Ambar Hamid Blog – Business Tips and Marketing Strategies

Have you ever wondered why some footballers are earning so much money in comparison with the players from a few decades ago?

What about the top sportmen in other sports like the Superbowl, NBA, Formula One, English Premier League, Golf etc? These men are also getting paid by the millions and we are not even talking about the sponsorship deals! Tiger Woods for example, is the only sportman that has broken the $1 Billion earnings mark and Kimi Raikkonen, Michael Schumacher, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, David Beckham themselves are worth in the tens of millions of dollars!.

Even Bernie Ecclestone – the man behind Formula One is widely known to be one of the richest men on the planet. According to Forbes in 2009, his wealth is worth $3.7 Billion and he had even tried to take over SAAB recently in January 2010.

But, surely all this wealth must come from somewhere….

Let’s look at the ardent supporters..

- Are they willing to part with significant amounts of cash for expensive tickets and give full support for their favourite team or sportsmen? Sure they do…

- What about blue chip and multinational companies? Are they willing to spend money on the industry? You bet!

- And let’s talk about the government? Are they willing to spend too? Sure they do. Look at the London Olympics planned for 2012. The British Parliament had approved an extortionate £9.3 Billion Pounds budget in ensuring that it happens successfully.

The bottom line is that there is an incessant demand in this industry and it seems to defy any recession. When there are any sporting events this usually equates to big business!

I anticipate that McDonalds will ‘piggyback’ London 2012 Olympics by up-selling related Olympics products with their Big Value Meal and it’s likely that other companies would follow suit too.

So how can you take advantage of it?

Get involved in it. Find every possible new business opportunity relating to it and find out how you can really get yourself involved. You can be a consultant for the industry, supply products and services or even sell licensed sporting goods offline and online. The choice is endless and it’s yours!

But don’t just stop there… Try and source other opportunities in other profitable industries too. It doesn’t really have to be strictly for the sports industry! There are many potential profitable markets out there. Go for it!

Ambar Hamid

I am not denying the fact that we are now inundated with a plethora of great products and services. Those businesses that want your business will just have to try harder in getting your attention.

Customers have more options on how they wish to be informed. They can opt for the traditional media like radio, TV or the daily newspapers and magazines, or they can just simply switch on their computer and log on to the internet to access all the information they want.

I think that it is important now as a business person that we keep an open mind. New marketing channels are cropping up everywhere and we need to keep our ears open for new opportunities that we can test and discover.

New technology is great and I am an ardent fan. I was recently at a business exhibition when I saw a stand that seemed to pull in a large crowd. Curiosity got the better of me so I walked closer to the stand and saw that almost everyone were glued to the wide array of laser- clear holograms that was on display.

I particularly liked the 3D hologram Coca Cola bottle. It managed to change from the usual mundane bottle into a marketing/advertising masterpiece. It gets the attention from anyone who sees it. I insist that you click the play button here and experience it for yourself!

Here is another great 3D hologram of Virgin Atlantic plane ‘flying up in the air’.

You can implement the technology to introduce any products you want and use it to convey your message more dramatically! The word of mouth effect is almost guaranteed to explode through the roof!

Let me know if you did finally implement 3D hologram technology in your organisation marketing arsenal. I’m always interested to hearing your thoughts.

Ambar Hamid

The obvious difference that I’ve seen between ‘the successful’ and ‘the struggling’ is that the latter tend to play the blame game more than anyone else.

When things are not going the way that we want it to be, why is it then that we feel better in blaming others and never take the responsibility?

Why is it that we blame friends, business partners, the banks, the economy, the government, and the country?

Will it change yourself or even your business to another level?

Well, I very much doubt it. You’ll definitely feel better but it won’t change any of your problems. In fact, it will remain and probably ‘fester’ deep in your psyche.

I believe that when we start to fully take the responsibility and become aware of the consequences from every action we make – big or small, then we will soon see that there will always be room for more improvements and opportunities.

