February 27th, 2011, 10 Comments »
The other day I had a meeting with a professional person, a freelancer who worked in an industry tangentially connected to the Web. We organized the meeting via email, and I noticed with dismay that he had a Compuserve email address, as in Wayne.Gretzky@compuserve.com. This an old-school American internet service provider–a Canadian equivalent might be Shaw or Uniserve.
I’m a little ashamed to admit that I’m an email snob. When I get an email from a self-employed professional and it comes from Gmail, Hotmail and the like, and not their own domain, I get a little judgey.
It suggests to me, in a small way, that the person isn’t really serious about marketing their own business.
I asked around amongst my web-savvy friends, and they all confessed to a similar bias. Call it snobbery, call it elitist–there’s at least a hint of the business card scene from American Psycho here–but it seems to be a widely-held opinion, at least among webophiles.
On occasion, I give talks at universities and colleges, and participate in informational interviews. One of the pieces of advice I give to all students, wherever they intend to work, is to establish some kind of web presence for themselves. You are, after all, what the Internet says you are, so it’s best to own a piece of that presence. I just read Gina Trapani’s post about the importance of a ‘nameplate site’.
Differentiate yourself from the pack
So why don’t freelancers get their own domain for their email accounts?
- They don’t consider having a generic email address an issue.
- They’re aware of this perception, and they don’t care.
- They don’t know how cheap and easy it is to set up your own email (and web) domain.
If you wish to be self-employed and work full-time (as opposed to a hobbyist or part-time position) in 2011, you need a simple website and a branded email address. Not only does it look to us web snobs that you’re serious about what you’re doing, but it will also differentiate you from a bunch of freelancers who haven’t taken these steps.
I randomly happened upon Victoria Bushnell’s website. She’s apparently a freelance writer and editor, and she’s got a simple, good-looking website. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about it, and it doesn’t have to be updated often, but it certainly exudes professionalism.
The retort to my advice is usually “but I get lots of work with no website and my plain old Gmail account”. That’s all well and good–I forget to bring business cards to events sometimes, and I still may get work out of them. However, are you getting the best possible work you could? If not, then there’s room for improvement, and a branded email address and simple website seems like low-hanging fruit.
Three steps and you’re done
So, how do you get started?
- Register your preferred domain. I use NameCheap. Pick something simple, like your full name, or your company name.
- Set up your email using Google Apps for Domains, which enables you to use Gmail with @yourdomain.com. Here are detailed instructions on how to do that.
- Create a simple website. I’d recommend using WordPress.com, and then connecting your domain with your new site. In fact, you may just wish to start with WordPress.com by registering your domain there.
10 Comments »
June 1st, 2010, 6 Comments »
Some time at the end of the last century, I discovered the classic Moleskine notebook. I think my brother introduced me to them. I was charmed by its origins (or, at least its origin myth), and used them loyally for five or six years.
But, like so many things in life, Moleskine went from being something I thought of as a little secret to something everybody knew about. Of course, it was probably never actually a secret, but perception is reality and all that. Thinking of myself as a special snowflake, I shunned the mainstreamed Moleskines and turned to other notebooks.
I usually lose notebooks before I finish them. That was the case with my latest one, and I found myself downtown at Chapters in earnest need of a new notebook. Chapters has become a gift store with some books and magazines instead of an actual bookstore, so I approached the large ‘Journals’ section with confidence. Maybe, I though, I’ll try a Moleskine again.
Here’s what I saw:
Three big shelf units full of Moleskine notebooks. There must be 50 different varieties–soft cover, travel journals, address books, pink, royal blue, baby blue, azure, on and on and on. Visit their online store–they have categories within categories. Need an 18-month weekly horizontal planner in red? They’ve got it. I wonder, what would Bruce Chatwin think?
That, dear readers, is the face of brand extension run rampant.
Ironically, I couldn’t actually find the original model that I wanted. I asked, and a helpful clerk found one for me in the, uh, discount rack.
I know this is one of those ‘you kids get off my lawn, things were better when’ blog posts. But I always feel offended kind of commodification and exploitation of a narrative. But then, that’s how little companies get big. See also Vera’s Burgers. Sadly, apparently the shack on the West Vancouver beach where that franchise got it’s start is gone.
