PardonMyFrench

The Art of Self Promotion - A Repost from 2005

***Note: I wrote this post November 11, 2005.  I thought it would be fun to repost.  Any edits I made tonight will be crossed out so you can read what I originally wrote.  Enjoy***

I was in New York on Monday and I ran into a friend that I haven't seen in a few years. The first words out of his mouth are "Eric you must be the most famous man on the internet". After what passes for blushing on my part, which doesn't amount to much of anything, I replied, "actually no, just good at a little self promotion and long term planning".

I worked for 10 years at AT&T and 5 years at Harrisdirect (the company formerly known as PCFN, DLJdirect, and CSFBdirect) and one of the key things I learned was you have to learn know how to build, manage, and plan for your self promotion, because at the end of the day, that's all you really have. A rumor I heard at AT&T led me to managing my self promotion, so here it is in its entirety.

When C.Michael Armstrong was named chairman and CEO of AT&T a Vice President walked into the PR department and said "make me an internet genius" and of course they did. This VP had AT&T's press machine in full press at his disposal and he ended up with plenty of speaking engagements, case studies, and press releases; even a few of these that he couldn't handle ended up on my desk. After a few short months, this VP becomes AT&T's internet czar.

So armed with this knowledge when I leave  left AT&T, I look for my own self promotion opportunities while at the company formerly known as Harrisdirect. Besides a little self glory, it helps with my own position as VP of Online Advertising Managing Director Channel Marketing because there is nothing better than generating a little free press for your employer while building your own reputation and getting good advertising rates.

While negotiating media deals, I notice that several publishers were willing to go beyond what I should be receiving based on my spend if offered to participate in case studies with them. I said "sure, but with one condition, my name is in the case study".

So, when you hit the link on the right for My Google News you can see the list of case studies, magazine articles, and press releases that I've participated in since 2002. All this with a little planning, quid pro quo, and an eye to the future. Oh by the way, never, never, do this without your own PR department and legal involved; play by the rules of your own company.

The self promotion has helped me over the years and it can help you too. So maybe the next time you are at a conference a friend will walk up to you and call you famous. Oh one more thing, that friend is Dan Lynn, co-founder of a bunch of companies and someone I should reach out to one of these days.  of the full service marketing firm, DigitalGrit.

Good luck with your own self promotion and a little PardonMyFrench

Eric

 

I Love Siri

Yes I'm in love with Siri.  I didn't need a new iPhone because I have a gently used iPhone 4 but I kept seeing the commercials and reading reviews online.  Plus my iPhone is always near my side while my camera, so I like the idea of having an 8 mega pixel camera close by. So I went online for a few nights right around 9PM to see if I could reserve one.  After a few tries, Jacob got through on my iPhone while we were driving back from dinner and he reserved it.  

I got my new white iPhone and it is awesome.  I already had upgraded my operating system on my 4 but I like the feel, brightness, and camera of the 4s. The battery life seems to be bad, but I read that's a glitch that Apple is fixing.  

However, Siri is awesome and well worth the money.  Sure Apple features some cool features like playing music and searching for locations nearby, but here's what I think is awesome and all done by speaking into the phone

1. I can schedule calendar appointments
2. I can set reminders
3. Siri can read my new text messages
4. I can reply to text messages by speech
5. I can send email by speech
6. I can call people by using their name, Siri gives me the option to choose which phone number
7. It can play different music

This kind of speech technology has been around for a while but nowhere near as good as Siri (see Google Voice)  However, with Siri I'd say she gets about 90% correct plus she can learn. For example, she knows when I want to speak with Mary, Siri dials her mobile.

If you havent upgraded in a while, go get the iPhone 4s.  If you have an iPhone 4 ditch it and get the 4s.  Rely on Siri to take care of the tasks outlined above.  She is awesome.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

Is Newegg.com Running A Scam? Who Knows But Their Security Is Weak

This morning my wife received an email letting us know that an order was being delivered to our house from Newegg.com.  She asked me had I ever heard of them?  I said no.  So we Googled Newegg.com and found out it is an ecommerce website specializing in tech and equipment, so we thought it was odd that we received an email.  Mary thought it was a gift because we get a lot of deliveries due to the media we buy.

That was until we got the shipment.  It turned out to be a Nokia Lens for a camera but no camera was there.  There was a shipping order and no gift note.  It also appeared that our credit card could have been charged so Mary called American Express and I called Newegg.com.

Newegg claimed that an order was placed with my wife's credit card with the 4 digit code, our email address, and shipped to our home address.  This lens cost over $1100.  Of course this was fraud and I was furious.  Mary spoke with Amex and they quickly credited our account and put in a fraud investigation, plus canceled that card.  That left me with the morons at Newegg.com.  So without boring you with the details of call after call, here's where I landed....

1. This was fraudulent and placed by some unscrupulous type.  They were planning on shipping an item to our house to try to intercept it before we did.  The item called for a signature but out here in rural NJ where we know our UPS and FedEx driver only the most sought after items require a signature (iPhone, jewelry, etc)
2. This was fraudulent and a thief got our card and info but they were really stupid and used the billing address as the ship to address.
3. Newegg.com is soft on security and has serious security problems

Newegg wants me to believe that our card that is rarely used somehow got compromised, the thief then got our address and email, then purchased an $1100 camera lens, and shipped it to our house where the thief was going to intercept it after our UPS driver left it without getting a signature.  Wow - that's a mouthful.

Right an $1,100 camera lens?  Right they thought that the UPS driver would just leave it and then they'd drive up to a rural home and get the package that supposedly needed a signature before we did.

You know what I got out of the Newegg.com reps?  They are in the middle of a security upgrade that might be ready in a few months.  You know what I learned in Google?  We are not the first ones to have this happen to them.  

In fact here's a link to a post titled NewEgg.com is Soft on Credit Card fraud where the same story I experienced is written about.  There are over 120 comments with the same kind of scam.

I don't trust Newegg.com.  I think their security is minimum at best.  I think they have no credit card fraud protection and in fact based on the blog post above there is definitely something wrong at Newegg.com

I don't believe their story.  It seems way too far fetched.  A thief goes to all of that effort to order an $1,100 camera lens in the hopes they'd get it before we picked it up?  I think there is something wrong with Newegg.com.  I think Newegg.com's systems are suspect at best.  I don't believe Newegg.com has great security (their reps confirmed this with forthcoming security upgrade). I don't trust Newegg.com at all.  Who knows what kinds of people work there.

I wouldn't use them.  I wouldn't trust their site. I would never enter a single piece of personal data and certainly wouldn't use a credit card.  

Do I think Newegg.com is running a scam?  I don't know but I don't want to use their site and I wouldn't trust them with a single byte of personal information.  Newegg.com is not worthy of a site visit and is worthy of being federally investigated.  We are not the first ones to have this happen to them and I bet with their lousy security we won't be the last.

PardonMyFrench,

Eric