Philippines 112th independence day
June 14, 2010The Philippines marked its 112th Independence Day on Saturday with a string of celebrations including flag-raising ceremonies, parade, performance and fireworks display.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo salutes to the monument of Philippine national hero Jose Rizal during the Philippine Independence Day celebration in Manila, the Philippines, June 12, 2010. (Xinhua Photo)
This year’s commemoration of the Philippine Independence Day is not only exceptional but also historical since the celebration coincides with the transition period of the Philippine government, a government official said.
The celebration started with flag-raising and wreath laying ceremonies at 7 a.m. in six historical sites.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (1st R, front) takes part in the Philippine Independence Day celebration in Manila, the Philippines, June 12, 2010. (Xinhua Photo)
Outgoing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo raised the Philippine Flag and offered wreath to the tomb of National Hero Jose Rizal at the Rizal Park in Manila on Saturday morning.
At an Independence Day Vin D’ Honneur ceremony on Saturday morning, Arroyo cited the achievements of her nine-year administration, saying, “We will leave a legacy of hardwork, a strong and stable economy and renewed global engagement, major investments in health care, education and physical infrastructure. “
“I know much work remains to be done, but I am determined to turn over to a new government a new Philippines, one that is ready for the challenges of bringing the nation to the verge of first world in 20 years,” she said.
Contrary to Arroyo’s claim, President-elect Benigno Aquino III, who will assume the presidency on June 30, earlier said that he would inherit a highly-troubled government that is suffering from huge budget deficit of over 4.46 trillion pesos (95.8 billion U.S. dollars).
A military parade was held by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Coast Guard, exemplifying the strong and continuing loyalty and allegiance of vanguards of freedom to the republic. It was followed by civic parade and performance.
The parade also included 11 floats, highlighting the achievements made during the nine-year term of President Arroyo, and honoring the country’s modern-day heroes. A display of fireworks brought the celebration to its climax.
President Arroyo attended the afternoon celebration at the cost of 10 million pesos (219,780 U.S. dollars). But the president- elect Benigno Aquino failed to appear.
Organizers also lined up historical and cultural activities for this year’s celebration, including free film showings, awarding rites of a historical writing contest and fireworks display.
Source: Xinhua
3 Ways You Can Drive More Sales With Social Networks
Getting your small business on social sites and building a strong social media platform can help you gain more customers and ultimately make more sales. However, what specific actions can you perform on social media to drive more sales to your business? Here are a few ideas:
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Create Short Videos for YouTube
One of the biggest social networking sites is YouTube. Its capacity for storing and sharing millions of short video clips seems endless. While it started out as a way for anyone to post their short videos online, it has evolved into a successful social media marketing medium for small and medium business.
Using the highest video production elements (sound, light, editing), create short videos that you can share with customers and potential customers. There are a wide range of topics you can use for your videos, including:
- Product demonstration
- Customer testimonials
- Manufacturing process
- Tour of facilities
- Management interviews
Keep your finished videos short. An average of 3-5 minutes is sufficient. The best advice is to use a professional video production company to help you create your marketing videos. With your face and product on the internet, you will be better equipped to connect with your customers and guide them toward making a sale.
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Use Twitter to Drive Website Traffic
Your Twitter account is a useful social media marketing tool to get visitors to your website or even a landing page. However, rather than “cry wolf” on Twitter, don’t send your followers to your website every hour of every day. Make it a special reason. Are you having a special sale? Perhaps a closeout special? Did you post a new informative article? Those are the times to drive traffic to your website. Having something new and exciting on your business website gives your followers reason to click your link – and it gives you good motivation to continually update your website as well.
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Gather Valuable Market Research
One way to drive sales is your constant attention to improving your product or delving into new product development. Of course, obtaining valuable market research is of vital importance in this area. Many small to medium businesses use Facebook and other similar networking sites as a social media marketing research tool.
Once you have a substantial following of fans on Facebook, you can pose questions and ask opinions. Facebook users love to comment and share their ideas. Ask about how your product could be improved. Post an update questioning whether your Facebook fans would consider buying a new product. You might even use Facebook followers as a test base, offering a free test product for their opinion. This gives you valuable information about your customer opinions about products and services.
Having a social media strategy for marketing and driving sales is a smart move, both for your branding endeavors and your overall sales. Getting an early start on building a social media profile will give you the social media tools later to drive business to your store or website.
6 Simple Marketing Strategies
1) Offer some free classes/workshops related to your products and/or services - in your home, in a rented venue or through a local education institution such as a Community College. Target specific audiences or events, if appropriate. For instance, someone with a beading business might offer special workshops on Beaded Christmas Projects or Beading for Girls. A yoga instructor might offer a class such as Yoga for Men.
