through continuous observation.
Bryan (who happens to have finally launched Constant Random Change) and I have been discussing all sorts of things from technology to business. One points of our discussion was this observation on management and the technology business by former Ruby on Rails hacker Zed Shaw. Here’s his CUSEC speech where he raised these points.
A bit of tech discussions in the middle but the juicier points on management and business can be had after. This is a real treat for any graduate of tech who plans to make money using related skills.
I have formally concluded a semester of academic work after informing the department that I don’t plan on taking any more academic work. I’ve deferred my thesis work for next academic year to clear enough space in my calendar to sniff out some moneymaking opportunities.
My blogging work will be my first priority. I’m handling quite a number of blogs right now and I can think of no better way to spend most of my workday than writing for these blogs. If you have time, check them out. (Shameless plug but what the heck! :p)
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