This is to share about a non-profit project I started. I wanted to share my experience building a product, community & team with as little cost as possible.

You can see the blogs on the journey here (updated regularly)

Background on this project/idea

I’ve been wanting to learn & practice about B2C marketing and at the same time build a product/service. Since I like reading books and I noticed that the only way for someone to get books about Islam or Malay studies is by buying them from bookstores. Making it quite inaccessible to everyone because in order to learn about those topic you need $$. Whereas English & Secular books are widely available in the public library in Singapore.  So I saw the gap.

I wanted to read more of such books without having to always spend so I’m solving my own problem – proves that it is an actual problem. I had to check if it actual is a problem that everyone else is facing (apart from me). Hence, I went around talking to friends about this and all of them agreed it was a problem that they hd too. So there is a product-market fit.

First step – define the product

I wanted to set up a library for Islamic & Malay books and I wanted to do it for free – zero to low cost and free of charge.

The biggest cost that identified are 2 things

1. The actual books – it’s going to cost a lot of money to own a “library-worth” of books.
2. Space to store books – cost of buying books is one and the other is storing them

Solving the 2 cost heavy problems

My solution to solve those 2 is by making use of what already existed – books from the community. I had a small collection, my friends had a small collection, and other people would have too. I just needed to compile it together because the of the Malay saying that goes “sikit sikit jadi bukit” bit by bit it becomes a hill. The cost of buying books is solved because someone has it and they want to loan it, and at the same time it solves the cost of storage space because they store it in their own home.

The 3 problems that I’m focused on solving

That leaves me to focus on these few problems that are less costly that can be carried out by the community.

1. Logistics of delivering the books
2. Policies to protect books & the users
3. Marketing to spread awareness & gain users because more users = more books

Instead of sitting in a room and brooding about these problem, I decided to do the bare minimum to solve them and throw it out there to see if it works and at the same time see if other problems appear. I decided to build/solve it publicly.

The Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Setup

• Instagram page
  • The landing page & communication channel for users
• Google sheet
  • Database for books
• Google forms
  • To upload books from the community
• Google Calendar
  • To keep track of book loans & remind users of due date
• PayLah!
  • For the $5 deposit collection

Solving the logistics problem

I solved it by offering 3 options

1. In person pick up – meet in a public space to pass the books. Its free, just time consuming
2. Mail delivery – get the books delivered to your mail box. Small fee & takes 2-4 days to arrive.
3. Courier delivery – pay to have books delivered on the same day. Pricey but fast

I had this in place but a few concerns came up later on about address privacy – some didn’t want to share their addresses with the borrower or lender and only wanted the admin team to have access to it. This affected what type of delivery can be offered.

We found a last mile delivery provider that offered that and had it at an affordable price – Grab Express. The borrower & the lender share their addresses to the admin and the admin arranges the Grab Express pick up & delivery. Address stays private

Solving issues on protecting books problem

There wasn’t any at the start. We just launched the MVP without one. While it was running we spoke to users to find out their concerns. From there we know what needs to be adressed and started shaping up the community guidelines & policies to solve them.

Solving Marketing problems

I didn’t have a marketing budget because this is a MVP and I wanted to keep costs as close as 0 as possible.

The beta testing of the product, I gained users through my network. I created a post and shared it with people I knew that had friends/audiences interested in this. Asking them to share it on their socials and to their friends. I reached out to 5-6 of them, where each of them had around 300-700 following on their Instagram account. This helped our page to grow to 200 followers and get our first few users to borrow books.

Our core method of promotion is through word of mouth, organic social media marketing & PR. Users are encourage to promote because if they have more people on the platform, more books are available for them to choose from & more people borrow their books. Their receive direct benefits from helping us promote.
Future plans are to organise community events and partnership promotions to transfer audiences.

