More Small Business Promotion Ideas

by Mielle Sullivan, Janus Networks

Run a user generated content contest in which the winner wins a trip to Hawaii
Show people where the sweet stuff is and they will come to it in swarms and they will tell all their swarming friends and they will talk talk talk about it. What is the sweet stuff? Anything really fun, anything worth fantasizing about, anything worth taking a risk for, or taking time out of their busy day for. If you can cause people to associate your, product, website or company with anything fun and exciting it will get attention. Remember the “Island Caretaker” job offered by the Queensland Tourism Board? It generated so much attention that the ensuing traffic shut down the site’s servers multiple times; tens of thousands of video applications were received and dozens of high profile articles were written.

Host an UNconference

We’ve all been conferences that were too expensive, long and predictable. So the next time there is a big industry conference in your city, rent out a small room near the conference and hold an UNconference. The idea is that the attendees will come up with topics and then discuss and present on the topics right there. You can focus on a specific problem in your field, or leave it more open. Do: invite as many people in your field as possible, invite the press, encourage collaboration, provide snacks, print up fun t-shirts. Don’t: charge admission.

Make a viral video

Hire a good video artist/director. Make it funny. Make it short. Be upfront about who you are and what you are promoting. Make sure it is tagged well and easy to find. Involver has a variety of social media video promotion tools for a large range of budgets.

Hold a Raffle

This isn’t a way to get money, but rather to get information about your target or encourage them to engage with a product. It is similar to the user generated content contest, but instead of creating content users interact with a site, fill out a survey or use a product. This idea works great when you have a new feature to promote as it points users straight towards engagement. The Dubai Government used a raffle to promote use of its new eGovernment portal to conduct payments and credit card companies and Discover Card is currently running a sweepstakes for users that switch to paperless statements. Both promotions encourage users to interact in new way with services they are use.

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Promotion Ideas for Small Businesses

by Mielle Sullivan, Janus Networks

Here are some ideas for promotion that cost under or around $10,000.

Host an event

Host an event around the launch of a new, or improved, product or service. It doesn’t have to be a big event. Rent out a bar, or a good sized room in a bar. Get a DJ or maybe a band. Invite some clients, business partners and any local press that cover your field of business. Make sure everyone the press might want to interview is there. Demo your product or give a presentation about your service. Print up take away materials for guests and press.

Sponsor a Podcast

This is a great way to hone in on niche markets inexpensively. Contact podcasters directly for details. Want examples of businesses sponsoring podcasts? This Week in Tech has a variety of sponsors, but it’s most common are Audible.com and Gotomypc.com; The Savage Love podcast is sponsored by Adam & Eve.

Run a Retweet Promotion

The most well known recent example is Moonfruit, a website hosting company, gave away ten MacBooks in ten days to random twitter users who included #moonfruit in their tweets. The prizes are what gets this kind of promotion going, but if the retweet itself is as unobtrusive and you can encourage a little creativity, the contest can create some interesting content of it’s own. These contests are easy to set up and oversee, so you can put nearly all of your investment into prizes.

Spend the money on a Google Adwords Campaign

Google Adwords is the best, easiest,do-it-yourself advertising tool in the world. You decide exactly how much to spend, what keywords to choose, and what targeting to use. It’s an essential tool to reach local audiences and is infinitely scalable. When used with a bit of know-how, Google Adwords offers some of the best ROI in advertising for both big and small businesses. If you aren’t sure where to begin, Google makes it easy.

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Long Term Challenges Ahead for Broadband Technologies

by Mielle Sullivan, Janus Networks

As consumer demand for broadband Internet has grown exponentially, a few different technologies have risen up to meet the need. Each of these technologies has their own unique set of advantages and challenges. Consequently, there is no all-encompassing solution for the future of broadband.

Let’s examine each of the current technologies:

VDSL2–Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line 2. The newest and most advanced standard of DSL broadband over-the-wire communications. This standard supports wide-scale “Triple Play” services such as voice, video, data, high definition television (HDTV) and interactive gaming. It uses existing copper phone wires to make the connection. The supporters of this technology are AT&T with its U-verse offering and Qwest.

Advantages: Because it uses existing copper telephone wires as the back bone of the infrastructure, there less to build out than the other technologies.

Challenges: In terms of reliability, VDSL2 is sometimes more haphazard than to DOCSYS and FiOS, in part because it relies on older infrastructure. Also, VDSL2 speeds degrade over long distances.

