Phone.com

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 11:03 AM EST

By: Ari

Last night I participated in a great event for small business owners in NYC.

Ramon ray hosted this event at the “Samsung Experience”, Samsung’s great showcase store at the Time Warner Building in Manhattan.
The event was moderated by Robert Levin, the Publisher of the New York Report and addressed some fundamental questions all small business owners have: how do I get some (good) PR?
The panel of experts provided good suggestions of what a small business can do without spending the big bucks on a public relations firm.

Ramon summarized it nicely, see below (with my edits):
1. Have a plan – don’t approach a reporter (or any other media personality) with out a plan. You need to be (or at least appear) knowledgeable. If you run your own business you must be an expert in something (even if you think you are not – you are!). If you think you have some news worthy message present it as such. Don’t be blunt and pitch your product or service.
2. Follow your customer’s interests: It is always a full circle. Know what they want, who they are (and also what they read) it will help you prepare for any reporter. Remember, a story with a customer involved could be so much more interesting! Perhaps especially for a small business.
3. Know the media you are targeting: know the publication, the editor, the journalist etc. You can find everything on the web these days, from contact info to past articles and reports to plans for future issues including editorials and topics the publication plans to focus on. You must know what the interests of a specific publication are and the journalist you are approaching.
4. Timing: if you present yourself as a news source for the journalist/reporter and demonstrate your knowledge perhaps you won’t be the first think they write about but you may be someone they call on for a future story. In general, marketing is a long process – so is PR. Timing also relates to the deadlines of a publication: don’t come in the last minute. If you find out about an issue coming out tomorrow and that features your area of interest, you are most likely late.
5. Have News! – not everything that seems news to you is of interest to the journalist. Think about how you do things differently, how your product or service are special.
6. Be knowledgeable
7. Follow up: don’t harass a reporter but do follow up. You might be considered for a future story

To some, many of these comments may seem obvious, to others they might sound nice but not helpful as you are still not sure how to get in front of the reporter. Remember, getting someone to write about your business is not trivial and you do need to work on it. For some it comes more natural than others.
PR is generally good. Even bad PR can be good as some examples were given by the panel of how some stories that seemed negative actually helped a business. One always needs to know what their goal is: is it to attract new clients? Investors? Or perhaps impress your existing customers.

There is so much to write about this topic and so many experts out there who can guide us but one more comment I would like to make: we live in the web generation (for any one that forgot) and with so many new tools out there we all need to balance new and old (or should I say “traditional”) media.

Monday, November 10th, 2008 at 5:25 PM EST

For so many small businesses who use their cell phone or home phone number as their business phone number, put it on their business cards, website or other marketing collateral there is that constant blur between work and home.
Yes, so many of us probably got used to this and just assume what else can I do? Right?

Well. Wrong! There really is NO need for a business, any size business, to have the same number as its owner’s private phone number(s), home or cell.

This is what Phone.com Virtual Office is really about. Helping the SOHOs (Small Office / Home Office).

With Phone.com Virtual Office service a small business owner can order any phone number, they want, from any area code (assuming it is available) or a toll free number or a vanity toll free number (like 1800-Flowers) or even transfer their existing phone number to Phone.com.

Once the business owner has the number he/she wants they can manage it from the Phone.com online control panel and decide what will happen when someone (anyone) calls that number. One can record a welcome greeting and direct callers to desired departments such as “press 1 for accounting” or just forward to a cell phone or a home phone or several phones can ring at once.

The idea is simple: now the small business can look and feel like a big business. It does not have to give out a private cell phone number as its business line. It can give out one number to all its employees (regardless of what area code they reside in- even overseas!).

And since one can even transfer their existing number to Phone.com there is no need to print any new business cards.

There are so many things one can do with the Phone.com Virtual Office service including sending and receiving faxes online, receiving voicemails straight to your email and even deciding whether to answer a call from someone specific or sending them straight to voicemail (based on caller ID dialing). All of the Phone.com Virtual Office plans come with 24*7 customer support to guide you through any set up and also includes the first month free (and you can cancel if you don’t like It).

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at 11:40 PM EST

By: Ari

Today was also a vote day at the FCC. As explained nicely in Forbes.com, the FCC approved today the use of unused TV broadcast spectrums, known as white space, by unlicensed devices.

As indicated in Forbes: “This would allow any company to offer devices that can send and receive data, in ways that are parallel to the freewheeling ways of the public Internet”.

This of course also has an impact on mobile VoIP services. More wifi that can be used for voip services and much more.
Dan Frommer also wrote about this:
“What’s the point? Companies like Google, Motorola (MOT), and Microsoft (MSFT) want to be able to access the airwaves for Internet devices and services. Specifically, they want the airwaves to be available on an “unlicensed” basis, meaning whoever uses them doesn’t have to buy the rights from the FCC in an auction.”

Just to clarify, this ruling will not have an overnight impact. It will take time (and perhaps also appeals) till devices and services will be able to take advantage of the new available white space.