Building publicly

This is to have the community involved and to have them be co-creaters as Maktaba Books is a platform for them and by them. Having them involved gives a sense of ownership and make them love it more because they built it. How I built it publicly

• Do the minimum at the start
• New features based on feedback from community
• Tell them what’s our plans
• Make feedback & suggestion be available and welcomed
• Put public suggestions in place – co-creation

Next Step: Building a team

I realised that I had to have someone take over some of my tasks so that I can focus on building the platform and grow the user base. This is the next step that I’ll be taking.

If you’re curious on how it’s going, se the blog posts on the journey here (updated regularly)

The post Maktaba Books – Setting up a peer-to-peer library appeared first on Azrin Hamdan.

Apart from knowing the difference between SEO, SEM and PPC, I have always wanted to try executing them. Since I have some free time on my hand, I decide to take up a personal project to immerse myself. Since I don’t want to spend a lot of money and neither do most companies, I decided to learn the most cost-effective method among the three – SEO.

Objectives

As a self-proclaimed full-stack marketer, I want to not only know why a form of marketing is the best option, I want to know how to do it well too. This project is my attempt to self-learn and practice the art of SEO.

My goals for this project is to get the website to appear on the first page of the Google Search Result Page for 2 keywords (not the brand name) and have a constant flow of 50 visitors/day on average.

SEO resources and tools

I’ll be referencing content from MOZ, Neil Patel and SEM Rush to guide me through the process of doing SEO. In addition to the resources, I will also be using the following free tools to help me execute them (it will be updated as I go along).

• WordPress (to set up a website)
• Elementor (to build website pages)
• Asset CleanUp (WordPress plugin for website speed optimisation)
• W3 Total Cache (WordPress plugin for website speed optimisation)
• GT Metrix (to analyse website speed)
• Yoast SEO (WordPress plugin to help)
• Google Keyword Planner (keyword research)
• Google Search Console (monitor SEO performance)

Website setup for the SEO project

I’ll be using WordPress since I’m already familiar with it and also because there are a lot of resources to help solve any problems along the way. To save time on designing the website, I used Elementor, a page builder and one of its templates.

See the final website here: http://azrinhamdan.com/

Website speed, an SEO essential

According to Neil Patel, most users would wait up to a maximum of 6-10 seconds for a website to load before abandoning it. My first SEO step would be to optimise the speed of the website. Before I optimise it, I analysed the current speed to identify the current state and problems it has. I used GTmetrix as it was the most recommended tool with its detailed analysis that allowed me to pinpoint the problem.

Since my website is light and the performance is good, I’ll skip the process of optimising the technical aspects of the website.

However, if your website requires some work, I found this video by Oxygen really comprehensive and easy to follow as it takes you step by step. So if you need to fix the performance of you website, just follow the video.

Keyword research

Revived this blogpost from here on 16 June 2021

Since I got my website’s Technical SEO performance optimised, I’ll shall move on to the next step – keyword research. I’ll be using Moz’s keyword research guide as my resource.

1. Seed keywords

Following the Moz guide, the first step was to find & list seed keywords around my product or service. Since my purpose of my website is to share content around digital marketing tips, my seed keywords will be based on that. I decided on 10 seed keywords to start it off (see it on Google Sheets here).

2. Keywords list

After deciding on my 10 seed keywords, I had to expand it to find keywords related to these seed keywords. Since I wanted to only use free tools, I used Google Ads’s Keyword Planner tool to find the keywords. For this step I had to put in each seed keyword into the keyword planner to discover new related keywords. I then saved keywords that had good traffic and acceptable amount of competition. These keywords are saved in the Google Sheet mentioned earlier. To keep it organised, I separated the keywords into tabs – with a tab for all the seed keywords and individual tabs for keywords related to each seed keyword.

After doing that first round of keyword expansion based of the seed keywords & keyword planner tool, the next step is to expand it further by looking at the competitors for those keywords and see what other keywords are they targetting.

[To be continued]

The post Live Blog – Project SEO specialist in 6 months appeared first on Azrin Hamdan.

This was a paid project to create a landing page for Matchinus, a startup to generate leads for their minimum viable product (MVP). The website was built using the WordPress CMS and Elementor website builder.

