Looking to Be Creative?

One of the most important aspects of an effective marketing campaign is creativity. When you're out of marketing ideas and need a new solution, don't despair. Many marketers struggle with the concept of creativity - but then again, main don't. These individuals have developed techniques for improving their creative process.

Through many years of experience and significant portions of trial and error, I have discovered a number of techniques that help to jump start the creative process. Here are a few suggestions for getting you started:

1. Begin by searching the Internet. If you have an idea or concept or don't know where to start, spend some time surfing the Internet. Looking for book titles? Visit Amazon.com or other book related sites and do a little research. Seeing similar products in your category is a great catalyst for creative ideas.

2. Start drawing. Putting pen, marker, or crayon to paper or white board is a great way to get your thoughts going. Many creative thinkers use white boards excessively starting with a word in the middle of the board. Circle it and created branches that contain related ideas and circle them. You'll be surprised how quickly you can fill your whiteboard with new concepts and ideas.

3. Involve others. Anyone can have a great idea. From a marketing perspective, many new product names and even marketing concepts have come from everyday people with no formal marketing experience. Need a new product name? Ask those you work with, family, or friends. Even if you don't get the name you were looking for the experience can provide new ideas and concepts.

4. Go to your "idea" file. Keep an idea file. Each time you find an ad, web page, or email that really moves you, throw it in your idea file. Over time you'll probably fill more than one file and use it regularly to generate new ideas or identify concepts you wish to replicate. The idea file is an old concept but one that's highly effective.

5. Flip through books. Printed resources including books and magazines can be a great resource for ideas. Keep in mind that some of the best resources may be those that are outside of your industry or area of expertise.

6. Pick up the remote. Television commercials are created by some of the most intelligent and creative people in the marketing industry. Use commercials as idea generators. The best way to use commercials to generate ideas is to consider the imagery, the key messaging, and the feelings they create. Can you apply any of these elements to your product or service?

7. Go for a walk. If you're still struggling to generate that "big" idea, then go for a walk, clear your head, and refresh. Sometime taking a break is the best thing you can do for your mind. It's said that Thomas Edison, one of the world's greatest inventors took cat naps to clear his mind and improve his thinking. Give it a try!

Creative thinking is both fun and challenging. When your stuck and need something motivating, experiment, try something new, look for references that can start the ideas flowing again. Every struggles for new ideas so be prepared - know who you can talk to in order to get the ideas flowing again and have a plan. This results in more ideas and more creativity.

How a Simple Hello Can Change the World?

Have you ever been walking somewhere, when suddenly someone greeted you with a hello—and it made you feel really good?

I think we all have. That experience really underscores how powerful a simple hello can be in raising our spirits. When you say hello to others you’re acknowledging them, and people love being acknowledged.

With every person you pass and don’t say hello to, you’re potentially missing out on a great opportunity to make a difference in the world.

I make a point to say hello to people often—and not just to people I cross paths with in the street. For example, if I’m entering the subway and I see a maintenance worker cleaning, I’ll often stop and say, “Hi.” They probably don’t get said hello to that often by commuters, so I’m sure it brightens their day.

Looking for opportunities to say hello to people who probably don’t receive a greeting often is a great way to help them feel acknowledged and brighten their spirits.

<h2>The benefits are far reaching</h2>

All of us have challenging days where nothing seems to go right. These days can really put a damper on our spirit.

When you say hello to a stranger, there’s always a chance they’re having one of those days. A simple hello will not solve their problems, but it can certainly brighten their spirits which will be a positive for them in an otherwise challenging day.

And then, when those you’ve greeted continue with their day, they’re more likely to take with them a happier disposition. Your hello hasn’t only helped the one you’ve said hello to, but all people they’ll continue to interact with throughout their day.

<h2>You don’t have to say hello to everyone</h2>

Even though I make a point of saying “Hi” to strangers often, I don’t do it every time—and you shouldn’t expect yourself to! Sometimes you’re in a hurry, or sometimes someone else is in a hurry, or you simply intuit that they’d rather not be greeted. Other times it’s wiser for safety reasons not to draw attention to yourself.

But many times it’s a great thing to do for your fellow human being. Even if you just said hello 15% of the time you pass someone on the street, that would be a great benefit to many people. Through this simple action, you’d be improving the world.

Don’t underestimate the power a hello can have on your fellow human being. It costs you nothing, yet it brightens the spirits of others—and yourself. That’s quite the deal.

My Linux Experience!

