AvatarKristen Langham

Kristen Langham

Kristen Langham is a Marketing Project Manager for Palo Alto Software, where she focuses on customer engagement.

Recent Articles Published by Kristen Langham

planning

Will a business plan help you raise money?

The necessity of a business plan is a controversial topic. What is the importance of a plan? Do you only need a plan if you’re looking for investment? Or can a plan help your business succeed in the long run? Do you think a business plan will help provide you with a leg up if... Read more »

managing

Your Headline Is Your Pick-Up Line

A couple months ago, I attended my first email marketing conference and came back to the office with pages of notes, my brain packed full of information, and a fire in my belly to completely revamp our email marketing program. Due to time constraints, limited bandwidth, other projects needing immediate attention and the lack of... Read more »

managing

Email Marketing Do’s and Do not’s

Email marketing can be a viable sales channel for many organizations, but it can also be scary, uncharted territory. Recipients can tell you they never want to hear from you again, emails can bounce if you don’t have updated email addresses, subscribers can mark your emails as spam (even when they aren’t!), and your email... Read more »

planning

Want to win $675K in cash and prizes?

The Rice Business Plan Competition is now accepting applications for the 2009 competition, to be held April 16 – 18 in Houston, TX. Only 36 teams will have the opportunity to compete in this prestigious competition, and one lucky team will walk away with more than $675,000 in cash and prizes. All interested teams must... Read more »

managing

To blog or not to blog…

Every time I think about blogging, I question what I should write about, whether or not I have the time, if people will read my posts, etc. But when I actually think about what blogging can do for our business, it’s really a no-brainer. Blogging is pretty much free marketing (and can actually be kind... Read more »

managing

The fundamentals of networking

You may start noticing a theme on the BIG Blog – “Back to Fundamentals” – and when you sit down and think about it, it is a really simple idea that can have a really big impact on your business. Whether or not your company is in a financial pinch, the economy is in a... Read more »

starting

The ultimate low-cost startup

I posted the other day about unlikely businesses, like the small repair shop here in Eugene that specializes in fixing electric shavers. Talking that over with a couple of people around the office reminded me of another unusual business I saw recently: a midway stand on the Coney Island boardwalk called, charmingly enough, Shoot the... Read more »

managing

Unlikely businesses

If the world at large is full of oddities (and trust me, it is), the small business world is certainly no exception. Sprinkled among the dime-a-dozen coffee shops and clothing retailers are all sorts of strange and unlikely niche businesses. Here’s my favorite: Ardon’s Shaver Service, located in midtown Eugene, Oregon, between the Suds ‘Em... Read more »

Nine out of ten start-ups fail

That’s the problem. So the pitch is CEO/Entrepreneur/Start-up Junkie Ron Wiener believes the world is ready for a revolutionary online postal mail service. And the goal is to secure millions in funding from investors and take Earth Class Mail from a promising idea to a profitable reality. Welcome to the TV show, Start-Up Junkies. My... Read more »

managing

What Shape and Size Is Your Email Signature?

How often do you get an email without a signature and therefore have to dig through past emails or notes to locate that person’s phone number or other contact information? This may seem like a minor thing, but to me a complete signature adds a level of completeness and professionalism to the email. Email signatures... Read more »

managing

Why single-use business plans suck

Back in the early ’90s I joined a season-long NFL football pool with some friends. The format was simple: before the season started, you filled out the entire schedule for the coming year, circling the team you thought would win each game. Then you watched the actual season play out. Each time one of your... Read more »

managing

Free website creators

Ten years ago, creating a good website demanded an obscure, even downright weird set of skills. Basic HTML was easy enough to learn — I remember picking up the basics over a long weekend, preparing to move a set of technical documentation into a HTML-based online help system. But getting websites to behave themselves in... Read more »