Marketing

Does your LinkedIn profile need to be perfect before you start engaging? Take it from someone who has changed her Linkedin profile 289780 times. NO. My last tagline was “Change the world, one story at a time”. I loved it. After all, it’s authentic and reflects what I want to do. 𝖠̲𝗇̲𝖽̲ ̲𝗍̲𝗁̲𝖺̲𝗍̲ ̲𝗐̲𝖺̲𝗌̲ ̲𝗍̲𝗁̲𝖾̲ ̲𝗍̲𝗋̲𝗈̲𝗎̲𝖻̲𝗅̲𝖾̲ ̲𝗐̲𝗂̲𝗍̲𝗁̲ ̲𝗆̲𝗒̲ ̲𝗍̲𝖺̲𝗀̲𝗅̲𝗂̲𝗇̲𝖾̲ It was what *I* wanted. 𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥. Still, I was very attached to it and refused to change it. Until Linette Heng triggered me. On one of her trips to Penang, we were hanging out for ice-cream when I finally plucked up the courage to ask her. “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗜 𝗱𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝘀? 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿?” She was kind, but she didn’t mince her words. It took only 5 minutes for me to get the message. (She’s just that sharp as a people reader. Hire her as a life coach, folks. Although I can only afford home-cooked meals for now). In a nutshell, she told me to see how other Linkedinfluencers did it. My ego took a bit of a knock. After all, I’m supposed to be a writer. But I really wanted to improve, so I swallowed my pride and spent the evening stalking other Linkedinfluencers. It was eye-opening. The answer came to me in the shower. “𝗥𝗮𝘄 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜.” Did it work? Well, in the last one month, I’ve gained more connections than the last two years combined. And even received some direct compliments about my new tagline. Oh and one other tip from Linette? Change my photo. I did, from one with eyes looking down, to one where I smile directly into the camera. So that I look less fierce and more approachable lah. So, back to my question: should you show up on Linkedin when your profile isn’t perfect? Absolutely. Go ahead and “beautify” your Linkedin profile a little if it’s too raw. But don’t take too long and overthink. Because perfectionism doesn’t deliver results. Progress does.

“MADE BY MALAYSIA”. Why Not Just “Made In Malaysia”? And why is it a HUGE DEAL?  For 50+ years, Malaysia has been a manufacturing powerhouse – electronics, semiconductors, you name it. Thanks to MNCs setting up shop here, thousands of local suppliers have sprung up.  And thrived. The products? All “Made in Malaysia.” But design, development, and marketing? Mostly done elsewhere. By someone else. So what’s “Made BY Malaysia”? It means the whole shebang – design, development, and selling – is homegrown. And yes, that’s a BIG DEAL. Why? Because It’s HARD. It probably takes, at least, a few years to develop a product. So if it does not sell, you have lost a lot of time, money and effort. To reduce that kind of risk, you will need to ensure your product will sell. Let’s take a look at the overall product design cycle. 1️⃣ MARKET RESEARCH – You need to do market research. Survey customers. Buying preferences. Understand user needs. Compile user requirements. Translate them into product requirements. Really, will anyone even want this in 3 years when it comes out? (Better find out now!) 2️⃣ COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS – Is your product still going to be a winner by launch? (Or will rivals beat you to it?)  You need to do competitive analysis. Make sure your projections really show that your product is going to sell when it comes out. 3️⃣ R&D – Do the design and product development. (This is the part that will take 3 years!).  Build the prototype. Test it. Do focus groups. Redesign till it works.  You also need to qualify that it is reliable and do the regulatory hoops. 4️⃣ IC DESIGN – Perhaps your product also needs to have that special chip to incorporate that killer feature – cheaper or smaller or more functions for the same price, whatever. That also needs to be designed, fabricated and tested.  And may take 2+ years.  (Did we take that into account in the original schedule?) 5️⃣ MANUFACTURING – Finally it is ready for production. OK, this part we’re pros at, thanks to decades of supplying to multinational companies! 6️⃣ MARKETING & SALES – How to launch. How to market, how to sell (note the difference). Who to involve: retailers, distributors, etc. Support and service considerations,  and more. This is the real game-changer. Because if you build it… will they come? Only if you market it right. Made BY Malaysia means designing, developing AND manufacturing your own products – not just assembling for others.  Of course, include marketing it yourselves. 🚀 SCARY? Absolutely. 💰 RISKY? You bet. 🔥 WORTH IT? That’s where the big bucks live. Besides, if you don’t start, others like Vietnam, maybe India will soon be able to manufacture cheaper than you. Maybe even build & sell their own products. Then where will you be? Going up the value chain is the only way. That means developing new products. Are you ready to take the plunge?

The person who taught me to optimise AI was not an engineer or writer. 6 months ago, I stared at ChatGPT like a threat. After all, it could: * Write like a mid-level copywriter. * Do it 10x faster. * Never complain. For someone who had left corporate life to pursue writing, the advent of AI wasn’t just disruption. It was an identity crisis. What use am I in this world if my hard-earned skills become obsolete? But the world doesn’t stop for existential threats. So I did the only thing I could: I adapted. I went on Youtube, learned about AI and explored new tools. I had no idea if I’d catch up in time, but I knew doing nothing would be worse. 3 months later, I started using AI in unexpected ways. * When grief couldn’t wait: when I was asked to write a eulogy in under an hour, I panicked at the tight deadline. From my notes, AI helped me refine my final draft, but the family’s gratitude reminded me that the most impactful words come from a human, not a machine. * I can now draft copy for any format in half the time (or less) with AI doing the initial plan and research. But the strategy comes from human intuition. * For workshops and presentations, I generate slides using AI, but the real value comes from empathy – understanding the human pain points. Then there’s my friend Desonny Tuzan of Charlie’s Cafe in Taman Desa. When I first told him about AI, he hesitated. “Isn’t that for writers or engineers?” But he tried anyway. What happened next shocked me. With zero technical background, Sonny used his creativity and empathy to use AI to design marketing collaterals for his cafe. Two weeks later, he was teaching ME AI tricks! (Thanks Sonny!) Here’s what Sonny and I discovered: 💡AI mirrors our humanity. 💡It generates ideas, but can’t know which ones will resonate. 💡The magic happens at the intersection. When curious minds ask “What if we tried …?” instead of “What will we lose?” Your job title doesn’t matter. Writer, engineer, or entrepreneur. Your greatest asset isn’t your skill set – it’s your curiosity. So stay hungry. Keep asking questions. The future belongs to those who never stop learning.