In order to make the system faster, AT&T has created a hybrid of fiber optics and copper wires for it’s U-verse offering. The company uses a fiber optic cable connection to a city, then copper wires within a city. However, this hybrid system relies on huge cabinet-like hubs to be installed underground in each city. AT&T has had to battle officials over taxes in many cities for permition to install these hubs. Stalled negotiations have limited deployment.

FiOS–Fiber optic communications network and technology designed for bundled communication services including Internet telephone and television. Fiber optics are the newest technology and infrastructure, offering the highest potential speeds with the least amount of loss.

Challenges: When FiOS enters any new territory, the entire infrastructure needs to be built out from scratch.

Verizon is the only company currently building out its own all fiber optic network (FiOS). In more densely populated areas, the company must install cables under often-decaying city structures and negotiate with apartment building owners individually, making implementation very slow in old cities.

DOCSIS 3–the latest in Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification. DOCSIS is a standard that allows high speed data transfer over existing cable television system.

Advantages: DOCSIS uses existing cable infrastructure, so there is not nearly as much to build out as FiOS. This system also has less speed loss over distance than VDSL2.

Disadvantages: Ultimately, DOCSIS is inferior to FiOS for speed potential. Currently, FiOS does not need to operate near capacity to be competitive. As the market demands higher speeds, DOCSIS may not compete with FiOS. Also, despite having much of the existing infrastructure, there are still growing pains associated with this DOCSIS. Providers like Comcast and Cox have been unable to keep up with demand, slowing installations and causing services outages in some areas.

The challenges in implementing these technologies are likely to continue for years. Ironically, densely populated old cities and very remote sparsely populate areas simialr cost to benefit challenge for installation. The future is likely to be patchwork of all three technologies depending on different installation challenges in each area. Cities may need to depend on VDSL and DOCSIS for several years, while newer suburban developments in some states will have FiOS. Very remote areas may rely on broadband built out to a local tower which would then connect to users wirelessly Eventually, Verizon may be able build out FiOS in most areas and ultimately it may be the clear winner if very high speed becomes the deciding factor in consumer choice. But price is also a consideration and the market may never widely demand speeds that only FiOS can provide. Within several years, it is even possible mobile broadband advancements could make it a competitor to all of these over-the-wire technologies, causing further disruption to the marketplace.

Microsoft Reaches out to iPhone Users and Developers

Microsoft is promoting a study by a third party research group, Crimson Consulting, that documents how developers can port applications they have developed for the iPhone over to Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Although Microsoft’s rival app store is not scheduled to open until late this year, the company is hoping the study will entice developers and bring competitive variety to the store.

The report centers on the iPhone app Amplitude, which turns audible recordings into graphical displays. According to Microsoft, Amplitude was an ideal app for the study because it is the type of high-quality app the company is hoping to have in its upcoming Windows Marketplace for Mobile. “It combines a rich user interface with features such as alpha blending (a computer graphics technique in which an image is combined with a background image) and transparency with specific audio and sound requirements, which makes it challenging to port the app but, at the same time, provides a number of helpful learning experiences,” said Constanze Roman, a Windows Mobile community team manager.

Microsoft is late to the app store game, but its store will have some features that could give it an edge. By allowing users with older versions of Windows Mobile to access the store, it has created a ready audience of 30 million smartphone users for developers. This audience is comparable or slightly higher than the number iPhone users. Also, users can buy apps by credit card or through their carrier bill and can return apps within 24 hours if they chose.

The fact that Microsoft needs a special study and app store for ported iphone apps suggests they will perhaps always be riding behind the iPhone in app development. Nevertheless, 30 million Windows Mobile users will soon have a place to find apps and developers have a huge new audience.

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By Mielle Sullivan, Janus Networks

Google Voice Comes Out of Beta

by Mielle Sullivan, Janus Networks

Recently, Google took its unified voice service, Google Voice, out of Beta and into invite. The service is likely be available to anyone in the US in a few weeks. Google Voice allows you to have one number ring on multiple devices, so you can have one number, at home, at work and on the go for life. The convenience Google Voice offers users has some analysts believing Google Voice could relegate mobile service providers to the much feared “dumb pipes.”

Google voice works by giving you a number that becomes your new “universal” number. When someone calls your universal number, the call will be routed to your pre-selected devices. If you move or change mobile carriers, just change your Google Voice settings and the number will follow you. Likewise, when you want to make a call, you use the local Google Voice access number which then routes your call through the Google cloud to its end receiver. An app will make this process seamless on most smartphones.

Beyond a universal number, Google Voice has a myriad of other impressive features : You can set calls from specific numbers to ring on certain devices or go straight to voicemail; you can have a number ring on one device at one time of day and another at a different time of or day; your voicemails can be automatically transcribed and sent to you via email and text; you can personalize greetings and ringtones to individual callers; you can store and send your text messages online; you can call anywhere in the US for free, record calls, make conference calls….the list goes on. And more is in development. What’s most impressive? It is all free.

