If you have made any of these common mistakes, don’t worry! With each posting, I will tell you how to quickly and inexpensively fix the problem.

Common Mistake #2 – Poor Use of Email Signatures

I see this one ALL the time, and it drives me nuts because it is so easy to correct!

I want you to think about your email signature text in a new way. Consider it as a FREE ad about your company that is included with every single message you send.

1) Does it include all the right info including such basics as: name, title, company, address, phone, fax, website, social media links?

2) Does it look professional? Is the text easy to read? Make sure your formatting looks good.

3) Are you reminding people about what services you offer or what you do? It is easy to summarize this information and have it automatically included in every message.

4) If you work for a company with more than one employee, are all the company email signatures consistent to help reinforce your brand? I often see strange adaptations of this info for people at the same company and it just makes me shake my head.

5) If you reply to emails using your phone, please avoid any non-professional language in the email signature for this, as well. I doubt you will want to recreate your normal email signature for this application, but please refrain from creating something that detracts from your professionalism.

If you need inspiration, just go through your inbox and look at all the messages you receive and see what email signatures you like. Please don’t copy, but use them for inspiration to develop your own unique signature.

How to Change Your Signature in Outlook

Select “Tools”

Select “Options”

Select “Mail Format”

Select “Signatures”

Type in your info and save it. Test it until you get it right!

Because I send out emails on behalf of various clients, I have several email signatures I use. You can create as many as you need.

You can also use a “signature” to create a form letter you use on a regular basis. Just type the entire letter in the signature area and close with your normal signature. You simply select this signature option whenever you want to use the letter. It is a quick and easy way to send out standard letters.

If you have made any of these common mistakes, don’t worry! With each posting, I will tell you how to quickly and inexpensively fix the problem.

Common Mistake #1 – Non Business-Related Email Address 

I see this one ALL the time, and it is sooooo easy to fix.

If you are using an email address for your business that ends in @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, @bellsouth.com, etc., please STOP.

You are not representing your company as professionally as you could easily be doing.

If you already have a website, many service providers will offer an email package along with your hosting package that will make your email “match” your URL. In many cases, the email package is already included in what you are paying. If not, it should be a nominal amount to add it.

But, what if you don’t have your website set up yet? Or, what if your host does not offer an email option you like?

Fear not, Google Apps has a FREE solution!

With Google Apps, you can create an email address with your domain name for free (for up to 10 user accounts with one organization).

If you have already reserved a domain name, it will take a little time to get it verified and set up, but it is still free.

If you have not reserved a domain name, you can easily do it through Google (or a multitude of other sources) for a nominal fee.

To learn more, please go to the Google Apps page and select the Gmail option.

If you are already using an email that matches your domain name, that’s great news. I’ll be posting more common problems next week, so please check back!

So, I made a resolution to update my website this year. A friend, who developed my previous site, suggested I look into WordPress.

After doing some quick research, it turns out a LOT of folks are doing websites on WordPress, even though it was designed as a blogging platform. Granted, you have to do some modifications to make it LOOK like a website and not a blog. However, I easily found LOTS of articles and tips.

In order to streamline the design process and save time though, I opted to use a template. I researched a lot of companies, but I preferred the templates from a company called StudioPress. I fell in love with their Agency Child Theme and felt I could easily modify the template to recreate my website. After reading the reviews, it sounded as if the company had a reputation for not only good looking templates, but also for SOLID code behind them (which is important). The template and Genesis framework was only $79.95 (as of January 2012).

Please note, I could have used a FREE template from WordPress (and spent lots of time tweaking it). Or, I could have purchased a less expensive template from another company…there are MANY options. However, I felt the Agency template hit the mark and was backed by a good company, so I was DELIGHTED to make a small investment in a quality template.

To use a third party template, like I selected, my site HAD to be hosted with a separate web hosting company (not through WordPress). I use 1&1 because I like their dashboard, their service is inexpensive and their customer service is good.

Once I got the template installed, (which was a little tricky because it had to be uploaded to my host server, and I am virtually illiterate when it come to the backend tech stuff), I was able to go back into the WordPress dashboard and quickly create the pages and add in photos. The interface is intuitive and very easy to use.

However, when it came time to customize, there were some things I didn’t understand. I could have taken the time to read every “how to” guide, but I decided to hire a WordPress expert who has been GREAT. Eugene Oprea is very dependable and his rates are very reasonable. I highly recommend his work!

