Some would read the phrase ‘email marketing’ and grimace in distaste. But it doesn’t have to be that way. When used tastefully, email newsletters can add a personal touch to the persona of your company. You can summarize the content of your blog, give teasers into what your company is working on, or simply share stories about the experiences of your team. Any one of these types of content can make your users feel closer to your organization — I know this from my own personal experience with the companies that I admire.

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Everyone has customers. Even if you work in a large corporation and your work is encompassed in some large internal process, you still have customers — your coworkers around you whose work is dependent on yours.

And when you have customers, you will have needs related to each of them. Whether tracking communication and interactions, remembering tasks related to each customer, making sales, or arranging meetings, you’ll be more effective at what you do if you have good tools and solid processes in place.

From personal experience with starting a business, I know this is one area that I need to improve on. (more…)

Starting your own company can be an exhilarating experience. The excitement of creating something of your own and working with people you admire often gets you through each day, even under a heavy workload. But running your own show has its costs.

As the head cheese, it’s your job to make sure your team — big or small — is supported by your infrastructure. The tools your team uses every day should increase effectiveness, not hinder it. The same goes for your processes — how you use your tools. (more…)

One of the neat things about business online is that you can keep a close eye on your competition. You get to inspect their sites and sample their service in a totally anonymous environment. There are also an abundance of tools for analysing and tracking competitors, allowing you to quantify their traffic, see how their site has changed, find out details about their domain, be alerted when they are in the press and lots of other things. (more…)