Business Blog by Jacquelyn Lynn
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Blog Rerun: What is your social media strategy?
Note: this is an updated version of an article originally published in January 2011: You can’t make it through a day—or even a few hours—without hearing something about social media. A social media policy for your employees is essential. A social media strategy for your company is equally—if not more—important. Do you have one? Keep these issues in mind when developing your social media strategy: • Begin with developing an overall approach to dealing with social media. The actual types of social media are likely to change, so your...
read moreWho is reading your text messages?
Do you know who is receiving your text messages? Early this morning, I received a text from a client wishing me a happy Mother’s Day. Yes, that’s odd from a number of perspectives, but this is a quirky client and I appreciated the thought. Before I could respond, I heard another text come in. It was a reply to my client’s text from someone I don’t know. Then my client replied to that. Apparently my client sent his Mother’s Day message to 10 people — and when one of the others replied, it went to everyone...
read moreWhy You Need Written, Detailed Contracts – Even with People You Trust
Last November, I went to small claims court and sued a lawyer for non-payment. After some wrangling, we settled with both of us feeling ripped off. In retrospect, we could have avoided all the ugliness – and perhaps even still be working together – if we had written and both signed a contract that detailed the project and clearly defined what was included (and not included) in my fee, along with our respective obligations and responsibilities for moving the work forward. Our primary point of contention had to do with revisions. He retained...
read moreWords Are Powerful Weapons – Use Them With Care
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. You probably learned this rhyme as a child and maybe chanted it to a playmate who was teasing you. It would be nice if it were true, but it’s not. Words can hurt. They can also help. However words are used, they’re powerful. And their strength comes not only in how other people talk to you, but in how you talk to them — and how you talk to yourself. For example, I don’t have problems. Problems are negative, they’re anchors that can drag you down....
read moreA Social Media Tip for Constant Contact Users
If you use the “social media shares” feature of Constant Contact, here’s a tip: Edit the announcement that will go out on your social media channels. The basic default message promotes Constant Contact (example: with a hash tag for Twitter and “check out my latest Constant Contact campaign” for Facebook). You can edit that language to promote your company or event. Here’s how to do it: On the “email settings” page where you set your subject line and select the list(s) you want to send to, scroll...
read moreBrown-bagging your direct mail marketing
A while back I posted a blog about “camel mail,” which is a direct mail technique of making your piece lumpy so recipients are curious enough to open it and find out what’s in it. Recently I received a piece that took a slightly different spin on that concept: The “envelope” was a brown paper bag. The pitch was from a non-profit with the mission of feeding hungry children around the world, linking the concept of brown-bagging your lunch to helping starving children. And it got my attention. In spite of — and...
read moreJob Hunting Tip: Create a Facebook Business Page
Recently a friend asked me to review her resume before she sent it to a prospective employer. As part of her contact information, she included the url for her blog and her LinkedIn profile. A good idea — but one that could be taken a step further. Consider these two suggestions before you send out another resume: Include a social media section with a list of urls that you want a prospective employer to see. Set up a Facebook page (not profile) for your professional identity. There’s been a lot of chatter in the media lately about...
read moreWhen It’s Time to Fire a Customer
Ever had a customer whose nuisance value exceeded his profit potential? Or who demanded champagne service at beer prices? The fact is that some customers just aren’t worth it — but how do you deal with such a situation? The first step is recognizing that the relationship needs to end. Some of the signs that suggest you may want to take that step include: The client doesn’t respect or appreciate your work. They make excessive demands on your company and staff. They are not fair-minded in either their expectations or what they...
read moreRightsize is Right Strategy
Orange Mayor Jacobs shakes up staff, plans layoffs That’s the headline of an article in today’s Orlando Sentinel about a plan to streamline various county government operations. The Sentinel reporter focused on job losses (of course). He wrote: “Among the major shake-ups was a push to ‘right-size’ the county human-resources offices by shrinking them from 10 to six offices within various departments, resulting in 16 job losses. The county’s fiscal-services branch also is expected to lose a similar number of...
read moreBlog Rewind: The Truth About the FairTax
I wrote the following blog in 2006. Not much has changed — especially the fact that the FairTax would solve most of our economic problems and allow business owners to focus on growing their companies and creating jobs instead of worrying about their tax strategies. Grassroots support for the FairTax Act (H.R. 25) is growing, prompting those who are afraid of it to distort the facts and engage in fear-mongering. Let’s look at the truth about the FairTax: The FairTax will replace our current federal taxes with a federal retail sales tax...
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Jacquelyn Lynn is a talented, accomplished business writer and ghostwriter whose credits include more than 25 traditional books, 3,000+ magazine articles, ebooks, blogs, white papers, and more.
For more information on how to put Jacquelyn's writing skills to work for your organization, please call (407) 971-2260 or email Jacquelyn@ContactTCS.com.