2) Join local business organizations and networking groups. Many, such as home-based business groups, are inexpensive to join. And the marketing benefits are huge. Once they get to know you and what you do, the other business people in your group will mention your business to others and may even give you referrals. Local business organizations are also great opportunities to create and participate in some cooperative marketing strategies, such as holding special Market Days or other events.
3) Create or become front and center in a charitable event. You can get huge amounts of press for events like this – which can translate into new customers. One local artist has painted paper grocery bags which he is selling with all proceeds going to a selected charity, for example. But you don’t even have to go to the trouble of creating your own event; many charities have established events that you can become a very visible part of by becoming a sponsor. See 10 Ways to Get Known for more on charity-based marketing strategies.
4) Create your own blog - and use it to build an audience of people who would be interested in your products and/or services. Creating a blog is easier than creating a website - and savvier too. How do I Go About Creating a Business Blog? tells how to get started. Then write regularly about topics related to your business and what your business is doing. You’ll start connecting with other bloggers, business people and potential customers.
5) Join and use Twitter. If you have time to get to know and use a variety of social media, do. But if you only have time for one, Twitter is my pick of all the social media out there because it’s so quick and easy to use. How to Twitter: a Get Started Guide will have you up and tweeting in no time. As for marketing strategies, be sure you don’t use Twitter exclusively to promote your product but to find and converse with like-minded people who may be interested in what you’re doing. Read How to Use Twitter to Promote Your Business for details.
6) Ask for referrals - If you operate a service-based business, you know that I have saved the best for last here, because asking for referrals is the easiest and least time-consuming of all the marketing strategies in this article. It really makes me wonder why it’s also one of the least used marketing strategies. If you don’t regularly ask your satisfied customers for referrals because you don’t know how or feel awkward doing it, read my Ask for Referrals article; it provides scripts you can use to make it easier to do.
The Marketing Rope
Don’t get me wrong; there’s nothing wrong with advertising. It’s just that in most cases it won’t be not effective marketing unless it’s part of a coordinated marketing plan. Think of marketing as a rope and advertising as one strand of the rope. How strong is a one strand rope going to be?
A mix of marketing strategies, such as advertising in conjunction with the marketing strategies above, will get you the marketing results you want. None of these marketing strategies are going to draw hordes of customers overnight but, assuming you have a good product or service, if you do them and work at them consistently, you will see an increase in customers and sales.
What are marketing
The Marketing Concept
An introduction to the marketing concept, beginning with the production concept, the sales concept, and the changes responsible for the shift to the marketing concept.
The Marketing Process
An overview of the marketing process with brief explanations of situation analysis, marketing strategy, marketing mix decisions, and implementation and control.
Situation Analysis
Analyze the internal and external marketing situation using the 5 C’s of marketing - company, collaborators, customers, competitors, and climate.
Market Definition
A discussion of market definition, including the progressively narrowing scope of potential market, available market, qualified available market, target market, and penetrated market.
Market Segmentation
Introduces the need for market segmentation, requirements of market segments, and some bases for segmenting consumer and industrial markets.
Market Analysis
An outline of some of the dimensions of market analysis including market size, growth rate, profitability, cost structure, distribution channels, trends, and key success factors.
Target Market Selection
Lists criteria for selecting target market segments and presents five target market strategies.
Product Life Cycle
The concept of the product life cycle and how different life cycle stages call for different strategies and marketing mix decisions.
The Marketing Mix
An introduction to the marketing mix framework, including the marketing mix elements of product, price, place, and promotion.
Brand Equity
Defines brand equity from multiple perspectives, then outlines aspects of building, managing, and protecting brand equity.
Pricing Strategy
Discusses the basics of pricing a product or service, including pricing objectives and methods of achieving them.
Philippine Economy 2010
Economy - overview
Philippine GDP grew barely 1% in 2009 but the economy weathered the 2008-09 global recession better than its regional peers due to minimal exposure to securities issued by troubled global financial institutions; lower dependence on exports; relatively resilient domestic consumption, supported by large remittances from four-to five-million overseas Filipino workers; and a growing business process outsourcing industry. Economic growth in the Philippines has averaged 4.5% per year since 2001, when President MACAPAGAL-ARROYO took office. Despite this growth, poverty worsened during the term of MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, because of a high population growth rate and inequitable distribution of income. MACAPAGAL-ARROYO averted a fiscal crisis by pushing for new revenue measures and, until recently, tightening expenditures to address the government’s yawning budget deficit and to reduce high debt and debt service ratios. But the government abandoned its 2008 balanced-budget goal in order to help the economy weather the global financial and economic storm. The economy faces several long term challenges. The Philippines must maintain the reform momentum in order to catch up with regional competitors, boost trade, alleviate poverty, and improve employment opportunities and infrastructure. Inadequate tax revenues could limit the government’s ability to address these issues.
