Today's etsian guide to life is what do they mean promote, promote,promote?

I think that there are several different things people mean when they say promote, promote, promote- advertising, social networking, and promotion.

Advertising is like someone taking out an ad in a magazine or an ad on a blog. It's paid, and everyone knows what's going on. Promotion is like when you put your site address in your email signature or put a business card in an ebay package. It's usually free. Social networking is when you have your twitter account with a link to your shop or comment on everyone's flickr accounts. This is less about selling and more about getting to know people and have a community. All can be good and have their benefits and drawbacks. Advertising can be expensive and may be a waste if you don't target correctly. However, if you do target correctly, it can yield big returns. Promotion can be time consuming, and cost some money[such as buying business cards or stickers to put in or own packages] but can pay off with greater awareness and sales. Social networking can take a long time, with relationships developing over months, but that can yield much fruit as people feel more comfortable and opportunities come your way.

There are as many ways to promote as there are people, and everyone will have a different way to do it. For example, you'll never see me handing out business cards, and you may never see someone else on twitter.