If you utilize e-mail marketing to prospective customers, make sure you don’t become an offensive spammer. There are a few simple rules to follow that can make a difference between happy customers and angry spam recipients. These rules are outlined in the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) CAN SPAM Act, which went into effect January 1, 2004. The CAN SPAM Act applies to commercial and pornographic electronic messaging and carries penalties for non-compliance of up to $11,000. Learn more about the CAN SPAM Act at www.ftc.gov/spam, including how to turn in offenders.

Advertising is a complex topic. This is evident by the huge number of companies in business merely to provide advertising services provided to those organizations unable to successfully navigate the maze of messages, markets, and mediums on their own.  The advertising industry itself is a multi-billion  dollar operation in the United States, and contains many media-specific areas of expertise. Already sounds complicated and expensive, eh?

Last month most of us learned the results of the voting in our local elections. Like it or not, the people have spoken, and now some of us have new leadership teams, while others kept the same officials. I’m sure you and I have heard the same chatter around the towns where we live. Some residents are passionate about a candidate and what they bring to the table, while others are so detached they didn’t even cast a vote. If you’re one of the passionate ones, and have considered becoming more involved in your community, this column is for you. Even if you’re new to your community and just want to learn how things work on a local level, read on for the crash course in getting informed!

I hope these articles actually equip you with real tools, rather than a glossy overview. After my recent series on Advertising, I find it only fitting to follow with some dedicated print on Public Relations (PR), the other big hammer in your marketing toolkit. In this series, we’ll explore what PR is and isn’t, how to develop a mind and a plan for promotion, and how to get your message out onto the streets. In this issue, I’ll try to reveal some facts that will hopefully remove the cloud of mystery around PR.

If you’re a long-time Getting Informed reader, you will remember multiple previous references to the importance of web statistics, or stats, in understanding the effectiveness of your web site. In the past, most web site owners were just happy to see that cheesy hit counter increasing…you know, the one that looked like a digital readout. Today, it seems that the statistics being provided are bigger and better—and quite overwhelming for most site owners. And just to confuse things, the term analytics comes along to see if you’re paying attention. Analytics are statistics in a way that speaks to the average person rather than to the classic statistician. In short, analytics are where the rubber meets the road. But for the purposes of this discussion, information about site viewing data will be called statistics.