Groff NetWorks News:: April 2012

April 2012

Lauren's Corner

Win It! A Monthly Trivia Prize

Get Your E-mail Broadcasts Opened

(Not) Getting Nickeled and Dimed

Cloud Apps

Shiny New Gadget Of The Month: MyFitnessPal.com

Office Notes

Lauren's Corner

It's definitely spring, so we thought we'd do some spring cleaning and give our newsletter a little makeover. We moved my corner to the top, here (I know you used to just scroll to the bottom, anyway, to see cute kid pictures like the one below!). Read Erika's thoughts on getting nickeled and dimed on page two. In coming months, you will see more new content. Next month, for example, Erika will review Meg Cadoux Hirschberg's new book, For Better of For Work: A Survival Guide for Entrepreneurs and Their Families (Meg's husband, Gary Hirschberg, founded Stonyfield Yogurt). Enjoy, and let me know what you think of our new newsletter at: news@groffnetworks.com

Lauren 10.2011

Lauren Groff, Groff NetWorks

Photo of the Month*

Photo of the month_April 2012

*For an out take of this photo session, see below in Office Notes.

Who Wants to Win A Pair

of Movie Tickets? Take Our Monthly

Trivia Challenge!

We had no trivia winner for the month of March! Although several people entered, no one guessed the correct answer to our question below:

What does the circle in the center of the Celtic cross represent?

a) The circle of life

b) The sun

c) Never-ending hope

d) Window of opportunity

The answer is "b": The Sun

Now, here's your chance to win a pair of movie tickets!

This Month's Trivia:

What event directly caused the creation of "April Fool's Day"?

a) The addition of January, February & March to the original calendar

b) A huge snow blizzard that occurred on April 1, 1909

c) A series of jokes played on candidates on April 1 during a political campaign

Email us right now with your answer!

trivia@groffnetworks.com

Please note: One prize per entrant per year. Entrants who have won a trivia contest in the last 12 months are ineligible to compete for prizes.

Get Your E-mail Broadcasts Opened, Delivered And Responded To

Despite all the spam, e-mail is still the workhorse of online marketing. As a business owner, the lure of fast, cheap and easy communication to hundreds, if not thousands, of customers is too hard to resist. But e-mail is certainly not a "perfect" media. Response percentages are low to non-existent, and you can quickly make a lot of people angry if you don't use it properly.

First and foremost, get your customers to give you their permission to e-mail them. Sounds obvious, but many salespeople are using LinkedIn or other sneaky ways to garner e-mails online for prospects they've never met or talked to. If you don't mind making a handful of people REALLY angry with you, this might be an okay strategy. However, if you want to build a good relationship with the people you are trying to sell your services to, then work hard to EARN their attention, not steal it.

So how do you do that? By offering some type of valuable information or entertaining content to them in exchange for their e-mail address. This could be a "how to" webinar, eBook or buyers guide. For example, a realtor could offer a monthly newsletter on home sales and home values for their neighborhood. A vet could offer a free report on "How To Solve The Top Three Misbehaviors In Dogs" or "How To Choose The Perfect Cat." A restaurant could offer coupons and specials exclusively for their newsletter subscribers, along with recipes and invitations to VIP client events. This type of information should be offered on what's called an "opt-in" page.

Once you have their e-mail address, don't abuse it by sending boring, off-target spam. That means you'll have to work hard to consistently come up with good, valuable and interesting content, or subscribers will ignore, delete and opt out of your list fast. And, finally, make sure you have clear opt-out instructions on every e-mail you send, along with your full contact information; the law requires this and it's just good online etiquette.

(Not) Getting Nickeled and Dimed

By Erika Groff

Last year, we took our kids on a summer vacation. We stayed at a lakeside motel with plenty of amenities. Unfortunately, we had to pay extra for those little things: ice, ping pong balls for the ping pong table, shampoo. Even though the charges were nominal, it was irritating. I would have rather paid a higher room rate per night to simply have all of these little conveniences included.

Friends and relatives have recently complained about the extra fees added to college tuition: there's a graduation fee? And, it doesn't include the cap and gown rental? That's another fee.

What would it look like to include all these pesky little fees into one all-inclusive cost? There would be no fine print and no surprises.

That's what My NetWorks is all about. It's Groff NetWorks' equivalent of an all-inclusive vacation, where everything - all of your technology needs - is paid for. If you haven't signed up to become a managed services client (that is the term we use for this monthly package), give us a call at: 518-320-8906 and stop getting nickeled and dimed.

Google Apps, Office 365 And Apple's iCloud: Which One Do You Choose?

With all the hype around cloud computing, you've certainly heard about the cloud-based office applications being offered by Microsoft, Google and Apple. All are promising cheap, easy and convenient computing... but, are they REALLY all they're cracked up to be?

The most important thing you need to know is that these are relatively new technologies with new features being added on a monthly, even weekly, basis. And, like any new technology, there are things that will not work as well as a very mature desktop application hosted on your machine. If you are a power user of Microsoft Office, you'll quickly get frustrated when you discover Office 365 can't perform some of the more sophisticated functions such as creating Macros in Excel or the advanced markup in Word.

Google Apps is a good platform for those businesses that need simple, inexpensive cloud-based collaboration software. However, if your company has been using Microsoft Office for years, you have a big investment to consider, since all those documents will change when switched to Google Apps. Therefore, most companies will want to stick with Microsoft Office 365 rather than go through the pain of having all their documents slightly "off." Additionally, Google Apps doesn't always play well with certain line-of business applications that were designed to integrate seamlessly with Microsoft Office.

Then, we have Apple's iCloud. While this is a cloud-based service, it shouldn't be compared to Office 365 or Google Apps since it's geared towards organizing, storing and accessing media (music, videos and pictures). While they do have some applications for e-mail and calendaring, it's not designed to replace an office productivity suite.

But the war is far from over yet, and, in the grand scheme of things, Google may resolve all the above-mentioned issues. Again, these are new technologies that are changing rapidly; what might be a good choice today could be a second rate choice next week. So which one should you choose? That depends on your own unique situation. No two companies are alike in the way they communicate, store information and work; therefore, it's important you work with an IT consultant who takes a custom approach to solving your organization's needs - not a one-size-fits-all company.

Shiny New Gadget of the Month

Here we are in April. So, how have you done with your New Year's commitment to "get in shape" or "eat better and exercise more"?

Well, if you have fallen off the wagon, I have some good news for you. And even if you have stuck with it, this little tip can make your efforts even easier.

MyFitnessPal.com provides a FREE online tool for tracking your diet, exercise activity and fitness goals. This site makes it easy to set your weight loss goals and overall nutrition plan. Each day you can log in to track food you eat for a breakdown of calories, fat, carbs and protein of each item. Any exercise activity can be logged and will subtract from your daily calorie bank.

There is also a social element to this site. Much like Facebook, you can ask to "friend" other members, post on a common wall and share encouraging words throughout your journey to good health.

MyFitnessPal.com is easy to use on your computer or via apps available for iPhones and other Smartphone devices.

As the saying goes, "That which is measured improves". By simply tracking and measuring your food and exercise results on a daily basis, you become accountably for everything you eat and for every activity - or lack thereof. Seeing your progress in black and white will surely boost your results!

Check it out: www.MyFitnessPal.com

Office Notes

Welcome to our newest clients...!