This month's marketing tip is really simple and it is not meant to be a sales pitch. It's just meant to inform you of the ease and effectiveness of emails through Constant Contact. This is our second year using Constant Contact and we have grown our contact list as well as our open and click-through rates tremendously. This e-newsletter has proven to be a very effective way for us to get information to our clients and colleagues about tax law changes, events we are hosting and services we offer. We also use it as an outlet to share helpful tips and trends so that you, our reader, will continue to view SME as a trusted resource. Surely there is something you'd like your customers to know. I'm sure you wouldn't mind being in front of them periodically - once a month, once a quarter, etc. Constant Contact makes sharing your knowledge and your offerings simple and trackable and allows you to stay at the top of your customers' minds. If you've been contemplating an email campaign, you shouldn't anymore. It works. Click here to find out more.

IT security continues to increase in importance as more of our business and personal information is available to the web. How many times has someone in your office clicked on a phishing email and accidentally infected their computer with a virus on some other malware? It happens occasionally and worse, sometimes it evens gets spread around the office to other users. Doing so means lots of downtime as computers may have to be wiped and set completely back up.

All users should be very cautious when opening any email that looks suspect or comes from an address they don't recognize. Don't click on hyperlinks or attachments unless they are sure of the source. Downloading a file from the web can be even more dangerous. Make sure to keep your security components updated as new threats are identified and addressed daily. What are some of these absolutely essential security components? 

• Firewalls
• Antivirus protection
• Spyware protection
• Software updates (especially Windows updates)
• Email spam filters

Bottom line, all users should think first and click later!