4 Free Ways to Promote Your Brand Online

Losing my job for blowing the whistle on Bank of America felt like the entire world got turned upside down. Cut off from Corporate America and facing financial ruin, I dove headfirst into the internet, where I broke bread with Anonymous and studied the science of SEO. The transition from corporate cubicle-monkey to freelance consultant taught me a lot of valuable lessons about the internet I’d like to relay to you.

Here are 4 free websites and services that can assist in growing any brand:

1 — Google

Just about everyone uses Google, and you’d be a fool not to pay attention. Google’s Maps program is on every Android phone and a significant portion of iPhones — updating your business profile with Google will ensure you’re listed on GPS navigation systems in the hands of millions of potential customers, literally leading them straight to your business’ front door.

Registering your website with Google provides better search engine results for your brand, while Google+ is essential for integrating and tracking your profile across all Google platforms. If you’re interested in finding out more about the search engine benefits of Google+ and how it competes with Facebook, my colleague, Ryan Howard, recently wrote a great piece about it.

2 — Wikipedia

If you want to be relevant, you need to be listed in the encyclopedia. These days the crowd-sourced, non-profit Wikipedia project has all but obliterated all other encyclopedic sites, becoming one of the most widely visited websites on the internet. By getting your brand listed on Wikipedia, you’re not only establishing yourself as an industry leader, you’re gaining a valuable web presence and SEO assistance, as links to your pages are indexed on the site.

Be wary when creating a page, however. Wikipedia is closely monitored by a slew of editors waiting to pick apart any PR fluff pieces, so ensure you familiarize yourself with their neutrality policies before you begin.

3 — Craigslist

Craigslist is a great place to build a street team for growing your brand. Whether you need fliers, transportation, extra hands, or equipment, the classifieds are the place to look. On an SEO level, the links don’t last long enough to help your SEO strategy, but any publicity is good publicity, and Craigslist is a valuable site to help you build brand awareness behind the scenes.

4 — Amazon

If you have something to sell, Amazon and iTunes are great places to do it. Once you have a UPC code or product SKU, you can sell an ebook or mp3 on both of these sites. Where Amazon trumps iTunes is in the ability to ship physical merchandise. No matter what business you’re in, there will always be a market segment that prefers a physical product over the digital equivalent. Amazon helps you bridge the gap, and the free shipping included in their Prime membership makes it a worthwhile business expense.

In addition, Amazon’s mTurk program is a great way to outsource repetitive or mundane tasks, such as finding business contacts, data entry, and transcription. This crowdsourcing platform allows you to create tasks and pay pennies per task to have them completed by mTurk’s worker pool.

Brian Penny is a former Business Analyst at Bank of America turned whistleblower, freelance consultant, and troll. He’s a frequent contributor to The Street, Cannabis Now, and Fast Company, Huffington Post, Mainstreet, Lifehack, and HardcoreDroid.

Snoop Dogg Is a Pot Pioneer

When Colorado and Washington legalized the consumption of cannabis, the country was instantly divided. Opponents of marijuana decriminalization spotlight the seedy underground drug trade, while supporters point to statistics showing the medical benefits. As the budding industry grows, investors and entrepreneurs are swarming, searching for ways to make a profit, but the legal gray areas make weed a very risky business. Everyone’s looking for their own piece of the pot, and competition is stiff.

Cannabis is associated with creativity, so whatever your skillset, you can find a place in the industry. I recently met with Nick Adler, Vice President of Business Development at Cashmere Agency, the team behind Snoop Dogg’s marketing campaign, for a blunt discussion on Mary Jane’s move to Main Street, and how an average person can support the wellness of their fellow Americans without running on the wrong side of the law.

Snoopify Yourself

While contemporary Tommy Chong has hit a few bumpy roads while charging ahead in the infant cannabis industry, Snoop has taken a more mellow and relaxed path. Although he’s known to heat up any joint (this year, his Wellness Retreat with Wiz Kalifa will be held at the WaMu Theater in Washington on 4/20 Eve, and Red Rocks Theater in Colorado on 4/20), the only product Snoop moves these days is content.

“One of the most popular items on our Snoopify app is the ‘Golden Jay,'” Adler explains. The Golden Jay is a digital sticker of a golden joint with rainbow smoke that fans can download off the Snoopify app on their phones to add to Instagram photos as a social media status symbol. The Golden Jay has been well received by fans looking to add some Doggystyle to their digital lives.

Up in Smoke

If you’re not an app developer, don’t fret – alongside the marijuana industry is the somehow-even-more-stigmatizing eCigarette industry. Cashmere and Snoop have wisely avoided the controversial liquid-based eCigs for a dry, herbal-vaporizing G-Pen. The difference isn’t immediately recognizable to the untrained eye, but it’s a world of difference to law enforcement.

Vegetable glycerin is used in a variety of fast foods, and it’s the base for cough syrup. Adventurous people have already begun experimenting with dissolving any drugs you can think of in vegetable glycerin to vape in liquid-based eCigs. The G-Pen Snoop and Cashmere promote, by comparison, is an electronic hookah, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a major city without a hookah bar. Knowing these minor differences can be the difference between success and jail.

The Wolf of Washington

Although banks have been given the green flag to invest money in the marijuana market, individuals should invest with caution. Many cannabis-based businesses claim to be publicly traded, but that’s impossible until the drug is rescheduled by the Federal government. Until that happens, these snake-oil salesmen are pushing penny stocks on you. If you don’t recognize the term, penny stocks are the highly volatile, high-risk investments Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort pawns off on innocent consumers in The Wolf of Wall Street.

Instead of investing directly in these businesses, again look to the tech world and content providers. Leafly (a marijuana strain guide) and Weed Maps (a dispensary locator/review site) are two tech start-ups that are stirring the pot in Silicon Valley. Established media outlets like Cannabis Cup creator High Times magazine have a leg up on the competition, but legalization in CO and WA spawned a boom in marijuana media and marketing, as lawmakers rush to prohibit unethical marketing practices.

No matter how you feel about marijuana, decriminalization appears inevitable. Rather than fighting it, maybe it’s time we accept that America is a melting pot, smoking pot. With soccer mom brands from Hot Pockets to Overstock embracing Snoop Dogg, it’s safe to say, marijuana has reached full-on mainstream acceptance.

Brian Penny is a former Business Analyst at Bank of America turned whistleblower, freelance consultant, and troll. He’s a frequent contributor to The Street, Huffington Post, Cannabis Now, and Fast Company.