As per usual with Google, the service will be ad supported. The company has filed patent on a software that serves ads based on location to callers when they are on hold or before the receiver picks up a call.

Will Google Voice soon turn mobile carriers to be “dumb pipes”? In my view, the “dumb pipes” term is more hyperbolic than descriptive of the challenges mobile service providers face. Phone companies will always want to charge for as many services as they can. While customers, increasingly, want to use their cell phones as just another Internet portal. But that doesn’t mean that every time innovation creates a better way for users to better manage their mobile communications, that mobile providers lose their value. There will always be tension to do more on phones for less, that’s just economics. Phone companies will just have to continually re-bundle their data packages to keep up with innovation.

CubeTree: A Step Forward for Office Communication

by Mielle Sulliivan, Janus Networks

Inter-office communication can be complicated. There are lots of messages: messages for you, messages for your team, messages for your branch or company as a whole, interesting articles coworkers share…the list goes on. To often all of these messages can end up in a big pile in your inbox– where they can easily be lost. A new startup, CubeTree, address some of the challenges of workplace communication through a platform inspired by social networking.

In CubeTree, employees can create a profile, send out micro-updates, “follow” other coworkers, share documents, set up wikis, and much more. One particularly useful feature is the search tool– great for finding documents created by coworkers and filed with mysterious logic. The passive sharing of micro-updates for non essential information, like industry articles, is convenient because it helps reduce emails and therefore the chances that an important message will be buried.

Setup is quick and painless. Because CubeTree exists in the cloud, there is nothing to install. Just sign up for one of their three subscription levels and begin. Most employees will already be familiar with the social networking environment, so training is minimal. CubeTree also easily incorporates information from other commonly used office programs, such as Google Reader, Salesforce and Tripit trips.

Of course CubeTree is not the only company to take an idea that evolved in the social space and use if for the workplace. Yammer is already the standard for business micro-messaging. SocialText delivers workplace wiki solutions and LinkedIn is the site for professional profiles. But CubeTree offers it all, on one platform, with superior security assurance because the founders come straight from Symantec, an IT security leader.

For all its functionality, CubeTree is not an office suite. It doesn’t compete with any of the standard business software, but rather stands along side it. CubeTree is a complimentary office tool to help coworkers stay more organized and in better communication–something nearly every workplace could use in today’s hyper-information age.

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The Future of the Web: It is All About Usability

by Mielle Sullivan, Janus Networks

Last week I found out about Vysr’s Firefox extension RoamAbout and it made me excited. Why? Because finally I discovered a highly-customizable toolbar to bring me the best of the internet whatever site I am on. RoamAbout widgets are mini windows to the web.

RomAbout, is a vertical “shelf” that lives on the far right side of your browser. It houses widgets of your choosing from a variety of popular websites including Wikipedia an YouTube. Using RoamAbout, you can look up a term or watch a video without having to navigate away from the page you are reading.

So far, RoamAbout has done more to facilitate my browsing than any other toolbar or plugin or bookmarklet. In fact, I hope the amount widgets available for RoamAbout increases and eliminates the need for me to download any more browser extensions. As Doriano Carta said in his Mashable.com article about RoamAbout, “At first glance, one might think this is just another browser plugin or extension but it’s far more than that. Providing access to apps and services, no matter where you are online, is an innovative process.”

RoamAbout makes websites truly portable. It can do for reference, video even shopping sites what RSS feeds did for news sites – provide a portal for users without them actually having to visit the site. I think RoamAbout or something very similar to it will catch on with a lot of users and change the way we surf, or stay put, on the web.

The future of the web is user- rather than site-centric. Thus the killer websites of the future will be portable or at least have a portable component. Designers, start building your widgets because users want the best of your information, but not necessarily the whole interface.

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LogMeIn Improves Remote Access

by Mielle Sullivan, Janus Networks

Earlier this month, remote access enabler LogMeIn released it’s latest version of LogMeIn Rescue, the company’s help desk and troubleshooting support product. Remote access use has gone up substantially in the last few years as technology and demand have converged to create more flexible, universal and accessible work platforms. Along with this rising trend has come increasing demand for features, flexibility and on-demand tech support.

“A new generation of Internet-based PC remote support tools is disrupting the commoditized remote-control market,” according to David Coyle, research vice president, Gartner, Inc. “These new tools have several advantages including remote-control support for anyone, ease of implementation and greater cost flexibility. They are gaining popularity among internal IT and external service providers as the employees, customers and partners they support are increasingly mobile and beyond the reach of traditional IT support tools.”