Mistakes will be made along the way but as long as you continuously carry on with your journey and find new great ideas and solutions, sure enough, you will soon see the results.

Life itself is a difficult journey but with a little bit of ingenuity, it will make all the difference!

All the best,

Ambar Hamid.

It is now my second Avatar movie experience since my first at the London IMAX in Greenwich. The movie was so realistic that I couldn’t even ‘believe’ that the Na’vi people who live in Pandora are not real! I couldn’t even tell the difference between what was ‘real’ and the bits that were fictional and had the visual effects on them. I supposed IMAX would make everything look so real and ‘alive’, so I take my hat off for the incredible visual effects that James Cameron’s team managed to come up with.

My second Avatar movie visit was at a 3D cinema and although it wasn’t as good as watching it on IMAX, it was still a good movie experience.

The point that I am trying to make is this – ‘What can we learn from movie marketing? What makes Avatar marketing so powerful? How can we copy Avatar marketing for our own business benefit?’

In comparison to the Harry Potter or even the Lord Of The Rings series, Avatar was still new to the public eye. Despite being new, the movie grossed over a $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales in less than 17 days at the box office!

Access to a reportedly $150 million in marketing budget would certainly help but which bit of this marketing can we implement as our own?

My research tells me that Avatar had a healthy daily Google Adwords budget of around $18,000 (Dec. 09) and that was just for the US only. Also, if you look at the official site: Avatar, you’ll see that the site uses FREE MARKETING through SOCIAL MEDIA. There are links on the site for people to spread the word to the world and these include:

Youtube, Flickr, RSS Feeds, Myspace, Twitter, Yahoo, Digg, Orkut, Bebo, Tumblr, Friendster and Hi5.

Avatar had also received many worldwide free press in newspapers, radios and TVs as well as the millions of blogs, Twitter and Facebook updates.

It’s great to have your product being the public word of mouth but Avatar also did spend a substantial marketing money on traditional marketing including billboards, TV and radio ads etc that it is almost difficult not to be exposed by its message anywhere!!

Obviously, there is no way that I can break down the segments of Avatar marketing campaigns without having access to the official documents but I hope you can see that most of what Avatar is doing in terms of marketing is also accessible to any of us!

The question is ==> Are you going to take advantage of it?

Let’s discuss…

Ambar Hamid.

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Have a good 2010!!

Ambar

The UK has witnessed the biggest number in online sales recorded in 1 minute. This was confirmed on Monday, 7th December 2009 at the exact time of 13:43 and the amount recorded for that minute alone was a whopping £1.4 Million! (IMRG).

Sales for the hour from 13:00 to 14:00 was also high, peaking at £33 million. Total sales for the day was also recorded as the busiest online shopping day ever!

So what does this tell us?

1) Recession is still going strong but..

2) People are still buying and..

3) You need to think more about changing your business strategy to be more online centric. (Applicable for both B2C and B2B markets.)

4) Opportunities are still around!

Your thoughts?

Ambar.

PS: If you’d like to know more about how to start marketing your business online or even starting one, then you may want to attend the next London Internet Marketing Workshop.

Jim Rohn passed away and left us on the 5th December 2009. Jim had been very instrumental to my business success and I still own many of his educational materials that I keep and continuously refer back on whenever the time or situation is required.

He died of Pulmonary Fibrosis but he didn’t just go without leaving anything. He left us with a ton of real life business education that everyone who aspires to be successful should own. So, if you haven’t heard of Jim Rohn, go to Amazon.com or head on to your nearest bookstore and grab any of his books, CDs or DVDs. I promise that it will do you wonders in getting your goals achieved!

One of my personal favourite quote from the late Jim Rohn is:-

“Learn to work harder on YOURSELF than on your job”

“Profits Are Better Than Wages”

These are something that I live by everyday and I hope that the late Jim Rohn will help you too.

Enjoy the video clips below. It’s definitely worth the watch (You must click play on the 1st video before you head on to the 2nd one as it is part of the continuation of his amazing speech!)

Watch this….