The website had the following features:

• FAQ page
• 4 forms for leads to submit based on their location
• Google analytics implemented using Google Tag Manager

The post Website Building – Matchinus appeared first on Azrin Hamdan.

This was a paid project where I built a static website for Setia, a retail brand in Malaysia. They wanted a website that listed the type of products they sold and the location of their outlets.

Special features for this website

1. For the list of store location they wanted a “get directions” button that when clicked on, would show the directions to get to that outlet on Google Maps.
2. Users could toggle the language between English & Bahasa Melayu
3. Easy interface that they could easily make changes on their own with the help of some documentation

The post Website Building – Setia, Malaysia appeared first on Azrin Hamdan.

As an intern in a fast-paced public relations agency, one has to monitor the news, respond to emails, write press releases and much more. Multiply that by five or the number of accounts that you are on. There’s not much breathing room to Google anything that’s not clear. When communicating an “ask” to someone, make it as easy as deciding to press a button.

Create a desire to press the “button” by ensuring that all the required information is laid out. It also has to be simple to understand without the need of much technical knowledge and prior interaction. Lastly, it is equally important to make that “button” as visible and easily accessible as possible. Indicate clearly what is needed to be done and how.

When you make it easy for others, you’re making it easy for yourself.

Contributed by Azrin Bin Hamdan on PRecious Communications’ website

The post The Best Advice from a Mentor for a Career in Communications appeared first on Azrin Hamdan.

See the full plan with samples here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jseWlHXlw10H2wdb5mXkBg1rfURvdcYU/view?usp=sharing

The post Beachbody Gear Social Media Plan appeared first on Azrin Hamdan.

Work and home used to be two separate places, but now working from home has had me combine them into a single space.

At the start, working from home felt like the first week of my internship. It took me more than a full hour to complete my regular media monitoring. Emails took longer to craft, and I made a lot of mistakes. I was less productive and effective. I didn’t understand why – I had the laptop in front of me, my headphones on, and my setup was just like how it usually is in the office. But my focus was still not the same.

I realised I had everything set up the same way except for one thing – a desk. I had been working seated on the floor with the laptop on my lap. Not a great setup if the goal is to be productive. Since I did not have a proper workspace, I purchased a desk to create a “mini-office”. Now, with a dedicated workspace, my level of focus and productivity is almost as high as in the office. For others, it may be all in the mind, but for me, it’s all on the desk.

Contributed by Azrin Bin Hamdan on PRecious Communications’ website

The post Work From Home Challenges and Key Learning appeared first on Azrin Hamdan.

The strength and technique must correspond with the condition of the receiver. The wind, the size of the ball and the equipment are crucial too. From an outsider’s perspective, it seems simple, but to the professional footballer, it is complicated.

In the case of communication, the words, the medium, the tone, and the gestures used are all decisive. They are carefully selected, arranged and fused into a message while having the receiver in mind. We need to consider what is the best approach – an email, a text, a phone call or a face to face discussion – to achieve an objective for a single task. Now, when I see three sentences, I see thirty minutes of hard work.

Contributed by Azrin Bin Hamdan on PRecious Communications’ website

The post What I’ve Learnt About Communicating Effectively from My First Job appeared first on Azrin Hamdan.

Part 1

The first part of the assignment, we had to define our brand based on the 4Ps and compare it with our perceived competitors. The competitors that were identified were analysed using the CBBE model.

View the full report of the brand ideation here

Part 2

The second part of the assignment, we had to establish key brand aspects such as:

• Brand positioning
• Brand mission
• Brand values
• Brand personality
• Brand elements

Apart from that, an integrated marketing communication strategy had to be created to reach our defined target audience. All of this was elaborated in our video submission below;

Audio Visual Report

The post Primal Coffee Club appeared first on Azrin Hamdan.

Some digital graphic designs that I made during my free time.

The post Uncommissioned Graphic Designs appeared first on Azrin Hamdan.