This latest version of LogMeIn Rescue builds on the product’s flexibility by allowing multiple technicians and/or customers to collaborate and troubleshoot problems at the same time through a variety of features including screen sharing by multiple users and instant chat capabilities.

Another interesting innovation is LogMeIn Rescue’s “below the OS” connectivity. By taking advantage of Intel’s vPro technology, it allows technicians to expand what is possible to do remotely and access computers via the Internet — even if the computer is turned off or if the operating system is unavailable due to hardware or software failure.

As computing becomes more mobile and more cloud based we will see more demand for secure, adaptable, multi-person and multi-pointaccessible remote access products like this one. In fact, how well remote access evolves may help determine overall computing and work styles in the future. The latest versionLogMeIn Rescue is just another small evolutionary step towards the next generation of even more universally accessible computing.

Google Begins Behavioral Targeting

by Mielle Sullivan, Janus Networks

Google announced last week that its Adsense system would begin using behavioral targeting to determine which ads it displays to users. What exactly is behavioral targeting? Primarily it is gathering information about the types of sites a user visits to place that user into interest and demographic categories. But it can also include actions within a site, such as the types of products a users views on some shopping sites. All behavioral targeting is done through the use of cookies and can’t be used to trace a users particular identity or whereabouts.

Google’s announcement has excited the already contentious internet privacy debate. Rep. Rick Boucher from Virginia said last week that he is working on a bill that would put mandatory guidelines on internet companies to protect user privacy. Though the details of the bill are not yet finalized,Boucher said it will be influenced by how prominent, concise and understandable Google’s policy is.

How internet users feel about behavioral targeting might, in large part, depend on what information they believe is private. Some may not believe their hobbies or interests as protected information, while others may not be comfortable with any information about themselves being gathered. In a recent survey of 1,000 adults conducted byTRUSTe , more than 90% said that internet privacy was a “really” or “somewhat” important issue and 51% said they were uncomfortable with behavioral targeting. However, that number is down from 57% last year, leading some industry spokespeople to believe that, over time, users are becoming more comfortable with behavioral targeting. 70% of respondents said individuals themselves should also be wholly or very responsible for protecting their own privacy, yet 57% said the government was very or wholly responsible for protecting anindividual’s online privacy through legislation or regulation. The survey also said 48% of users delete browser cookies once a week to help protect their information.

Personally, if I am going to be served ads–which is unavoidable–I would rather them be more relevant to me. I am also far more uncomfortable with the fact that Google scans the content of my Gmail for keywords to display ads to me than I am with whatever information my browsing history gives. Yet I think it is important to explore legislation on behavioral targeting to keep policies clear and accessible to all users and determine exactly what information can and cannot be used.

The Truth About Micropayments

by Mielle Sullivan, Janus Networks

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of buzz about micropayments and if they can save journalism as we know it. With more local papers closing monthly and even giants like The New York Times teetering on the brink of collapse, newspapers and loyal readers are crying out for something, anything that will preserve their way of life.

Presumably, mircorpayments would allow users to pay small amounts of money–a few cents to a few dollars–to have view web-content and thus fund a publications journalism. A few different models have been proposed: a “pre-pay” or “top-up” structure wherein a user loads up an account that is incrementally billed as content is viewed; a bundle model where users pay for access to severaldifferent sites or networks at once and a classic subscription model with monthly payments per publication. There have even been calls for Apple to extend their successful iTunes environment to other transactions for content and services.

I wish micropayments would work, I really do. But, sadly, even if they do work–which is doubtful at best–it won’t be enough. Even by optimistic estimates, user payments would have to be much more than micro to level the dropping revenues of papers for institutions like The New York Times which always made their profits from ads, not subscriptions.

If the bastions of traditional news from The Economist to Harper’s to the The Wall Street Journal fail, there will indeed be an informational void no blog yet can fill. But they probably won’t all fail. Some will die and others may become smaller, leaner organizations, but it is doubtful every one will disappear. We also must acknowledge that most local newspapers are not The New Times. The majority of stories printed in most local newspapers for last several years have come not from local reporters, but are reprinted Associated Press articles.

World wide competition has come to an industry that used to have a local monopoly. The result is that once large organizations will need to learn to be lean and compelling. Local papers need not have a national and international section, but instead report only on the compelling news in their area. Even national and international papers now compete for the same sets of eyeballs. In short, we still want quality investigative reporting we just need fewer reporters and papers to get it.