Get it While It’s Hot!

While I’m an avid user of Ubuntu Linux I must still admit that Microsoft creates some excellent products (and a smathering of not so excellent products). Windows is still the most prevalent OS in use and you must know how to use Microsoft products to be successful in today’s world.

That being said, who wants to pay for their products? What if you could get them free?

Microsoft currently has a FREE 1 year subscription available to their TechNet Plus program. TechNet Plus is a program that allows you to download FULL VERSION, NO TIME LIMIT, NO RESTRICTIONS software for testing/evaluation. The subscription lets you download their software and gives you the keys to enable it. You can use it as long as you want and even Continue Reading »

First off, if you have ten minutes to increase your knowledge and proficiency in computers read this entire post.  If not, just skip down to the final section (What is Ubuntu?) for an overview of what Ubuntu is and why their logo (the red, yellow, orange circle dealy above) is being used on this site for the month of May.

History of Operating Systems

A lot of people that have grown up using Microsoft Windows (or even the Mac operating systems) are addicted to the ease of point and click.  The graphical user interface (GUI) of Windows makes it easy to use a computer… you move the mouse around the desktop and click on icons of programs you want to run.  However, these GUIs are newborns in the life of computing.  The earliest computers came into existence in the 1930s and by the 1940s were being used to decipher German war time codes.  Until the popular release of Windows 3.1 in 1992 the graphical user interface was practically non-existent.  Before then people were using text user interfaces (TUI) to tell their computers what to do.  Before that people were actually using paper cards, linked together in chains, to operate their computers.

Early computer engineers created a solution that combined many smaller programming styles, languages, etc. into one rather robust (for their time) operating system/platform called Unix.  This eventually gave way to Linux (more user friendly than Unix), Windows and the Mac operating systems (much more user friendly than Unix).  Mac has recently redone their operating system to such a degree that it has reverted back closer to its Unix roots and now closely resembles Linux.  Windows, as much as Microsoft wants you to think differently, is pretty much a derivative/break-off of Unix and thus very closely related to Linux.  While Windows captured the majority of market share in the early 1990s, Linux began to gain popularity in the mid 90s with the release of Redhat (a distribution/derivative of Linux).  However, because Linux is created by the community and is most often free to use (unlike Windows which now costs between $90 and $200 to use it on one computer) it has not received nearly as large a marketing push as Windows has.  Another setback of early versions of Linux is that it was only Continue Reading »

It is plainly obvious to us that you are pulling information from the Digital Signage Universe Directory (You would not have gotten this email address any other way) in order to build your own Directory. While we can’t prevent you from doing this, we would strongly recommend that you make your directory “significantly” different from ours, otherwise we will shove a lawyer so far up you’re a**, you wont s*** for a year!  Don’t say you weren’t warned, we are keeping a close eye on you!

Best Regards,

Digital Signage Universe

[edited for content]

I’m in my mid twenties and have only been in business for a couple years.  However, there is one thing that I’ve already learned about the grand scheme of business – competition.

Competition is healthy for consumers.  Through competition they receive higher product quality, lower Continue Reading »

This morning I stumbled upon a wiki entry on cosmology.  No, not hair dressing.  The article was really boring (I’ll admit I only got a couple paragraphs through it before I canned the idea of ever being a rocket scientist) but it did get my mind working.  It led me to some conclusions about the big bang theory of marketing.

I’ve been reading a lot on the internet lately about product release techniques.  An interesting theme seems pretty relevant in a lot of what I’ve been reading… release your product with a big bang.

This big bang theory of product release is not the most prevalent, by any means.  Traditionally product releases require a substantial amount of effort upfront, before the release.  When the product is then 75% ready for release, Continue Reading »

Often, in this world of so many products we find that all of the products within a product genre share the same functional qualities.  Finding a functional differentiator is extremely difficult.  A functional differentiator is a product quality or feature that makes it different from another product in the same genre.  For example, I sell a lot on eBay.  I sell the same goods that a number of other people are selling.  So, how do I differentiate and get people to buy from me instead of another seller?  Smoke and mirrors.

The smoke and mirrors (aka induced differentiation) of marketing is the way that most companies position their brands to close sales.  A colleague of mine worked for Associated Foods Continue Reading »

This morning I was up at the University of Utah when I saw a little sign off to the side of a walkway. What really got my attention was that the sign was partly hidden behind the low hanging boughs of a tree. My first instinct was to walk to the other side of the walkway so that I could read what it was advertising; The Ultimate Sidewalk Sale.

