What Simply Works!

Another promotional gimmick gaining popularity these days is mobile marketing.  Notice how some shops or food stores launch contests where customers are required to leave their business cards to win prizes?  And you’d think that they’ll discard your information as soon as their done with the contest?  No siree.  It is a form of database marketing where the company makes use of the patron’s details for further marketing or promotional plans.  Some companies though are more sincere letting their customers make a conscious decision to join their database.

Mobile advertising lets the company send ongoing promotion to customers.  For example, a burger chain sends out their weekly promotion advise to those who “opted-in” to join.  This is a win-win situation in some cases, especially if the patron is too busy to think of what he/she’ll have for lunch.

For me, so long as the customer doesn’t get charged for receiving these advertising text messages and can opt-in or out any time, it is a good way to market products.

The broken luggage I blogged about months ago, is still pretty useful now that it holds our old clothes that I plan to ship to the Philippines. But I will dispose of the luggage as soon as I send out the stuff and buy a new Samsonite luggage to replace it. It is a good time to take advantage of the ongoing discount sales at the malls, with 50% off on the branded travel bags and luggage.

I was browsing through old photos in my online album today and it dawned on me how old I look now compared to well, 3-4 years ago!  I never really had a regimen like putting on creams or moisturizers or what have you (I’m not really a girly-girl).  And up to now, I still feel lazy thinking of ways to at least delay my skin’s aging but seriously, I need to do something about it!  I noticed that the dark circles surrounding my eyes are getting worse and not to mention my eye bags.  What are the best eye creams in the market, anyway? Of course, there’s the ever changing weather that my skin still needs to get accustomed to.  I never liked putting on make-up either.  But who knows, once my kids have grown-up and become more independent, I guess I can find time for myself.  Holla! When will that time come? Ha ha.

Hi-5 Australia’s management wouldn’t want to waste time.. they’ve launched the latest Hi-5 gang!

And they are:

All the best to you, guys!

[photos from: http://www.hi-5.com.au/swf/home.html]

My husband and I are planning for a special day-out with our daughter.  We haven’t firmed up a date yet and the venue is still up for discussion but we’re pretty excited about it.  We thought that it’s a good idea for our 2 yr-old especially so that we’ll all be busy adjusting to the new routine and all when the new baby comes in September.  Also, we might not be able to host a birthday party for her in November.  But we’ll try our best.  I’m searching the net for tips and ideas and after that, we’ll pin a date down so that the husband can file a leave. There are tons of family outdoor activities out there for our choosing, but outdoor camps our out of the list.  I haven’t read of a pregnant camper in one of the mountain forums I saw. Hee.

I wrote in my other blog about how happy I am when I read about people or friends become passionate about a hobby.  Whether cooking, crafts, blogging or photography, I just can’t help but be happy for them and get inspiration from them in return.  Passion is an important thing in life that I would like to inculcate to my children.  Not to force them to do something they like the least but to encourage them to do and pursue what they are passionate about.  As parents, it is our duty (and a privilege actually) to serve as an instrument to help our children be the best that they can be.  With that, I’m so excited to see and help discover what my daughter’s passion is.  It’s way too early, I know, but every inch of interest my little girl shows, like in singing for example, makes me excited for her.  I’m just crossing my toes that whatever that passion is, it’s not something that is risky or dangerous for her.  Like riding skateboard decks, perhaps?

With the weather still pretty much”summer-like” in this Autumn month of March, people still hie off to the beaches to escape the heat.  There’s no stopping these beach lovers from enjoying the waters despite the high-alert on shark appearances on the big and popular beaches here in Sydney.  Just today, a roaming chopper on Bondi beach sent an alarm to the lifesavers when they saw two sharks getting near the beach shoreline.  The lifesavers did a good job clearing the beach but thirty minutes after the sharks were chased away, the beach’s patrons went running back to the waters.  What an adventure for them, huh?   If anything, having people stay out of their homes especially during the weekends means business for many retailers.  I’m sure restaurants, bars and specialty stores owners (like those selling women’s swimwear) are just happy that peeople go out and spend.  But, it will only be a few weeks and temperatures will soon drop and before we all know it, winter is here.

