Promote Yourself

Dane Jeffrey Cook (born March 18, 1972) is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. Raised in the Boston suburb of Arlington, MA, Cook began his career at age 18, honing his craft on the college and comedy club circuits. A firm believer in connecting personally with his fans, Cook became one of the first comics to develop and maintain his own website to reach out to audiences.

Cook started to promote himself with an AOL chat name and a single page website. He promoted his website as much as possible. He said his online marketing started with just one guy after a show that started chatting to him online via AOL chat. Cook spent 45 minutes chatting online with the fan.

Over time, Cook kept adding friends via AOL and eventually on MySpace where he grew in popularity. His relentless salesmanship was key to his success. When he was able to afford it, he spent more than $25,000 to "erect an eponymous Web site full of interactive features, including regular ‘Danecasts.'"

Cook used his online network to get the attention of Hollywood executives. After securing a few deals he founded Superfinger Entertainment in order to produce his own albums and videos.

He still spends time answering fans' emails and works tirelessly to remain accessible through blogs, podcasts, and free downloads of his routines.

As a result of his efforts, danecook.com now receives over 500,000 hits per month and his MySpace following has grown to an unprecedented community of 2,300,000 friends.

Questions To Ask Yourself

• Cook learned to promote himself starting with just one person. Can you identify a starting point, no matter how small, to promote yourself? 
• Are you comfortable promoting yourself? If not, why do you think you feel this way?   What steps can you take to make yourself comfortable about promoting yourself?
• What are some of the various ways you could promote yourself and your ideas?
• How do you feel about people that promote themselves?