But really, WHY USE EMAIL MARKETING?  Real-life successes speak louder than business jargon.  Here are 6 successes we have personally seen within the last 6 months resulting from email marketing we have done on behalf of others:

1. A new customer resulting from the very 1st newsletter.
2. A grand opening that attracted more attendees than expected.
3. Payment of a past due bill from a prior client.
4. A referral which led to a significant contract.
5. A new project from an inactive client.
6. 33% of website traffic directly resulting from email marketing, with both time & page engagement higher than that of other sources.

What do the above represent? New revenue, reduced accounts receivable, increased market share, customer engagement, increased awareness, and referrals.  So the real question is not why use email marketing, but why should YOU use email marketing?

About the Author:  Linda D’Angelo is owner of Advanced Administrative Services, LLC and AAS Training Solutions, LLC.  Working collaboratively with you, her small dynamic team helps you achieve your business goals!  Marketing support, social media & email marketing, alongside the necessary business support services every small business needs:  presentations, spreadsheets & reporting, word documentation, and data management.  Advanced Administrative Services is a Constant Contact Solution Provider.

Have you ever had concerns about the photographs or pictures that you are using in your newsletters, articles or blogs? Sure, they look great… but are you using them legally?

This is a question and concern for many business owners.  The more you research the topic, the more you realize the risks, implications and challenges. Frankly, this topic seems to be the ‘elephant’ in the room.  We need to talk about it.  In the back of our minds we know there are risks, we know that perhaps we need to do things a bit differently.  Perhaps we tell ourselves ‘everybody’ uses images from the web. We need better resources and direction from the experts. I have yet to see a single workshop offered at any of the social media events or conferences I have attended on this topic.

I personally think this is less of an ethical problem and more of a lack of education.  An example:  the common advice that you can google ‘free images & xxxxx’ to locate free images is a misconception and is not sound advice.  To locate images on google that you can use commercially you must use the google advanced search and then set the usage rights to ‘free to use or share, even commercially.’   You will notice a drastic change in volume and quality of images available.

We are not legal experts and are not providing any legal advice.  What we have done is simply compile a few resources that are worth your time to look into. In the end, it is ultimately your responsibility to ensure the legality of the images you use.

Highly Recommend: Learn about Creative Commons-licensed content in Don Crowther’s video on How to Find Pictures Online.  He explains the importance of using images legally and how to use tools such as Flickr to locate images you can legally use commercially.  This is an 11 minute video, but one that may be worth watching multiple times.  Did you know that proper attribution may be required in order to use these ‘free’ images?  Don explains the why and the technical how.  If you use images from the web for any purpose, this is a must watch.

Here are two resources that list places to find free, legal images for the web.  Be sure to read the terms & conditions for each product.  Inclusion on the lists does not mean that all images are free, only that you can access some free images under certain conditions.

• Caitlin Muir’s 11 Places to Get a Free and Legal Photo for Your Blog is a great reference.  She makes the valid point that if you cannot afford to purchase a stock photo, you cannot afford the fines related to stealing an image.
• 7 Places to Find Free, Legal Images for the Web, as provided on James Dunaway's BloggingPro site, provides a quick overview.

Let’s face it.  Free images, like Social Media, are not really free. You must have the time and/or staffing to search for appropriate images.  If you find the ‘free’ images to be too time consuming, too confusing, or just too risky, consider purchasing stock photos from a source such as Shutterstock.  There are still limitations, but if you have questions as to the legality of use, you can talk with their customer service area for direction.

Avoid any legal actions that can be brought against you as a result of using images illegally or without the permission of the artist. There are too many free to low cost ways to get the images you need.

About the Author:  Linda D’Angelo is owner of Advanced Administrative Services, LLC and AAS Training Solutions, LLC.  Working collaboratively with you, her small dynamic team helps you achieve your business goals!  Marketing support, social media & email marketing, alongside the necessary business support services every small business needs:  presentations, spreadsheets & reporting, word documentation, and data management.

There are numerous ways to grow your permission-based list. But let’s focus on one that is perfect for the springtime!

Tradeshows:  Tradeshows and springtime are synonymous.  If you have a booth display at a tradeshow, here are 5 quick tips for growing your email list:

1. Display a ‘Text to Sign-up' code.  That’s right.  Encourage attendees signup on the spot!   There are tools that allow you to create a Text Code to sign-up for your newsletter.  Try it out now:  Text "ADMINSRVC" to 22828 to sign-up for our Tuesday Tips newsletter.
2. Have a signup sheet for individuals to write their email address and name.  Make sure you follow-up quickly after the tradeshow with a newsletter with valuable information and/or discount.
3. Have a fishbowl to collect business cards. Promote that by dropping the business card in the fishbowl, they are signing up to receive your exclusive news and discounts.  You can ‘double duty’ the use of the fish bowl by pulling one card for a ‘grand’ prize.
4. Print and display a QR code that attendees can scan while visiting your booth. This can be tempting for some attendees to pull out their phone to scan and go!  
5. Offer something of value to everyone who signs up for your newsletter.  This could be a special discount, a white paper, a webinar or perhaps a chance to win a larger prize.  Be creative!  

