Writing - whether it be for a proposal, press release, or personal note - is a crucial part of your day-to-day business. So, as PR maestro Shel Holtz writes, don’t forget to proactively think about the style and voice of your writing. Whether your writing is conversational, poetic, youthful, or "official" just take a minute to think about it before putting pen to pad. Especially for small firms, your writing can shape your brand just as strongly as any visual. It’s important to the experience that is your organization.

Flat Creek is not just an outsourcing vendor, but an integrated operating partner, managing your back office and helping you keep track of all your vendor relationships. Often outsourcing gets wrapped up in the offshore debate between IBM and Dell and… well, seems like it has nothing to do with small businesses. To the contrary, this article on AllBusiness.com points out the benefits of outsourcing for small business. Not to spoil the surprise, but the benefits include:

• Control capital costs
• Increase efficiency
• Reduce labor costs
• Start new projects quickly
• Focus on your core business
• Level the playing field
• Reduce risk

These are all good reasons to outsource some of your business operations, but ultimately it’s about giving you more control over your company and giving you more time to do what it is you really want to do. To our clients, thank you for making us part of your vision. To readers who aren’t clients, let’s talk today about how your company can move forward with a solution from Flat Creek Management.

While I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, WebTrends gave me a copy of Call To Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results at a seminar in April. Little did I know until just now, but apparently a lot of other people either got the book or are buying the book. According to this article by ClickZ News, in the three weeks since it was released, Call To Action has made its way onto the New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com bestseller lists.

What makes this so amazing is that the authors used no traditional advertising for their initial launch, only a good strategy to build online buzz. Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing has become increasingly sophisticated over the last few years with the advent of blogs as mass media and other online message boards. Right now, we’re putting together a few online WOM campaigns for our clients. Let me know if you’d like to talk about one for your company. In the meantime, I’m going to get started on this book…