It’s no longer ‘breaking’ news to the fans of Dora the Explorer but to those who have yet to read or hear about it, yes, our cute little explorer has grown up!  Mattel will soon put on the shelves, the Tween Dora.  I agree, the new version is pretty, with long locks and with the same bright, round eyes.  But it’s not longer as ‘cute’ as the Dora our kids have come to love.  What happened to Dora’s explorer get-up?  The shoes, the backpack, the map?  Will she still sing the “I’m the map” jingle?  What’s with the ballet shoes?  Will she still be an explorer or just another ‘Barbie’ doll?

My daughter just recently started to enjoy all things Dora.  The jingle, the merchandise — clothes and toys, videos.  How will I explain to my 2 yr old that Dora has grown up that fast?

[I snagged the photo from a newsfeed a few days ago and forgot to take note of the source.  I searched again for it but could no longer trace it.  Apologies.]

In keeping with the times, we try as much to avoid unnecessary expenses in our household.  Although I must admit that at one point we were so tempted to give in to little temptations like cable TV.  I haven’t done any research about it, but according to some friends here in Sydney, subscribing to cable TV is much more expensive than in Singapore.  And, if you decide to subscribe to GMA or TFC (Philippine channels), you need to have a satellite dish setup and get a separate Satellite TV Package.

I also heard of some smaller companies here offering Direct TV Packages, where more channels are supposedly offered.  Whether Direct TV is cheaper than Cable TV, I don’t know.  But not having cable or Direct TV is also a good because if there’s nothing worth-watching on the tube, we spend our time doing other relaxing stuff as a family.  There’s reading, playing with our daughter and if weather permits, we go out and enjoy what Australia can offer.  Not a bad deal, really.

If only I have the interest to pursue it, a good work from home opportunity is in stock trading since work is primarily done online. One just needs to join an online brokerage firm, know the basics, get some training and voila, you can be an online broker. Like what my friend did, she started with her own money and a small amount at that. She made sure that she gets the feel of the whole workflow first before she sunk her teeth into it. After a few weeks, she found the results to be encouraging, she started investing more. Now, she’s a lot more confident and is ready to be a real broker.  However, as she has shared, time and patience are key elements to be successful in that business.  She reads a lot of business news and since she lives in Asia, she’s up at night to work on US time.  No matter how enticing her story is, unfortunately for me, I don’t have an inkling to make online trading a career. But it’s true that sometimes, it pays to be a bit more daring.

A friend of mine who recently started self-hosting said that web hosting rates have become really cheap these days.  The cheapest unlimited hosting she saw is from IX Web Hosting.  Not really a popular name as yet but their monthly fee is a measly 3.95USD.  I haven’t read the reviews though and I don’t know of anyone who uses their service but the monthly fee makes the company worth a look-see.  For more web hosting reviews, Web Hosting Ratings is a good starting point.  Not only do they provide fees listing but tons of other helpful information as well – like dedicated or managed hosting or the best blog hosting.

I’m sure many site owners or bloggers have been toying with the idea of self-hosting but are too afraid of the technicalities involved and the effort in setting things up.  But there’s hope,  there’s Google!    After selecting the web host, you can get tons of instructions and guidelines off the net with so many helpful techie/geeks out there sharing what they know.  Believe me, I survived self-hosting for nearly five years with the help of blogger friends and all the hosting-related write-ups from the Net.  So if I can do it, so can you!  Don’t wait any longer, check out http://webhostingrating.com/ to get the ball rolling!

Finally, I was able to transfer most of my photos from my Dell laptop to my Mac.  It’s hard when I had to use a 4GB memory card to move all those files.  There’s something about my external hard disk that has been configured for Windows that makes it incompatible with Mac.  Anyway,  after some time that I haven’t been using my Dell and then eventually logging in yesterday to clear some directories, I realize how super slow the machine is now.  It may help to give it a computer memory upgrade but I’m pretty sure, in time, I have to give it a rest.  It has served me well for five long years.

I was just chatting with my sister over at yahoo messenger when the thought of putting up a business in Manila came up.  This topic has been discussed on and off for years and who knows when it will materialize.  The main driver for us is to achieve freedom, from corporate slavery that is.  Not everyone wants to be employed forever.  Then we brainstormed ideas like food franchise, internet businesses or a small coffee shop.