Now, I can change my copy and photos whenever I want! And, I have a fully integrated blog that is super easy to use!

WordPress is not the solution for everyone. However, for many small and mid-sized businesses, the combination of using a good template (to save time and money) and the flexibility WordPress offers in terms of easily updating content is an IDEAL and inexpensive solution.

10 Great Reasons to Send Out a News Release

• Winning an Award
• Placing in a Competition or Ranking on a List
• Adding or Promoting an Employee
• Gaining a Certification
• Adding a New Client or Project
• Promoting a Grand Opening, New Office or Expansion
• Publicizing a Special Event (pre or post event releases both work)
• Promoting a New Product or Service
• Publicizing Involvement as a Speaker or Exhibitor at a Trade Show
• Announcing Pro Bono or Community Service Work

I distribute releases via PRWeb (an online distribution source) and I email the releases directly to the appropriate editors, as well. PRWeb helps get the releases picked up in Google and Yahoo, etc. and has great results in supporting SEO initiatives. Plus, my clients still like to see their news “in print” when we can get it…so also emailing the editors at traditional print publications directly is still important.

My clients and I use the links from PRWeb to easily share the releases on LinkedIn, Twitter, facebook, etc. With advanced-level releases from PRWeb, social media sharing is embedded in the releases, as well.

To see a variety of news release samples, please visit and “like” my facebook business page and scroll down to see all types of press release examples posted on my wall.

There are a multitude of  helpful “how to” guides online if you want to learn how to create your own releases. For ongoing campaigns and higher-level directed pitches to specific publications, hiring a  PR consultant or Public Relations firm can be a very wise investment.

There is a famous saying (author unknown) that sums up the value of PR most  succinctly, “Advertising is what you pay for, publicity is what you pray for.”

Good luck in sharing your news and gaining all the great publicity you deserve!

It was easy to set up the page. I found a “how to” article by doing a Google search, and I simply followed the steps. It is important to set up the page as a business (not as a person) to make it more visible and help with SEO.

In two years, I’ve attracted 200+ fans to my Tilt Marketing facebook page. I have simply used the “invite friends” link on the business page itself that allows me to send an invitation to all my personal facebook friends. Occasionally, I cross-promote the business page on my regular page and/or LinkedIn profile and ask people to like it. I also list it in the email signature on all my email messages.

For content, I try to keep it fun and interesting, but ALWAYS with a focus on marketing. My posts are designed to be educational, but I try to keep it as “light” as possible because we are dealing with SOCIAL media!

So, after my personal experiment, do I recommend business facebook pages for b-2-b marketing?

Yes,  but with caveats.

If you do the page in-house, make sure the person who manages it doesn’t abuse facebook time. You don’t want to pay an employee for “playing” on facebok, but they will need some time to set up the page, plan the posts and reply appropriately.

You want to have a “plan” for the page. What do you hope to accomplish? What type of posts are you going to make? How frequently do you want to post? How do you plan to attract people and get them to like your page?

Return on investment (ROI) is tough to really measure when you have a COMPREHENSIVE marketing plan with facebook (and other social media) playing a supporting PART. I hear about all the metrics and I see my own charts showing what my page has done (blah, blah, blah), but I can’t directly point to facebook and say I got a project or client from using it.

However, I DO believe it helps me connect with my clients and prospects in a unique way. Creating interesting posts FORCES me to stay on top of industry trends and be able to share that information, which ultimately makes me a BETTER consultant. I feel there is strong value, but it is hard to measure the exact ROI.

In my opinion, a business facebook page can be a helpful part of a comprehensive marketing strategy if you develop a plan and set reasonable expections for the ROI.

So, I’m happy to celebrate my page’s 2nd Birthday, and I look forward to doing it for many years to come!

My desire for “firsthand” experience also goes beyond just doing what I tell clients to do. I also use my own company as a guinea pig to test resources before using them with my clients.

My latest guinea pig experience has been a very helpful test to evaluate WordPress (known as more of a blogging platform) for use in creating my own company’s website. (It was actually a suggestion of my ex husband, so I owe some thanks to Lee.)

I have learned a tremendous amount in a short period of time, and I have made some mistakes that cost me hours. I plan to write about my mistakes and my a-ha moments.

All in all, I love the ability to update my own content (control freak, that I am), and I am very excited about sharing marketing and public relations tips that might help others.

I hope you check back soon and find some helpful pointers!

Your Guinea Pig,

Lori Tilt