For over 30 years, I have worked in marketing and strategic planning, gaining valuable hands-on experience and management skills by working with various government agencies, advertising agencies, media institutes, big corporations, and small businesses.
In 2013, I established my consulting firm, providing me with the opportunity to tackle challenging and rewarding projects. However, the COVID-19 pandemic altered my perspective on life, prompting me to retire from my business and pursue an academic career.
NYZ is a marketing solution provider that connects businesses with Chinese in the United States – whether visiting or local. We partner with brands, media, and agencies to develop platforms, services, and content to engage the audience.
NYZ partnered with World Journal, one of the largest Chinese newspapers in the United States, to create a monthly real estate guide aimed at helping realtors showcase their properties. The magazine had a circulation of 90,000 copies distributed across the Greater New York Metro area (NY/NJ/CT/PA). It was widely recognized as the US’s most prominent Chinese realty publication.
Apart from the print publication, we also developed a unique website, offering Chinese residents in the United States and across the globe insightful information about the real estate market in the Greater New York Metropolitan area. World Journal fully acquired the platform after two years.
NYZ has provided consultancy services to numerous businesses, including the NYS Division of Tourism, popularly known as “I Love NY,” to attract both international and local Chinese visitors. We organized FAM tours to familiarize tour operators, media, and influencers with various secondary destinations, offering them a unique experience. I then collaborate with these operators to create new group tour itineraries and massive cultural festivals that benefit our clients.
I also worked with Broadway Inbound and other receptive tour operators to set up an online Chinese platform that promoted and sold tickets for Broadway and off-Broadway shows to Chinese audiences across the globe.
With over 30 years of experience in multicultural marketing, I have built a vast network and established strong relationships with Chinese media, influencers, community leaders, local businesses, and government officials. As a result, I have exclusive access to resources and opportunities that make us highly skilled in managing public relations and executing 360-degree strategic plans, with a focus on digital and grassroots tactics.
To introduce Moutai, a Chinese liquor with 53% alcohol, to the American market, we strategically sponsored upscale events such as film premieres, charity banquets, professional galas, and art receptions. Although Moutai is not popular in America, it is well-known to most people with connections with Chinese businesses.
To promote Korean food products in the Chinese market, we collaborated with Chinese influencers and media to gain almost free exposure. We organized cooking contests, tasting events, and in-store demos, which helped them to achieve their 4-year sales target within just 2 years.
While working at AXA Equitable, I was approached by several advertising agencies for advice and training on international and diversity marketing. Initially, I provided these services on a part-time basis while working full-time. However, as the demand for my services grew, I quit my job and became a full-time independent marketing consultant. As my business continued to expand, I eventually had to establish my own company to accommodate the growth.
In the past, big advertising firms would team up with various ethnic ad agencies to pitch and provide multicultural marketing services. However, with the changing times, the industry structures have evolved. Nowadays, agencies prefer to carry out diversity marketing in-house. In order to target niche markets like Asian, Hispanic, LGBTQ, and youth, they may bring on board consultants like me to recommend specific strategies. It’s common for consultants to have to introduce themselves as agency employees.
As an expert in the Asian American market, I was quite popular. Sometimes, several agencies approached me for the same pitch. I had to choose only one for each industry to avoid conflicts of interest. When my team won a pitch, the agency would usually invite me to join them as a consultant. However, I always chose to train and coach their staff instead. This way, I could continue to offer consultation to my other clients.
Except for Hispanics, most ethnic TV stations broadcast only movies and series from native countries, while local content is limited to news reporting. To offer clients multiple ways to promote their brand or products to the local Asian community, I produced a TV documentary series on Asian artists and hosted a lifestyle show. The documentary series was broadcast nationwide on five TV channels, while the lifestyle show was launched in three.
I did not just put clients’ TV commercials on the programs; I created for them more interactive activities of the same theme, such as contests, sweepstakes, treasure hunts, workshops, tasting events, upscale galas, exclusive live performances, and others.
At the Fortune Global 500 corporation, I restructured the seminar marketing program and established a resource center specifically designed for financial advisers. This initiative led to a 350% increase in seminar material downloads within just one year, making it the top-performing lead generator for the retail group.
In my role as the owner of the CRM system, I personally conducted hands-on training and provided support to all the users. I customized the materials and methods according to the varying needs of agents with different levels of experience, seniority levels of branch management, and customer service teams dealing with different products.
