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Verizon 3G prepaid promotion

Verizon may be getting serious about prepaid if only as a means to find a future use for its rapidly emptying 3G networks. After years of ceding prepaid to its competitors, Verizon started actively courting contract-averse subscribers over the holidays. Read more »

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You’ve come up with your big idea, and now comes the hard part: Getting the word out about your business and, more importantly, hanging in there while you get the word out about your business. The hard part now becomes not giving up too soon. Read more »

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A lot of small business owners feel that there’s a cringe-factor associated with marketing. It is possible, though, to create buzz-worthy promotional events around your business that not only get you in front of your target audience, but might even be fun to coordinate. Read more »

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Without question, blogging provides an effective way to market your business. And most folks know that, generally, the more frequently you blog, the higher your traffic. But does that mean you should follow the advice of many to create a new post every single day? Read more »

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Making the choice between promoting your business using your own name or that of a company is a very personal decision that sometimes takes a lot of consideration. The most common option is to brand yourself under a company, which works well when your company name […] Read more »

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Waiting to be discovered probably won’t get your business to the level of success you hope to achieve. You can’t wait for people to stumble on your site, thinking that that’s going to be enough. You have to be proactive. Here’s how. Read more »

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If there’s one thing I’m figuring out, especially lately, it’s that you have to be willing to make the approach. You have to be willing to ask for what you want. Ask the person to be a guest for your blog or podcast. Ask to be covered on another person’s site or radio show. Ask someone to join you for lunch or coffee. Just ask. Read more »

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“You are in three businesses: the book business, the marketing business, and the people business.” — Michael Larson, as quoted in “Get Known Before the Book Deal“ It takes a while to appreciate the juggling you have to do as a business owner, but Larson’s quote […] Read more »

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They might seem a little old-fashioned, but newsletters can be a great way to stay in touch with customers and prospects, and increase revenue to your business. Read more »

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I’ve been talking with a lot of entrepreneurs lately, and one thing I can say for certain is that, as a group, they’re very eager to help each other. They get just as excited talking about the pursuits of others as they do talking about their […] Read more »

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Just the sound of the word “publicity” can make some of us want to run for cover. It brings to mind uncomfortable and awkward times in the spotlight, and while many of us want our businesses to succeed, it may take a while to adjust to […] Read more »

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I tend to back down from face-to-face gatherings and cold calling as networking and marketing tools. Instead, I rely on social networks. I’m not shy nor do I have anything significant about appearance (I would hope that people see a person beyond looks, anyway). However, my […] Read more »

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Personal branding, whether you like the term or not, is something every web worker should consider. Don’t look at it as marketing or packaging yourself, but more as being true to yourself. Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port makes that distinction very well, and the Food Network demonstrates exactly how to make it work for you and your business.

Michael Port’s concept of personal branding starts with his belief that, “when you work with clients you love, you’ll truly enjoy the work you’re doing; you’ll love every minute of it. And when you love every minute of the work you do, you’ll do your best work, which is essential to [booking] yourself solid. Second, because you are your clients; they are an expression and an extension of you.”

The cornerstone of his philosophy is that “the greatest strategy for personal and business development on the planet is bold self-expression,” and many successful personal brands have used this very strategy to rise to the top.

The Food Network is filled with great examples of personal branding success stories using the “bold self-expression” strategy, and while the brands are very unique on their own, they all attract their individual audiences by being exactly one thing – themselves.

Take three of the popular Food Network personal brands, Rachel Ray, Paula Deen, and Emeril Lagasse. They each have individual flare and have used that individuality to create tremendous personal success. Read more »

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As a web worker, I’m always looking for interesting ways to market my products and services. I was impressed by a recent Twitter promotion here in Seattle. It was simple, effective, and cost almost nothing. Sound Transit, the agency that is building Seattle’s new light-rail system, […] Read more »

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Your head might be spinning from the torrent of Apple happenings at WWDC this week, but fear not, I’ve got the cure: fresh picks from the App Store. It’s been an exciting week for TheAppleBlog, with our correspondents posting live from WWDC in San Jose; we’ve […] Read more »

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As a kid, or even as a university student, if anyone had mentioned back-to-school shopping, sales, gear, or anything else this early in the game, I’d definitely have lost it on them. The summer has yet to begin, just let me get my bearings! Still, if […] Read more »

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A little while ago, I reviewed the service offered by GigPark, which was essentially a referrals network to help people find and share service providers. Qapacity is a new tool that works along the same lines, although it goes about it in a completely different way. […] Read more »

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Motionbox, which has carved out a nice spot in the market for its paid personal video-sharing service, has raised $6 million in a Series C round led by Constellation Ventures and including Canaan Partners and SAS Investors. Alongside the round, the New York City-based company said […] Read more »

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Facebook is a great tool for web working. It makes networking simple, offers loads of opportunities for promotion, and it boasts a massive user base. Still, it’s not designed to foreground your work, and sometimes it can be a little difficult to draw attention to the […] Read more »

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The idea of a ‘bundle’ promotion is a common occurrence in the Mac software world. The most widely publicized event centered around great deals on indie Mac software is MacHeist. The general idea is that bundling a package of applications together leads to a great deal […] Read more »

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We’ve written before about the importance of personal branding to freelance web workers. In these times of economic uncertainty, though, it’s a subject that’s worth revisiting. We’d all like to think that the jobs go to us because we’re the best in our fields – but […] Read more »

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“I’m not here to make friends,” you’ve probably heard more than one reality show contestant say. But how often has that cliche popped up? YouTube user richfofo has a montage of the best and brightest. Also, in Karina Longworth’s words, “In terms of sheer hilarity –– […] Read more »

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I’m composing this at my home-away-from-home in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona, where I’ve come to see Superbowl XLII. Consumers are fickle, and what makes promotions effective can be mystifying. So instead of trying to come up with a recipe for how to market well, I’ve taken my […] Read more »

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What’s the first thing you usually do with a new device? I do what many others do: I start looking at all the cool settings to see what I can tweak! That’s what a new Q1P owner from the UK did as well, and is often […] Read more »

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Reading, The New York Times’ this morning brought back some memories, of my early days in this country, and perhaps of the early days of the emerging South Asian identity. I Want My Hyphenated-Identity MTV, perhaps the worst headline ever, talks about the pending launch of […] Read more »