Wouldn’t you agree that there are still many businesses and people who consistently moan about their finances that are not doing well? In fact, you’ll hear more about this when a discussion pops up on the recession and economy… They say…

“Oh my sales is really bad. It’s getting worst than ever before!”,

“I don’t know what to do. I hope this recession is going to be over soon!”

“I am not sure if I want to start a business now. I can’t afford it. I have no money and the recession is getting worst. Maybe later…..”

Yes, I cannot deny that the recession is still going on but there are still many individuals and companies that are still making the most out of it.

Look at the video above showing you all the young billionaires like Sergey Grin, Larry Page, John Arnold, Jerry Yang and many others who are still making money.

Wouldn’t you want to have it?

In order to succeed, you just have to keep on going and going and going. Change your strategies that is not working and find new tricks that works. Perhaps you need to get your business on the internet more than ever before or you just need to ramp up your daily sales calls to get more clients. Whatever it is, go learn from the likes of the people in the video. Get their books, read their autobiography and find out on what, why and how they are still growing their businesses to intense levels despite the downturn.

Remember: Recession is not a reason for failure. Excuses should not stop you from getting what you want. Action is everything to help you get there.

As Nike motto aptly says, “Just Do It!”…

Always think BIG..

Ambar Hamid.

I have been getting plenty of great success and motivational quotes everyday lately from my social friends on Twitter and Facebook. I thought that perhaps it would be a great idea if I could gather 15 great quotes to help keep you on track with your desires and dreams..whatever it may be..

I hope you will like it..so here goes..

1. “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” – Henry Ford

2. “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” – T.S. Eliot

3. “If you can’t, you must. If you must, you can.” -Anthony Robbins

4. “If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress” – President Barack Obama

5. “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King

6. “Wherever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” – Peter Drucker

7. “Leaders have followers. Managers have employees. Managers make widgets. Leaders make change.” – Seth Godin

8. “When written in Chinese the word “crisis” is composed of two characters – one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” – John F. Kennedy

9. “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” – Elbert Hubbard

10. “In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” Bill Cosby

11. “Success seems to be connected with action. Successful men keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” – Conrad Hilton

12. “Don’t fool yourself that important things can be put off till tomorrow; they can be put off forever, or not at all.” – Mignon McLaughlin”

13. “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

14. “If you don’t see yourself as a winner, then you cannot perform as a winner.” – Zig Ziglar

15. “I cannot always control what goes on outside. But I can always control what goes on inside.” – Wayne Dyer

There are many more great quotes out there but it is impossible for me to include them here on this blog. However, if you feel that you have a quote or two to share, then do comment below.

Always Think BIG!

Ambar Hamid.

I just heard the news today that Twitter had signed a deal with both Google and Bing to include all Twitter posts on their search engine indexes. This news alone would help many Twitterers particularly business users in significantly amplifying their ‘reach’ in the already crowded online space.

But what are the real impacts of this news to Twitter users? Let’s find out…

(Please note that this is based on my personal experiences only)

1. Easy Access To More Updated Information

Getting the instant updates on the markets, news stories and even the weather in a foreign place would be far easier and dependable! Obviously, you’d have to make your own conscious decision on the authenticity of the information you receive.

2. It Gets Your Messages Out There. Pronto!

This is very self explanatory. Every post you make would be made available in real time on Google and Bing which means that it’d allow you to find more people that you can interact with and gain new business prospects.

3. Helps with the web traffic.

Getting the eyeballs to your site is the key to success in any online based business and by having more references that include web, blog or articles link would only increase the chances of you getting the clicks.

And unfortunately, I reckon that you’d also get..

4. More Spam.

I am not quite sure how Google and Bing would filter the spam posts that we already get on Twitter but I would think that we’d have more spam contents on the search engines just by being on it alone! It’s very difficult to curtail the spam users and posts and I suppose that this would also be the same when our posts gets on the search engines.

Do comment and add your personal thoughts.

Looking forward to getting your feedback.

Ambar.