Not displaying at a tradeshow?  That’s ok.  Some of these same concepts still apply.  Create a ‘business card’ size flyer to market your newsletter.  You can leave this with vendors or hand to other attendees.  Include your webpage url that displays your newsletter signup, as well as your Text to Signup code and QR Code.

So whether you are displaying or attending a springtime tradeshow, set a goal of how many permission based individuals you would like to add to your list.  Go out there, have fun… and don’t forget to return the favor!  You just might pick up some great information and discounts from other newsletters.

Spring Promotion: Receive a 30% off website match email template and download a white paper to help you with your email marketing and content management needs.

About the Author:  Linda D’Angelo is owner of Advanced Administrative Services, LLC and AAS Training Solutions, LLC.  Working collaboratively with you, her small dynamic team helps you achieve your business goals!  Marketing support, social media & email marketing, alongside the necessary business support services every small business needs:  presentations, spreadsheets & reporting, word documentation, and data management.
 

I had the pleasure of attending a workshop at Chatham University CWE alongside Maryanne Barnes.  Maryanne recently published the book “A Cat is Better than a Boyfriend Except for Sex”. It was at the workshop that Maryanne shared the wisdom of “not always expecting excellence of yourself” with the attendees.  The application in this blog is my own interpretation.  

Maryanne stressed that when working with others, keep in mind that they are doing the best that they can at that point in time.  When you think about this, you begin to realize how the art of communicating and reciprocating can benefit a business relationship.  Perhaps we would all benefit from a little bit of mutual support.

Some of the benefits in accepting that you are doing the best that you can AND that others are doing the same versus demanding excellence of yourself and those around you, include:  

• You can genuinely celebrate your success
• Your relationships with others will improve
• You will radiate happiness, confidence and contentment rather than anger, stress, and/or annoyance
• You will enjoy sincere compliments
• You will accomplish more work and work more efficiently

If we are continually striving to be excellent in everything we do, we can sometimes overlook that we have done very well for ourselves.  If someone tells you how great you are, accept it.  Don’t demand excellence of yourself!  Accept your accomplishments one by one and celebrate the little victories… there is no need to repeatedly tell yourself “I should have done better”.  You did the best you could.

Accepting the best you can do at a given time is not an excuse not to do your best, but rather realizing that sometimes the best we can do at that point in time is ok.  The pursuit of excellence should never be an excuse from reaching beyond our comfort levels, from taking a risk, from risking failure or success, or from enjoying our accomplishments.  Consider the following as examples:

• I just signed a new client, but I should have packaged the product differently
• I am going to expand my product offering… as soon as I perfect my marketing materials
• I will approach my top few prospects…as soon as I get ‘all my ducks in order’
• I will roll out a social media plan… as soon as I learn all the details of running a successful campaign

Now it’s your turn.  Take a moment and fill in the blanks regarding one business or personal activity that you have been meaning to complete for some time:  When it comes to _______, I tend to let the pursuit of excellence get in the way, when really I am avoiding the fear of ______!  You know what to do now, take action and complete the activity.  My guess is, even if the results are not perfect, they will be EXCELLENT!  And guess what, that is reason to celebrate.

Share your input on Facebook.

About the Author:  Linda D’Angelo is owner of Advanced Administrative Services, LLC and AAS Training Solutions, LLC.  Her small dynamic team can do the work for you, from marketing support to word processing to presentations to spreadsheets and reporting.  Certified on many of the Microsoft Office products, Linda has developed and copyrighted hands on, interactive training workshops on the Office products, and enjoys sharing her knowledge with operational teams, administrative support individuals, business owners and non-profit managers.
 

For the full process:  6 Steps to Mail Merge

Here are a few other ideas for when to use mail merges:

• Any personalized letter (donors, thank you letters, campaigns, request for information, etc.)
• Envelopes
• Mailing labels
• Directory of addresses
• Product listings
• Email mailings
• ***Be creative - dollar amounts, product codes, any database content you would insert into a letter or directory

You can use mail merge any time you want to use content from certain information fields stored in one document, such as Excel or Access, and include one or more of those fields into a preformatted document. 

Example:  You have 100 contacts in document A and you have this great sales letter, we'll call document B.  You don't want to have to manually type 100 different prospect names and addresses into a form letter.  So you complete a mail merge to take the names and addresses from the source document (document A) and merge them into the Letter (document B) to create or print the merged letters (document C).  It's that simple!

About the Author:  Linda D’Angelo is owner of Advanced Administrative Services, LLC and AAS Training Solutions, LLC.  Her small dynamic team can do the work for you, from marketing support to word processing to presentations to spreadsheets and reporting.  Certified on many of the Microsoft Office products, Linda has developed and copyrighted hands on, interactive training workshops on the Office products, and enjoys sharing her knowledge with operational teams, administrative support individuals, business owners and non-profit managers.

Now, the goal is to replace one client each year with a client who is a better fit for your current business objectives and goals.  Your criteria for what constitutes a good fit may be unique to your business. 