I immediately though that it was a rather weird placement for a sign. Why didn’t they put it out in the open where people would see it more? As I was thinking about this I saw several other signs, all partially hidden behind trees, planter boxes, etc. Then the marketer in me kicked in, and it hit me.

The reason why the campus bookstore was advertising in this overt and somewhat abstract way is because it gets attention. This is what I like to call ambient advertising. Place an advertisement in an ambient, somewhat out of the way and unusual place and it is sure to get noticed.

Why is Ambient Advertising So Effective?

Because of the advertisements unique placement, people that notice the advertisement notice it more than had it been out in the open. People tend to ignore advertisements that are slapped right in the middle of their view. On the flip side, if an advertisement is placed in their periphery or in a highly unusual location then they notice and they often think about it.

The more you can get a prospective customer to notice and think about your product, the greater the probability that they Continue Reading »

Today I was in the middle of a conversation and hit a proverbial wall. I needed a word to describe a potential product that I’ve been working on. The product is still in R&D and still ‘under wraps’ so I didn’t want to make the mistake of using it’s name. I needed something else to call it, but the word I normally would have used in a situation like this, widget, has been de-definitionized. What I mean to say is that the old definition that I’ve lived with for my whole life has been replaced by a new one. The new definition, while now only adopted by tech savvy geeks such as myself, does not allow for the use of the old definition in most conversations.

Definitions

Old definition: widg-et (wĭj’ĭt); an unnamed or hypothetical manufactured article

New definition: widg-et (wĭj’ĭt); an element that runs on a social networking site or a computer users desktop that provides useful and timely information Continue Reading »

Creative content gets attention.

The great thing about today’s world is that everyone carries a cell phone with them (and hence a cell phone camera) and can get pictures of all the funniest ads and upload them to their blogs, websites, Facebook pages, etc.

If you are going to spend money distributing an ad, make sure you spend the time to make it creative.  If it makes people laugh then they will pass it along, over and over and over again.  This free advertisement distribution can often be more valuable then the payed for distribution (because it is viral).

Here is a tribute to some of the best ads I’ve seen floating around the information highway lately:

Continue Reading »

If you have a business with any public space are you using it to your fullest benefit?

I walk past the same businesses every day I take the train downtown. What continues to surprise me is that these businesses have great advertising real estate (front windows and doors, exterior walls, signage placards) that they are not utilizing. If you have a retail or office location that has ANY public traffic you should be utilizing it.

Digital signage displays are the easiest to maintain (no need to manually change out signs every day, week, etc) and offer a lot more attention grab for your buck. Digital signage options are varied, and include kiosks, point of sale, ambient, or informational.

Digital signage is affordable too. Considering that the images, advertisements and information can be Continue Reading »

If you are a new business you probably haven’t had too much exposure to the world of PR yet. Let me tell you a little about it.

A PR firm manages the flow of information between an organization and the public. Thats it. That is the main purpose of a PR firm. Sounds simple, right?

Well, it is and it isn’t. The great thing about PR is that it can be managed directly by the business if done correctly. The bad thing about PR is that it cannot be managed directly by the business if not done correctly. That might sound like a stupid redundancy, but it is hitting home on the point I will be making – if from business inception (or business youth at least) you handle your own PR effectively then you are on the right road. Big companies often rely on PR firms to manage their public affairs because they didn’t start right from the beginning.

Here are three simple ways you can keep on top of your companies PR, now and forever:

1. Be Honest and Forthright. Nothing can sink a ship faster than lying to the world and themselves that there are no icebergs in the water. A look at the Enron situation illustrates this point. Enron’s CEO, Kenneth Lay, had built a workplace culture of enthusiasm and business strength. In the background, however, things began to slip and the business was going to see cutbacks. To bolster his business up, he opened off shore accounts, opened the business to shady internet trading and did a lot of dishonest things to make it seem like their assets were larger than they really were. Just like the little white lie we’ve all told, Mr. Lay tried to hide his first lie with a second lie, his second lie with at third, and so on. Before long, Lay was embroiled in one of the largest accounting/business scandals the US has ever seen. The best PR a company can build for itself is the appearance and reality of 100% honesty. Because you and your employees are human situations may occur (dishonesty) for which you will need to set the record straight. It is imperative that you set the record straight and not just try to sweep it under the rug. As long as these situations are far and few between the public will respect you for coming out with the truth, especially when it is hard to do so. This is the best policy you can implement to maintain a successful PR campaign far into the future; if you never get caught up in a scandal you will never need a cleanup crew. Continue Reading »