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 own, and they’re more than willing to go the extra mile for those around them.
But how do you tap into this invaluable resource? It can be intimidating to go to others for help and can be perceived as pushy and self-serving if approached the wrong way. Here are a few tips to help others help you. Read the rest of this entry »
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 the idea of being center stage.
I recently spoke with Nancy Juetten of Main Street Media Savvy about how to overcome the fear of publicity. The great thing about the tips that she offered is that many of them are things you might already be doing to some extent, which makes the whole idea of publicity a little less daunting. By becoming comfortable with these tactics, you’ll start inching your way into the limelight, and you’ll gain more attention for your business in the process. Read the rest of this entry »
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 profound deafness leads people to judge me the minute I open my mouth, spilling my deaf accent, or when I ask people to repeat themselves. The looks on their faces often show they think I’m not bright.
When I participate in a scheduled Twitter chat, it neatly sidesteps those barriers. I feel like I’m in the know and a real part of the conversation. Twitter chats reflect what I’ve always thought face-to-face conversations should be like. While online conversation means missing out on the personal connection of seeing others and their personalities, it’s worth shattering the barriers that come with it. Read the rest of this entry »
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. Micheal Port’s book, “Book Yourself Solid” makes that distinction very well, while 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. Read the rest of this entry »
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, is gearing up for the opening of the first line in a few days. It’s getting a lot of press coverage, but the marketing efforts are being supplemented with a special Twitter promotion. Read the rest of this entry »
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. Qapacity seems more geared towards attracting service providers themselves, but it still has a lot to offer those looking to shop, not sell, too.
If you’re looking for another venue for promoting your services or investigating service providers to partner with, Qapacity is definitely worth checking out.
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Though I couldn’t attend OMMA Social San Francisco (I’m so far away, and my travel budget is currently non-existent), I did enjoy this article from MediaPost summarizing five key takeaways from the social media conference. The article’s author, Catherine P. Taylor, makes a number of good points, but what interests me most is the impression she got that social media, while still white hot with professionals working in the space, has yet to catch fire with clients.
The problem is a familiar one. Those of us who champion the use of social media tend to be fairly zealous about its use, but trying to transmit that passion to others, especially to key decision makers, can be a trying affair. For instance, I’ve had recent experience with a Managing Director who actually didn’t use a computer, so you can just imagine how easy it was to convince him of the value of having a corporate Twitter account.
Of course, it’s to be expected that senior executives exhibit a degree of technological inertia. Luckily, they all still speak the same basic languages: Return on Investment (ROI), Brand Recognition and Corporate Image. Even if they don’t speak all three (take a small consulting firm, for example, which depends on word of mouth rather than aggressive branding), they will understand one of the above: ROI, which is what I’ll be covering in this post. Read the rest of this entry »
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 things you want people to take notice of using only your basic profile options and Facebook’s native Page and Group tools.
My Web Portfolio is a Facebook application that’s designed to help web designers at least strut their stuff on the popular social network. Just as the name implies, it allows you to build and share a portfolio of your web sites and share them with other Facebook users.
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Web Work 101: How To Escape The Cubicle