Do you have a client who:

• does not utilize your core services?
• is a real “time hog?”
• utilizes only one small aspect of your total services?
• is not profitable?

If you cannot convert this client to a more full-service, profitable customer, perhaps it’s time to REPLACE them.  Consider working with the existing client to match them with a service provider who specializes in their area of need, and then focus on replacing that client with one who matches your business objectives.  Not only will you see an immediate increase in profit, but it is possible that you will have access to a fresh network of business contacts associated with the new client.  It is likely that this new network will also be a better match for your company.

It can initially feel uncomfortable to 'let a client go.'  Chances are, however, that if it was not a great business fit for you, the client might also benefit from working with a new provider.

Make it a point each year to reevaluate your clients in terms of your long-term goals and overall profitability.

What is a Pivot Table?

Pivot Tables allow you 'slice and dice' large amounts of data to quickly answer the questions you have about your business.  Pivot Tables allow you to view a large amount of data from many different perspectives. For example, you can view revenue by product, then by region, then by sales manger, etc.  With Pivot Tables, you can summarize, group, filter, sort data, add calculations, subtotals and grand totals to all your data summaries. 

PivotTables are the perfect solution when:

1. You need flexibility so that you can quickly produce different reports (summaries of data) using the same source data
2. You are reporting on data which uses the same structure, but updates frequently (such as when you receive new daily, weekly or monthly data to replace the source data on a regular basis)

We have compiled a 10 Step Summary on how to build Pivot Tables.  Once you have learned the details of building Pivot Tables, this summary can be referenced to help you build your Pivot Tables more confidently and efficiently.  We can train you and your team how to execute the details of each step.  We can even walk you through the process using your own data. We also have the capability to create the tables for you.

My husband and I recently adopted two puppies.  They’re litter mates with two distinct personalities, and people respond differently to each of them.

Is it possible that others respond to you just like you EXPECT to be treated?

• Do you expect respect?
• Do you expect others to see the value you offer?
• Do you see opportunity everywhere you look?
• Do you expect others to see you as a leader?
• Do you expect business partners to want to work with you?

Maybe the world doesn’t always revolve around our expectations, but if you’re not getting the response you expect, perhaps it’s time to evaluate YOUR view of the world.  A few adjustments in your expectations and your world view could just change how the world responds to you.  Peppie and Josie's Facebook page

Notification of upcoming Social Media Event by Two Pittsburgh Companies: 

If you would like to learn first-hand how Social Media can be a significant income generator, I encourage you to attend a unique workshop that will dispel myths that social media is a time waster.  Two locally owned businesses have joined forces to empower businesses with tangible and practical ways to use Social Media Strategies to increase sales and income.

Bryan Whittington of Peak Performance Management and Cindy Rack of Social Voice Marketing will present a two hour workshop on July 26 at the Rivers Club.  This workshop will teach:

• The 4 steps that buyers use to frustrate every sales effort
• The reasons why traditional sales models are losing effectiveness
• 7 easy ways to take back control of the selling process
• Reveal shopping and buying trends using Google Analytics
• How to use LinkedIn Groups to increase sales, leads and traffic
• How to market with social media in just 15 minutes a day

Registration Link    Social Media Flyer

Not sure if you are being objective? Then ask a friend or business colleague to help with this test. You just might be surprised at what you find!

1. PHONES: Call your phone(s) – are you satisfied with the hold time, the hold music, how the phone was answered?  If not, make the applicable changes and make sure your staff is trained to present the image you desire.
2. AUTOMATED PHONE SYSTEM:  Do you have an automated phone system?  Pretend you are a customer and try the system from their perspective.  Is it easy to use or do you get frustrated?  If you get frustrated, you may be losing out on potential business.
3. WEB REQUESTS/ORDERING: Does your website allow for requests or ordering?  Then process a request and/or order today.  Was it easy?  If you processed a request, was the turn-around time acceptable, poor or great?
4. OFFICE BUILDING: Do you accept customers, prospects and/or business partners in your office?  Then pretend you are a customer the next time you walk into your office, meeting area and lobby.  Do these rooms present a professional image, or are they disorderly, out-dated or messy?  The atmosphere should match your desired image, whether that is creative, professional or fun.
5. OFFICE BUILDING / COMPETITOR VIEWPOINT:  Enter your office pretending that you are a competitor.  Are you able to pick up on any trade secrets, special systems, or other information that would give a competitor posing as a prospect an edge?
6. WEBSITE:  Review your website from the perspective of a prospect.  Based on the website, what are 3 key words that describe your business?  Do these words match what you are trying to accomplish with the website?  Is it easy to navigate your website?  Does the layout invoke the image you desire?  Does the content reflect your up-to-date information?
7. THE FINAL TEST:  Based on your experiences with the above tests, would YOU do business with YOUR Company?  If yes, congratulations!  If not, you now have a specific list of items to address.  
8. AND LAST:  Schedule an appointment to complete this test again in six months.  Don't procrastinate, do it now.