To better manage the resources, I streamlined all marketing materials that were previously owned by various internal and external groups and centralized them into a dedicated digital library. This increased overall efficiency and avoided redundancy of effort.
When General Motors decided to extend its digital marketing to the Asian American market, their agency recruited me to lead the effort. Working with multiple advertising agencies, I developed multidimensional communication strategies to target specific Asian groups. I adopted a TTL (Through The Line) approach and oversaw all media planning, buying, and implementation processes, including traditional, digital and emerging media. Apart from General Motors, I also serve other clients, including Nationwide Insurance, Anheuser-Busch, California Department of Public Health, and the U.S. Postal Service.
I like challenging the status quo and working with new technology. A data-driven approach is always my preference. While working for a direct marketing firm, I doubled the list income within three months by re-segmenting the lists to maximize efficient delivery. My production team was located in Southeast Asia and India, and we were able to work seamlessly using MSN Messenger and ICQ.
During that time, the CAN-SPAM Act was passed. I took the initiative to train the staff to ensure regulatory compliance, minimize spam-like creatives, and manage the opt-in and opt-out processes. Despite the general belief that the act would kill the email marketing business, our open rate increased.
I was invited by the new CEO to lead the NY team of Sing Tao Daily to go public (now part of Sing Tao News Corporation Limited, traded in SEHK). I reorganized the company, redefined team roles and workflow, restructured the advertising policy, pricing, and inventory, revamped distribution channels, and relaunched the subscription program.
After the successful reorganization and listing, I continued with the publisher and headed the advertising sales and marketing teams, which comprised over 20 staff members. Despite the overall revenue decline in the industry, the newspaper had a 50% increase in circulation and advertising sales within two years. This was the result of creating additional advertising inventory by changing the layout and developing special supplements. The increase in readership can be attributed to the successful implementation of events and promotional programs.
Business executives and computer programmers speak different languages. As a liaison between the two, I was able to bridge their communication gap. I worked with clients to develop branding strategies, provided creative direction, designed site architectures, and defined web content. Internally, I led programmers in developing corporate and e-commerce websites. I constantly monitored web traffic and market trends to ensure optimal site performance.
At that time, there were no tools like Google Analytics, Constant Contacts, SurveyMonkey, or WordPress. To help our clients, our team customized similar tools for web traffic analysis, lead generation, email marketing, and online surveys.
To catch the wave of the technology boom in the late 90s, I joined a developer working on a client- server-based airspace inventory control system. As the only person in the marketing department, I managed a broad range of tasks single-handedly, including trade shows, seminars, panel discussions, advertising, PR, newsletters, direct mail, promotions, and sales collaterals. I oversaw the entire process, from development to implementation to monitoring results, and analyzed ROI.
In addition, I was also responsible for developing the corporate website and online communication systems for product inquiries, demo requests, tech support, partnership applications, and lead generation. This involved setting up and administering databases for lead management and opt-in newsletter mailing, ensuring that all data was accurate and up-to-date.
During my college years, I moved to New York to study and worked full-time at an advertising agency. My work and school assignments complemented each other perfectly, allowing me to apply what I learned in class to my job and vice versa. I would share my newfound knowledge with my managers and ask professors for advice on real-life work problems, making it an exceptional learning experience.
At that time, I was responsible for managing strategic and tactical development, project management, timelines, and budgets for clients such as Chase Bank, NYNEX, British American Tobacco, Remy Martin, Cathay Pacific Airways, and Claridge Casino.
It was also the beginning of the WWW era, and I remember building my first webpage by typing in <html> long before tools like FrontPage or other software came out. Learning it the hard way solidified my foundation, and I will never forget the codes.
As a teenager in the 1980s, I completed a two-year programming diploma in just five months. Impressed with my skills, the training center asked me to tutor other students. Later, I taught adults how to use WordPerfect and Lotus and even developed Chinese study guides and class materials. I also trained other instructors to manage students in both group and one-on-one settings. To make computer learning more accessible, we produced some DIY VHS videos, which turned out to be a hit.
Those who know it are not as good as those who like it, and those who like it are not as good as those who enjoy it.
知之者不如好之者，好之者不如乐之者。
Confucius 孔子