Tips to Push Your Business – Legislation, email, free software
Keep Up to Date with Legislation
Legislation is one of the most difficult areas of running a business, but it is something that no SME can ignore. It is rare that a year goes by without at least one major legislation addition or change.
Why not spend a small amount of time keeping up to date with legislation changes planned for the following year? The big advantage is that the quicker you are aware of a change, the more time you have to prepare and take action. This also means that you have more time to spend on other (more profitable) parts of your business.
Government sites such as Business Link and the DTI can help inform you of forthcoming legislation, while the BizHelp24 newsletter will keep you posted on changes that are important for SMEs.
Take Action Against Spam
If your business suffers from large numbers of spam emails then a ground breaking case shows how you could help reduce the problem over the coming year.
In what was believed to be the first victory of its kind, a businessman won damages from a firm that sent junk emails to his personal email account. Nigel Roberts sued Media Logistics UK in December 2005 using recent European laws that allow recipients of unwanted commercial emails to claim damages.
Media Logistics did not defend the charge, and settled out of court for £270 damages plus the cost of filing the claim. While not a significant amount, when multiplied over hundreds of recipients it starts to become a good deterrent for spamming companies.
This result also means that you should be extremely wary of sending unsolicited emails to existing/past customers. If you even suspect that they may not want to receive your emails then you should not send them.
While the legislation only applies to those sending spam from the EU, it has at least strengthened the rights of the public and businesses to tackle spam. In the US, the now established Can-Spam legislation appears to be reducing spam numbers, whilst email scanning and filtering software is becoming much more accurate at targeting spam and leaving genuine messages alone.
Unfortunately though, while spam emails continue to make money and defraud people they will never stop; but the good news is that both legislation and technology are starting to make an impact, and will hopefully continue to do so over the coming years.
Download our Forthcoming Free Software!
Look out for our free software package which is coming soon to BizHelp24. It will be packed with useful tools and letters for small business owners everywhere. Best of all, it will be absolutely free; so you’ll have nothing to lose!
Email Marketing
When it comes to cheap marketing, email marketing is probably second only to word of mouth in terms of potential benefit per pound spent. The cost varies from nothing to minimal, yet can encourage repeat sales, improve branding, encourage lapsed customers to return, and help launch new products and services.
A complete look at the benefits of email marketing, including how to collect email addresses, how to create an email, and how to monitor the success of your campaigns; will be available free in the next BizHelp24 Newsletter.
Article Index
- 10 Tips to Push Your Business for Minimal Cost
- Tips to Push Your Business - Blogging, Marketing, Listening
- Tips to Push Your Business – Legislation, email, free software
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