GDP (purchasing power parity)
$324.9 billion (2009 est.)
$322 billion (2008 est.)
$310.2 billion (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars
GDP (official exchange rate)
$160.6 billion (2009 est.)
GDP - real growth rate
0.9% (2009 est.)
3.8% (2008 est.)
7.1% (2007 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP)
$3,300 (2009 est.)
$3,400 (2008 est.)
$3,300 (2007 est.)
note: data are in 2009 US dollars
GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 14.9%
industry: 29.9%
services: 55.2% (2009 est.)
Population below poverty line
32.9% (2006 est.)
Labor force
37.89 million (2009 est.)
Labor force - by occupation
agriculture: 34%
industry: 15%
services: 51% (2009 est.)
Unemployment rate
7.5% (2009 est.)
7.4% (2008 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 2.4%
highest 10%: 31.2% (2006)
Distribution of family income - Gini index
45.8 (2006)
46.6 (2003)
Investment (gross fixed)
14.3% of GDP (2009 est.)
Budget
revenues: $23.29 billion
expenditures: $29.23 billion (2009 est.)
Public debt
58.7% of GDP (2009 est.)
56.9% of GDP (2008 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices)
3.2% (2009 est.)
9.3% (2008 est.)
Central bank discount rate
3.5% (31 December 2009)
6% (31 December 2008)
Commercial bank prime lending rate
6.89% (31 December 2009)
8.75% (31 December 2008)
Stock of money
$24.32 billion (30 November 2009)
$22.53 billion (31 December 2008)
Stock of quasi money
$55.71 billion (30 November 2009)
$65.85 billion (31 December 2007)
Stock of domestic credit
$81.96 billion (30 November 2009)
$77.68 billion (31 December 2008)
Industries
electronics assembly, garments, footwear, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, wood products, food processing, petroleum refining, fishing
Industrial production growth rate
-2% (2009 est.)
Electricity - production
56.57 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 55.6%
hydro: 17.5%
nuclear: 0%
other: 26.9% (2001)
Electricity - consumption
48.96 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - exports
0 kWh (2008 est.)
Electricity - imports
0 kWh (2008 est.)
Oil - production
25,120 bbl/day (2008)
Oil - consumption
313,000 bbl/day (2008 est.)
Oil - imports
342,200 bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - exports
36,720 bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - proved reserves
138.5 million bbl (1 January 2009 est.)
Natural gas - production
2.94 billion cu m (2008 est.)
Natural gas - consumption
2.94 billion cu m (2008 est.)
Natural gas - exports
0 cu m (2008 est.)
Natural gas - imports
0 cu m (2008 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves
98.54 billion cu m (1 January 2009 est.)
Current Account Balance
$8.16 billion (2009 est.)
$3.897 billion (2008)
Agriculture - products
sugarcane, coconuts, rice, corn, bananas, cassavas, pineapples, mangoes; pork, eggs, beef; fish
Exports
$37.2 billion (2009 est.)
$48.2 billion (2008 est.)
Exports - commodities
semiconductors and electronic products, transport equipment, garments, copper products, petroleum products, coconut oil, fruits
Exports - partners
US 17.6%, Japan 16.2%, Netherlands 9.8%, Hong Kong 8.6%, China 7.7%, Germany 6.5%, Singapore 6.2%, South Korea 4.8% (2009 est.)
Imports
$45.8 billion (2009 est.)
$61.14 billion (2008)
Imports - commodities
electronic products, mineral fuels, machinery and transport equipment, iron and steel, textile fabrics, grains, chemicals, plastic
Imports - partners
Japan 12.5%, US 12%, China 8.8%, Singapore 8.7%, South Korea 7.9%, Taiwan 7.1%, Thailand 5.7% (2009 est.)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold
$44.2 billion (31 December 2009 est.)
$37.55 billion (31 December 2008)
Debt - external
$53.14 billion (30 September 2009 est.)
$66.27 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home
$22.9 billion (31 October 2009 est.)
$216.1 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad
$5.99 billion (31 September 2009 est.)
$5.74 billion (31 December 2008 est.)
Market value of publicly traded shares
$130.5 billion (31 December 2009)
$85.63 billion (31 December 2008)
$172.5 billion (31 December 2007)
Currency (code)
Philippine peso (PHP)
Exchange rates
Philippine pesos (PHP) per US dollar - 47.8 (2009), 44.439 (2008), 46.148 (2007), 51.246 (2006), 55.086 (2005)
Fiscal year
calendar year