6 Comments »
April 2nd, 2009, No Comments »
I thought Doonesbury was particularly amusing today. It requires no further comment:
No Comments »
November 23rd, 2008, 4 Comments »
I’m currently writing the chapter on YouTube in our forthcoming social media marketing book. I’m puzzling over a pretty basic phenomenon of the new media world: the stealth marketing video. Common examples include:
The process usually goes like this: These videos are posted with only obscure or oblique references to the brands they’re promoting. They’re remarkable and amazing feats (either real or CGI) make then viral hits on YouTube. Sooner or later, the companies behind them disclose the videos’ true origins.
What Do The Brands Stand To Gain?
As in the case of the Cardo Systems video, the company sometimes replaces the video with a new one promoting their brand. Alternately, as in the Ray-ban video, they add a link to their website.
However, in other cases–Levis and Guitar Hero–there’s still no indication on the video page that the video isn’t a legitimate, user-generated and unaffiliated with a corporation.
So why bother? The only tangible, measurable result that I can think of is the free media the companies earn when they go public with the revelation. Of course, this only pays off if the video itself is a success. How many of these corporate stealth videos never get revealed because they only received 8700 views?
There’s considerable value in that earned media. However, this article indicates that “Bike Hero” required four weeks worth of production by an ad agency. That’s quite an expense for what I imagine to be fairly middling media exposure.
As far as I can figure, there isn’t much of a brand awareness gain. After all, the videos usually don’t promote specific brands–that only appears in the subsequent media coverage. And “Bike Hero” isn’t effective unless you’re already familiar with Guitar Hero, the game.
There’s also the question of possible damage to the brand when it’s revealed that the videos are, in fact, from lame corporations. I don’t think that matters very much in the fluid world of YouTube, but it’s worth considering.
So what else do these brands stand to gain?
4 Comments »
February 17th, 2008, 6 Comments »
Morocco’s first and official language is classical Arabic. Nearly everybody between the ages of five and sixty also seems to speak French. As Wikipedia indicates, French is “taught universally and still serves as Morocco’s primary language of commerce and economics”.
The situation reminds me a bit of things back home, though obviously most Canadian anglophones (while spell-checking that, I learned a new word: Anglophobia. I’m anglophobic about British tourists.) don’t use their French very often. One similarity is how often the two languages–Arabic and French–appear on packaging. Canadians will be familiar with this two-sides-of-the-cereal box phenomenon.
I particularly admired how gracefully Oulmès mineral water deals with this issue. They integrate the two languages into one logo:
The Arabic is interwoven into the French. Isn’t that clever? Admittedly, it makes both a little difficult to read, but I think people will recognize the word mark and brand more than actually read the words.
6 Comments »
July 8th, 2007, 8 Comments »
Julie and I were remarking on this fact the other day while shopping in Gozo’s only mall. I’m not talking about sportswear here–just standard, average clothes for day to day ‘business casual’ or weekend wear. I’m also not referring to people who voluntarily wear big brands across their chest. This is more insidious.
The branding tends to be small but present on men’s clothes. It’s a visible tag along a shirt’s side seam, or a stitched logo on a the sleeve or pocket of a dress shirt. Here’s a good example of what I’m talking about. The branding is often in a similar colour to the garment itself. It doesn’t stand out, but it’s certainly there.
A few years ago I bought a grey hoodie from FCUK with a grey logo high on the shoulder–I didn’t notice it until I brought it home. Being averse to visible brands, I was displeased.
This occurs much less frequently with women’s clothing. Why?
I don’t even have a theory on this one.
8 Comments »
June 25th, 2007, 8 Comments »
I’m quite brand-averse. That doesn’t mean I loathe Nike or Hugo Boss–I just try not to buy clothes which have visible brands. I’d rather not pay good money for clothes that advertise their makers. Though it’s not often applicable, that attitude permeates the rest of my purchases.
There are plenty of other people who feel this way. They’d prefer to live in a world–and more specifically a home–with fewer visible brands.
We happen to be using hand-pump soap here in Malta. It, of course, has a label on the bottle. Each time I wash my hands (which is often, thank you very much), I’m reminded that my hand soap is brought to me by Vidal Europa.
Hence, my marketing idea du jour: brandless soap. A company ought to flout convention wisdom and sell hand soap that offers an easy-to-remove label. They should promote this fact, making the de-brandability a brand all its own, and a difference in the largely undifferentiated world of hand soap.
Maybe somebody already does this? Interestingly, tissue boxes work this way. I wonder why that is?
8 Comments »