What's the right tone when communicating with your email database?

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There is no one-size-fits-all "best tone". But here's what an online database-driven marketing campaign can do: it can reveal the best tone for the task at hand, and it can do so more accurately than traditional marketing methods, in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost.

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9 Ways Your Business Needs To Change To Become Social

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"Social media has changed the way we do almost everything. We make buying decisions, find jobs, play games, listen to music and learn socially. But for business it’s clearly been a more challenging shift. Engaging in social media requires a fundamental change to the way businesses function and think. No wonder so many are slow to embrace social media and devote budgets to it."

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2011: a rollercoaster so far

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So far this year has been hard work and I know I'm not the only one – I have clients telling me on almost a daily basis. It seems when you have just made it over one hurdle another one just appear out of the mist. I recently read an article by Patrick Stafford at SmartCompany entitled "Trade credit plunges as businesses worry about getting paid" and it rang very true. It looks like we are just going to have to buckle down, keep cashflow in check, and be more conscious of where we spend our money until the banks are our friends again.

I try to keep some perspective. In the words of my good friend Melanie Bradley of Christchurch NZ (whom I managed to get hold of after seven anxious days) "I have a job, a fabulous family and a car that works so I'm luckier than most." Christchurch is of course not the only place down under to be hit by natural disaster and our thoughts are with friends whose families have endured floods and earthquakes already this year. (Donate to the Red Cross's flood and earthquake appeals here.

Closer to home our friends in the wine industry are have been placed under huge pressure by South Australia's third-wettest summer on record. If you're at a loose end this month why not head out to the Barossa, the Adelaide Hills, and Mclaren Vale and buy some wine? I know I will be!

-- Kelly @ccmkelly