Had BK for dinner. Allow me to will use my dinner to explain a fundamental technique in digital marketing!!!

I was given this card at the teller:

On the surface

A normal lucky draw. Top prize: a Chevrolet!

Digging Beneath the Surface

Interested to join the draw? To take part in it, it asked for my:

• SMS: collecting my handphone number.
• NRIC & FULL NAME: collecting my personal information.
• EMAIL: Now they can find me by email as well!

Digging Deep

If it was just a lucky draw exercise, all they needed was my SMS and NRIC number. Therefore it is clear that my email and name are collected for email marketing (a term known as Electronic Direct Mailing EDM)

Digging Deeper

Tip One! So here lies the first, most crucial and CONTINUAL step of digital marketing: Database Collection!

Tip Two! After you have collected this database. You can have additional marketing initiatives like SMS campaigns or EDMs!

Tip Three! One common mistake is to treat campaigns as independent of each other. Information from previous campaigns should always (as far as possible) be used to streamline your future marketing efforts.

An Extra Golden Nugget

Notice this. You SMS your details to a 9 digit number. You are not charged for the SMS. Other companies use a 5 digit short code and charge you for your SMS (think Singapore Idol). This means one of the following:

• BK believes “no charge” = “more SMS” = “larger database”
• The number of SMSes received by BK is low. Setting up of short code can be a costly hassle (requires coordination with individual telcos). Hence if BK uses the shortcode, the revenue collected for the charges might not be worth the set up cost. Hence, 9 digits.