I hate it when I make mistakes. I really beat myself up about it. Oh, I do all the right post-mistake things – figure out how it happened, plan to make sure it won’t happen again, apologize if necessary, and so on. But I have a hard time dealing with it when my performance [...]
Email marketing experts suggest that the "from" line of your emails be something that your recipients will recognize: If readers know you personally, it should be your name; if they don't, make it your organization's name. That's not ground-breaking advice. But take it one step further and check out how your email might look in [...]
You have contingency plans in place for when things go wrong, but what will you do when things go right – or better than right? What will you do when your performance exceeds your expectations? Companies that experience rapid and unexpected growth often stumble. Here’s how to be sure that doesn’t happen to you: [...]
Business is about relationships, and relationships begin with introductions. The good news is that the old social rules about gender and age don't apply to effective introductions in today's online and offline business world. These days, it's all based on precedence. In other words, rank rates. When you perform an introduction, the "less important" [...]
Email is quick, casual and convenient–and a potential minefield. An email gaffe can be amusing, embarrassing or even career-ending. Use these guidelines for proper email etiquette to make sure your electronic messages don’t come back to haunt you: Remember that readers cannot hear your tone of voice or see your facial expressions and gestures. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Full disclosure: I'm a ghostwriter. I write books, articles, blogs and more that are published under my clients' names. Using a ghostwriter is a smart move for busy executives, professionals and subject matter experts who need to publish material but don't have the time and/or writing skills to do it themselves. One caveat: If you [...]
Press releases can be a powerful weapon in your marketing and public relations arsenal. Just be sure you don't shoot yourself in the foot with them. I can’t count the number of press releases I’ve written over the years in my career as a business writer--and it’s almost as hard to count the number [...]
Have you decided to hit the speaking circuit to promote your product or service? Congratulations! Giving talks is a powerful, effective way to enhance your reputation and grow your business. Once you’re booked, these tips will help you be a speaker who is applauded, referred and invited back: 1. Provide appropriate promotional materials in [...]
