And it feels so good!

About a year ago I converted my call plan from Digi prepaid to Digi Family Postpaid, which has turned out to be a pain in the ass.

Why?

For every single change I need to make to my plan, I have totally no authorisation to do it myself, and have to get my brother – under whom my line was subbed — to do it for me!

That’s not the point. The thing is, when it is supposed to be cheaper that way, I ended up calling less and paying more with the Family postpaid plan for some reason I can’t seem to figure out.

Every month my bill came up to at least RM120 and the ironic thing is that I don’t think I was even calling that much!

Oklah I don’t wanna make it sound like Digi is mischarging me but my point is that it isn’t cheap like its seemingly promising features may suggest.

And now… *drum rolls*

THE HOT TICKET!

I swear this isn’t a paid post but I just cannot resist sharing good stuff ok!

When I was in a cab one day I was persuaded by the Indian driver into using Hotlink’s Hot Ticket. Then he went on saying how cheap it is compared to Digi and yada yada.

Well, fast-forward to me being a Hot Ticket convert now.

Despite the 15-day validity hold back, I find it super cheap to have 280 minutes (or 4 hours and 40 minutes ) of talk time and 1,000 smses for just RM30!

It is only the a week since I purchased the package and I still have an abundance of talk time left! I don’t think I can even manage to send out 1,000 smses in 15 days to be honest!

That’s just siao lor.

Well, another  downside to the Hot Ticket, on top of its short validity period, is that unused credit cannot be carried forward.

This is a guest post by John K. Taylor.

In the medical world, viruses are a nightmare. They are untreatable with antibiotics and are highly contagious, meaning that they can spread through populations very rapidly. The same attributes in an advertising campaign are a publicist’s dream.

That’s why the phrase viral marketing includes the word ‘viral’ – because it’s a method of marketing a concept that spreads widely once it’s released and is a strategy that’s hard to beat in the world of online promotion.

So, if you’re wondering how to ensure that your target audience catches on to your infectious new product or service, it may be time to consider some of the top 5 viral strategies in online marketing.

1. Controversy: At first it might sound like a way to lose customers, but, as the saying goes, ‘any publicity is good publicity’. Creating an online marketing campaign that includes unusual, surprising or shocking content can be one way of ensuring it spreads widely. Anything that causes a reaction is likely to be discussed and forwarded extensively, and in some cases, can even achieve coverage in magazines and news outlets.
2. Give-aways: Everyone loves something for free. Including elements such as easily downloadable e-books, attractive wall papers and animated banners on your website will provide widespread cost-free promotion of your brand as customers spread your message further on their blogs and social networking pages.
3. Sharing: Dynamic online marketing can include entertaining elements such as videos, audio recordings and images that include plugins to allow their easy sharing on blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. If your company has something valuable to offer and presents it in an attention-grabbing multimedia format, your customers sharing habits can take your marketing campaign a long way.
4. Games: Including interactive quizzes, branded online games and contests in your online marketing campaign will mean that your customers have an enjoyable experience while learning what your company has to offer them. Exciting interactive media elements such as these are also likely to be shared and become a topic of conversation beyond your immediate customer base.
5. Tools: Downloadable tools, such as iPhone applications, that publicise your company while also providing a useful service to customers are another great viral marketing strategy. iPhone apps are currently one of the hottest IT trends, so developing a simple, useful and innovative application that is functional, while showcasing your business, is a great opportunity for viral online marketing.

John has been working as a freelance writer for Infinite IT Solutions that has been providing online marketing Melbourne services to their clients for a decade now.