The social web pond

The social web platforms offer us a chance to engage directly and regularly with new and existing customers or clients, to put them first in the queue for special offers or new products, and to make it easy for them to share our content with their friends. But rather than let the first question be a case of choosing whether to launch a Facebook group, start a company blog, or register on Twitter, it should be to ask just how much time, resources, and budget we’re willing to commit – now and in the long term.

Read more

The conveyor belt

Delivering content straight to the inboxes of customers who, at some stage, have shown an interest in our services is a prospect that can so often prove too tempting to pass up. But like the musician who releases a fantastic first album when most of their tracks were penned years ago – back when they were a lovesick teenager at college – we may have enough great content in the well to fill up three months worth of newsletters, but what about the next quarter?

Read more

Copyright infringements: a polite approach

I had a client contact me a few months ago with concerns over a website that had, by all accounts, unceremoniously airlifted in huge great quantities of their written content. Now, far be it from me to advise on exactly what to do when they ask what the next steps are in this kind of situation, but before we begin to entertain the prospect of infringement proceedings and mounting legal costs surely there’s a polite and civil way to go about resolving these things?

Read more