What makes this difficult for us is the current economic situation.  There are a lot of businesses that folded up and many would prefer to hold on to their monies until the economy rebounds.  The decision to go ahead with setting up a business requires a lot of thinking and praying.  But I’m hoping that this time around, something solid comes out of our discussions.

Egad! I think I’m going to give in and get a Flickr pro account! Sigh. I want a ’sacred’ place for my personal (not necessarily family/friends/group photos) and favorite photographs and i.just.might.sign.up soon. Having that pro account might inspire me to capture more photos. I miss going out with my dslr!

I admit I was once intimidated with Flickr because there are tons of really cool photos published there and mine are just like.. oh well. But now I’m a bit more daring and I’d probably join Flickr groups as well! Nu-ni-nu-ninu.

It says in the news that the best time to make major purchases like cars, property or appliances is now. The interest for mortgages is dropping gradually, car companies offer huge discounts and freebies just to get rid of their inventory and appliances like flatscreen TVs are consistently on sale in most stores.

In order to maximize sales during this economic crisis, companies may consider email marketing solutions as an effective means to advertise products and services. There are businesess specializing in this service, like iContact.

Aside from bulk email marketing they can also provide survey tools that can further enhance advertising strategies or gimmicks. What’s appealing is that this marketing company has 15,000 customers, which includes some Fortune 500 companies.

I can say that this really is an effective way to boost sales.  I was drawn to buy my mac because of the promotional emails I received from Apple.  Hee.

In the past months, I noticed the TV campaigns about er3ctile dysfunction or s3xual dissatisfaction shown on a local channel during the Ellen Degeneres show timeslot aired at lunch time. It is very disappointing, really. I mean, there’s an appropriate time to air them and it’s definitely not during lunch hour! This is just one of the things I wish Australia is not too liberal about. I won’t be surprised if one day, that local channel will show women in sexy vinyl lingerie selling contrac3ptions on daytime TV. Geesh!

It has gotten a bit chilly this week.  Thank God summer is finally over!  But one thing that I don’t exactly like about my favorite Autumn season and the forthcoming winter is going about a very basic beauty regimen.  That is rubbing heaps of moisturizer a few times a day!  Yea, I’m lazy like that.  And no matter how I try to ignore this simple routine, my skin finds its way to get my attention!  It gets extremely dry.  Ha!  In no time, I’ll be running to the nearest beauty shop to buy a range of  antiaging therapy creams.

Well, who am I kidding?  At my age, I should very well be paying attention to my health and overall well -being.  I’m not too concerned right now but ten years down the road, I just might regret letting my skin get dark, deep wrinkles and overly dry and flaky.  Yikes!  And by then, I might as well be thinking about hormone replacement therapy, too!  Ah, what’s a girl got to do?

The weather’s getting pretty weird here lately. After a week long heatwave (topping 43degC in some Sydney areas) last month, heavy rains came pouring in thereafter. Like today, at the start of Autumn season, a threat of showers is expected today and in the coming days. That’s why we can’t take chances. Each household should have a ready emergency kit for first aid items, emergency lights and important documents.

I’ve got a new app installed in my Makoy today — Adobe Photoshop Elements for Mac! He he.  I just bought the download copy because it’s about 30aud cheaper than getting the actual package/CD copy.  I downloaded the trial copy a month ago and I enjoyed doing my digital scrapbooking stuff there.  I don’t need the CS series for it since I rarely (if not never) edit layers on my photos.

So, I’m happy to have this today and I have a few photos in mind to do layouts for.  Happy!

These days, with a lot of companies going through mass layoffs or redundancies, many employees are at a loss on the next step they need to take after they receive the “pink slip”.  At that stage, the company’s Human Resource people are neck-deep busy assisting the employees in the “transition” period.  They lay down their plans for lumpsum payments or structured settlements of salaries and benefits, possible extension of health benefits or offer of alternative jobs or careers.

I can only hope that the recent mass lay-off that happened in Australia (i.e. with Pacific Brands) is the last of its kind.  That soon, the economic gloom will make a turnaround and things will be the way it should be again.