I  was on a seminar few months back when I used Open Software for the  first
time. I had heard about the Open Software before though I hadn’t  used. This day
really was a good day for me. Had I not attended the  seminar, I would just go
on using the pirated Operating System.  When  I first knew that Linux was one of
the most powerful operating system,  which came complete free and an Open Source
then few of my friends  decided to do everything in Open Software which could be
photos  designing to  website development. It was tough in beginning as there
were no place  where we could actually learn Linux. We were guided by Sagar
Chhetri and  Hempal Shrestha, who are working as FOSS experts in Nepal. With
their  help we were able to use the Linux in an important way. That is how I 
got involved into it. In  the seminar within, I was conned about the importance
of Open Software  to poor people like we Nepalese. I then knew that it was a
kind of  lottery like to us because we shouldn’t have to pay even a single coin 
for the softwares which were so designed that they could be used to do  any kind
of works as the closed softwares like Windows and others do. Open  Software 
have very big benefit especially in a country like Nepal. The first  benefit is
that, Nepal still being very little exposed to the IT field  compared to the
western world, most of the organizations don't have much  fund to buy systems
like that of Windows Servers to make their system  computerized, they can easily
go for Open software  which  is completely free. Secondly, Organizations don't
have to keep  upgrading their hardware to keep up with the heavy and resource
hungry  OS like of Windows. Open Software have a very good future in Nepal if 
it's researched and implemented correctly and people give a serious  thought
about Open Software.

 
Today,  within this article, I have a lot to say. Firstly, I would like to 
share that the total cost to buy an Original Windows OS and MS-Office  package
is equal to 1.8 month’s average income of Nepalese people…and  who dares to buy
this? But if you want to go genuine without paying,  what you have to do is just
you migrate to Linux/Ubuntu/Kubuntu or any  other Open operating system.
Secondly, there is great risk of Viruses in  Windows OS. You can even lose your
all data you of your computer as I  did. Later, after the data are destroyed,
the only thing you can do is  just you sit beside the computer and chew out
Microsoft. But you don’t  get this problem with an Open OS. Your computer is
always safe from  threats of  viruses until Linux or any Open OS is installed.
Lastly, the best thing  of this is you can modify and use Open software as you
will. The source  code is in front of you and you can study it, modify it and
even  redistribute the modified one.

 
I have come to many people we have wrong conception about Linuxthat it's hard to
learn and use it in a daily basis like Windows.  Initially, Linux was difficult,
it didn't have any Graphical User  Interface, but now Linux is so developed that
in the Western countries,  people have started using Linux as their daily use,
just like Windows.  Another issue that I found in non-Linux users is the
compatibility of  hardwares found in the market. Linux today, supports most of
the  hardwares, and has the capability of Plug & Play like that of  Windows. The 
another most pointed out difference is that Linux is virus free. The  best part
of Linux is it's free and the source code are accessible by  anyone. This means
that a programmer can program the whole Operating  system by the way he want it.
Linux is not resource hungry, meaning, to  operate it doesn't need latest
hardwares and need only a very few  upgrades to work.

 
            In  the current scenario, the only reliable option would be using
Free Open  Source Software (FOSS) to country like ours. Unlike proprietor y 
software, FOSS applications, as evident by name are free to use, modify, 
distribute or even sell given that the terms and conditions mentioned  in the
license are well preserved. Some of the typical FOSS Applications  are Linux
Distributions, web scripting language PHP, web server APACHE,  database
management system MySQL, Postgres SQL etc. In the context of  Nepal, we do not
carry a long history of the usage of FOSS. Linux  appeared in Nepal for the
first time in 1994 A.D. For a long time, it  was taken to  be an operating
system usable only by professional programmers and  hackers. However, with the
localization of the Free Open Source Software  movement, Linux in combination
with rich desktop environments like the  GNOME and KDE and other Desktop
Applications has today become an equally  competent rival to the traditionally
predominant Windows operating  system in terms of user-friendliness and
attractive Desktop features.  NepaLinux 1.0 is one of such localized Linux
Distributions which has  GNOME 2.10 as its Desktop environment. 

 
So  that Nepal got the actual benefits of NepaLinux and similar other  attempts
of localization, what is lacking is the general awareness in  the people about
FOSS. Unfortunately, ideas and concepts on FOSS have  remained confined to few
individuals and limited organizations working  on the Open Source Program
Initiatives of few organizations like the  Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya in
promoting localized FOSS applications and  the usage of FOSS is short of wider
collaboration and support from other  organizations. However, positive
developments are going on recently in  this direction. MPP has been running a
bi-weekly talk program "Linux Ka  Kura" from the 14'th of May 2006. The talk
program has been focusing on  sharing ideas on FOSS, Open Source and Linux. The 
postings on the talk program are available at
http://nepalinux.org/content/view/21/41/.

 
With  all these good sides of Linux I guess any non-Linux users will think  once
that they should learn and know Linux better. I would be more  better if the
curriculum of computer is designed to encourage the use of  Open Software in
Nepal.

Nepali Office CD Released

Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya (MPP) released the Nepali Office CD. This consists of the localized OpenOffice.org suite in Nepali along with a few other useful Free and Open Source Software like Gimp, Gcompris, TuxType, FireFox, Thunderbird etc. The Nepali Spell Checker is also integrated in the OpenOffice.org suite. This Spell Checker has the capabilities of spell checking and providing suggestions to around 6 million Nepali words. The Nepali Office CD is believed to be an important tool for helping to migrate to Free and Open Source Software solutions