Redbox Biz Blog

We just found a good and convenient place to drop off our recyclables; in fact, we just sent a bunch of boxes and paper to the recycling drop-off point this afternoon.

The place? Within the USM campus!

The recycling project is run by USM’s Corporate and Sustainable Development Division which I think is a great direction for USM since it is a very green campus.

According to Hamoon who is with this division, the recycling tent is set up on the last Thursday of the month from 8am to 2pm to collect old newspapers, glass bottles, plastic containers and aluminium cans. At 2pm, a lorry will arrive to collect these recyclables.

The tent is visible from the road; it is near the students’ hostel, Desasiswa Harapan near the Harapan lake. You can’t miss it.

We went to drop off some cardboard boxes and old newspapers at this tent just this afternoon.

If there’s one thing to be said of Redbox Studio, we aim to be as eco-friendly as possible and this includes recycling whatever that can be recycled. Everyone of us in the office is encouraged to use both sides of any paper. We collect used paper, envelopes, note paper etc. for recycling. That’s why the cleaner ladies who come to clear our trash will never find paper in our trash bins.

That’s why we support a number of eco-initiatives particularly if they benefit the environment and community. In this sense, we have been sponsoring Malaysia’s number one green crusaders, Don and Mylene by giving them a website to allow them to further spread the recycling message.

We believe that we can make a difference. That’s why we try as much as possible to walk our talk. For instance, if you see us shopping in Tesco, we bring our own shopping bag. We refuse extra plastic bags if we can. We buy Milo in tins too; most people will buy Milo refill soft packs because they’re cheaper. But we buy Milo in tins because we can recycle the tins later. This was taught to us by Mylene.

Yes, it’s crazy but it makes sense.

Being a good citizen of this world we live in does not mean we have to hug a tree or join a mass clean up once a year. It means taking a long hard look at how we live our lives and what sort of consumers we are.

Is our consumerist lifestyle supporting or destroying the environment we live in? Like Discovery channel says, we all live on this ‘island’ and we cannot move elsewhere.

Let’s keep this world sustainable!

And remember, if you live around this area, bring your recyclables every last Thursday of the month and support this wonderful initiative!

To your recycling success,
Nic

It’s always good to hear direct feedback from clients, particularly when we know what we’ve done is helping them.

This morning, I woke up to 2 of such emails - direct and unsolicited feedback from 2 clients, one based in the UK and one right here in Penang.

Madhur’s a UK-based consultant and he runs Digital Marketing Services UK. He advises his clients on targeted online marketing. That’s why I was feeling really oomphed to get such positive words from someone who’s in this web industry - by itself, Madhur’s words were an accolade!

His email read:

“Also, I wanted to congratulate you on your amazing SEO strategy as I have never seen a new site launched that almost immediately generates targetted traffic and orders purely from natural search as is the case with www.chemicaldevelopments.com - Truly amazing my friend!”

We both worked fanatically on Chemical Developments, a UK-based e-commerce website and we shared many late, late night Skype conversations, partly because his 3pm is in effect my 11pm here on Malaysian soil. It can get rather disorientating initially but we soon got used to it, and we were doing this virtually. Until today, save for his photo on Skype, I have not met him face-to-face at all.

That’s the way our businesses work these days with new software and tools.

Our strategy is actually a strategy of developing and designing a website which meets search engine requirements so that our ongoing SEO work goes without a hitch. We know not many clients of ours want to go down the non-organic SEO path if organic SEO works and that’s why we always build websites with this and the simplicity philosophy in mind.

Once a website is built to be search engine-friendly, everything becomes easier. The search engine bots can come and comb the client’s website.

The other email came from Alice who is the marketing manager of e-Heart & Health Scan Centre, located at e-Gate (opposite Tesco Penang).

Alice writes:

“Just to let you know the effectiveness of the e-marketing updates. Next week, e-Heart is really busy. We’ll be having 15 angiograms, first time in e-Heart history having such a high rate of CT Angiogram. We are looking for more staff and doctors to cope with the volume. My flights are coming by loads and ferries too from Langkawi. And I have many enquiries via email. Now we are slowly starting to do consultation via email. My walk-in patients have increased. Just want to say thank you for all your updates on the e-Heart website and keep up the excellent work!”

This is one of those gems which I am happy about. That the way we help our clients means our clients are meeting their goals whether it is more customers, more profits or record-breaking business.

We often tell clients that their websites should function like “sales people” and Alice and her team at e-Heart & Health Scan Centre understand this point well. They understand the role of technology in business marketing.

Plus they also do a fantastic job by working closely with us.

They are prompt with their updates and we are prompt with our updating and maintenance of their website too (you can view their website at www.e-heart.com.my). More importantly, they know the power of email marketing and use their online tools supremely well. Of course, everyone works very hard to plan out the e-marketing strategies but the success rates tell us that the hard work is worth it.

The best and powerful kind of feedback is the kind that’s honest and open. It’s one thing to ask for feedback but it’s another thing to get them totally unexpectedly and on a Monday morning to boot.

What a fantastic way to start the week! I hope you get a great week ahead too.

To your web success,
Nic

One of the key things I am amazed at sometimes is how very little some companies ‘get’ it about marketing and business.

Some people at managerial levels do not have a clue how their businesses are different from their competitors or why they’re in business in the first place. Continue reading »

We were at Langkawi island from Thursday to Saturday. This time, it was a quick trip.

Clear blue skies and coconut trees… great postcard picture, isn’t it? Langkawi always captivates!

Each time we go, many friends think we are going on a holiday but to tell the truth, we have not taken a dip in the clear seas off Langkawi nor have we truly taken a complete holiday when we are there.

Friends and family go “Langkawi? Again?”

Continue reading »