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Effective Advertisement

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jul 2010
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    Effective Advertisement

    Okay - I have been working with Google Ads/FB Ads but not getting the expected results.

    I can think of a few reasons:
    1. Low spending amount - since bootstrapping - Can't afford much but I am spending the most on here
    2. Bad keyword targeting - But I think they are what I need and I did my research in my competition - Similar keyword but they have the resources.

    I have just hired a small but somewhat decent company to work on my IG - They have their way of working which I believe in.

    My question is how do you make an impact and get the customer's attention to purchase your product/services.

    I have a few ideas which I can implement:
    1.Create 10-15sec TVC in my targetted country's language (Mostly with a short story - Thai Ads Style)
    2. Hire Part-Time local staff in the countries I am targetting and do the "old-fashion" way of distributing flyers or holding A3 cards at airports (Travel Related Business targeting Tourist Coming to Hong Kong) overseas whenever there is a direct flight to Hong Kong and then having people standing at the arrival halls.

    I am also working with Airlines, Travel Agencies (online & offline) for cross-promotion and offering discounts to their customers if they purchase my product and vice-versa.

    I understand all of the founders of a start-up have high hopes and do think their product/service is "ground-breaking" "innovated" "Best" but from what I have seen, tested and researched my services do impact the quality & experience of tourist coming to Hong Kong

    So with limited capital, no investment or co-founder, bootstrapping - What can I do to make an impact?


  2. #2

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    What sort of business?

    Been there, done that well before the corporate market in HK figured things out - I might have some books / reading materials / websites for you.

    Google/FB ads are a bottomless pit and I've also seen fraudulent clicks on the rise (competitors clicking your ads).

    PM me if you don't want to share in public.


  3. #3

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    Its Hong Kong Tourist Pass

    Main competitor - Hong Kong Pass. They are active in a lot of cities and have recently started spending on Ads in Hong Kong. they spend close to $1k USD a month - not much

    I would love that information - I have been trying a lot of things but sometimes it just never works.


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    I guess (I am NOT in the consumer sector lol) that targeting the places that travellers look to research their trip. TripAdvisor. Lonely Planet.

    It would be free, for example, to start some threads on Lonely Plant Thorn Tree mentioning this. (Perhaps you can start a thread asking which is the best, and then set up another identity to answer it!). Ditto Trip Advisor. I think these might be good places to start and only time, not money.

    lovehunter likes this.

  5. #5

    Join Date
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    It would be free, for example, to start some threads on Lonely Plant Thorn Tree mentioning this. (Perhaps you can start a thread asking which is the best, and then set up another identity to answer it!). Ditto Trip Advisor. I think these might be good places to start and only time, not money.
    FOR FUCKS SAKE ... do not take a shit on well established communities that provide value to others and where you want to build a reputation.

    We spend far too much time with marketers who do this and there are a lot of ways in which you end up hurting yourself. The first and most obvious thing that will happen is ... your competitors will figure out what you're doing and then sign up and post crap about you.

    It may work on Facebook groups though. Feel free to take a piss and two shits there.
    Last edited by shri; 09-05-2019 at 05:38 PM.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Feb 2011
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    I have tried Facebook Ads and quickly realized how much of a scam it was. For example I would target certain age groups, education, location and I looked at who was liking my Facebook pages, it was all domestic helpers. I have changed the search strategy quite a bit, and at the end of the day, it doesn't warrant sales or revenue. Facebook only shows people who are more likely to "like" your page, and DH and 3rd world profiles tend to like thousands of pages. Whereas when I was on Facebook I was more selective about what I liked, but I long got off Facebook as its all rubbish in my opinion.

    So permanently in my mind, I would never use Facebook ads, end of story. I have created a Facebook page for some new ventures, but nothing much comes from it - Unfortunately some clients think where is your Facebook page but they don't even go there, so it's more to have the stupid Facebook icon on my marketing pieces. There are some select industries where you might get some inquiries, solely via organic growth. Paid leads are all rubbish but will increase your "like" count.

    Onto Google Ads, another big big scam. I have decided to give Google Ads a try and have used very specific criteria, location-based, time-based, search keywords, but I have never received any revenue leads from Google. I decreased the Google Ads spend to the minimum and will eventually take it off all together in the near future.

    What worked, creating your own email server and building your own email lists. I have a very targeted group of clients and started a marketing campaign via email. Received leads and revenue immediately. In fact for each email campaign there would be some hits. You have to spend a bit on smart marketing campaigns and fine tuning your lists. Ensure you follow requests for unsubscribe to avoid getting marked as spam or blacklisted, which does happen. Then react to de-list when needed.

    Get your website out there and make sure it has proper SEO to get shown in the search engines. There is a lot more to do, but paying for ads is really not good, especially for a company with no brand equity. It's a waste of money.

    If you are planning to hire P/T staff, you should create a raffle or prize to collect email addresses. This will help you build your database and also to manage your staff. You can then ask your staff to upload the email addresses into a database and then after lets say 10,000 emails you select a winner (maybe say it is a 2 month campaign with prize drawing on July 30, 2019. You can further add terms that the winner must "like you" on Facebook, or some social media platform as you need some common place for engagement for people to come to buy your services. You can send a welcome email with the link to your Facebook and advise the steps needed and congratulations you are entered into the competition. You can then compensate your staff on performance metrics instead of worrying they never went out to do the job.

    There are a lot of things you can do, you just have to pick something and try it. You will see results or scrap the idea and move onto something else.

    lovehunter and shri like this.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by MandM!:
    you should create a raffle or prize to collect email addresses. This will help you build your database and also to manage your staff. You can then ask your staff to upload the email addresses into a database and then after lets say 10,000 emails you select a winner (maybe say it is a 2 month campaign with prize drawing on July 30, 2019. You can further add terms that the winner must "like you" on Facebook, or some social media platform as you need some common place for engagement for people to come to buy your services.
    If you're running competitions don't forget to get a license

    https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/...7062800517.htm

    https://www.hadla.gov.hk/el/filemana..._Guide_eng.pdf
    lovehunter likes this.

  8. #8

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    Football16 and lovehunter like this.

  9. #9

    Join Date
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    Impressive site and offerings that lovehunter has.

    East Coast has a brilliant schematic that looks viable.

    I'm no marketer and given travel can you not reverse engineer by Googling on how new tourists coming to Hong Kong find out where to go, stay, must sees?

    Definitely need Chinese offerings but they don't typically all arrive via the airport.

    Blogs with top 10 places to see.

    Partnerships - with travel consultants, agencies, etc.

    You tube channel - that's free.

    Cross marketing and Ads on sites where people go - like this site - as when I was moving to Hong Kong, I found Geoexpat and signed up.

    lovehunter and JAherbert like this.

  10. #10

    Join Date
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    your web page takes far too long to load incidentally (and no it's not my fiber connection) overseas the internet may not be so fast.

    tried Hong Kong tourism board they have offices overseas if you haven't already mail them your flyers, given them a free pass to give away to tie with their special events, say the wine and food festival.

    lovehunter likes this.

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