|
Singapore (22 Sep, 2007) - Search marketing agency, PurpleClick Media, in conjunction with Yahoo!, recently conducted "Netting More Customers", a seminar designed to educate SMEs (small and medium enterprises) on using online advertising as a platform to market their products and services on 21 September at Swissotel Merchant Court.
Over the three hour session, about 200 SME owners were not only engaged in presentations and live demonstrations by online advertising veterans from Yahoo and PurpleClick, but also success stories on online marketing from other SMEs such as FarEastFlora.com Pte Ltd and NutritionPark.com Pte Ltd.
One of the participants remarked "It's good to hear from the examples and experiences from other SMEs rather than only the media professionals sometimes. This is indeed an insightful session that addresses many of my doubts about using online advertising as a small local business."
Leonard Tan, Managing Director of PurpleClick Media, said "Most SMEs are skeptical about using the Internet as a marketing tool due to various misconceptions and beliefs. For example, many local businesses thought that online advertising means expensive online banners. This is totally not true. There are many other options such as SEM (search engine marketing) which is very versatile and suitable for SMEs. Our objective is to tackle all these misconceptions during this seminar."
The seminar was focused to offer a hands-on experience aimed at delivering genuine insights on the online media industry and demonstrations on online advertising that can help SME owners better understand and utilize online advertising as a marketing tool. Participants were given a chance to learn from and interact with SME owners themselves.
Mr. Colin Tan, director of NutritionPark.com Pte Ltd, spoke about how he began his online business selling health supplements and sports products. Having started NutritionPark as an undergraduate with very limited marketing budget, he revealed how SEM helped his business triple with a year.
Ms Sarah Yong, Operations Manager from FarEastFlora.com Pte Ltd gave an account of their "We Are Back" online campaign after the flood last year, and also their Mothers' Day and Valentine's Day campaigns. Statistics results of these campaigns were also shared. "Hearing from real-life examples like themselves and interacting with them would definitely help SME owners reduce their own fears about using online advertising as a marketing tool, " said Leonard Tan, "In fact, many of participants decided to sign up for our SEM packages on the spot!"
Participants who attended "Netting More Customers" came from a wide range of industries - Education, Healthcare, Spa, Travel, Consumer Goods, F&B, IT, Interior Design and Printing, to name a few.
The seminar is sponsored by Yahoo! Singapore Pte Ltd, and supported by IE Singapore. Besides the comprehensive information obtained from the seminar, participants got to bring home attractive freebies and merchandise. Five lucky participants even walked home with free Yahoo advertising credits to kick start their marketing campaigns.
|
