| Sam Young Newsletter |
Issue 49, August 2002
Hi guys,
Well, we are just about to leap into springy September, but before we do, check out the next in our Outlook tips series, on Creating AutoSignatures in Outlook below.
I have a brief article on Protecting Your Brand. If you have any registered trademarks, you need to think seriously about how you can protect them, and so protect your long term investment.
Don't forget, if you want to be taken off my mailing list, click here to send me a reply e-mail and I will remove your name.
| Creating AutoSignatures in Outlook |
To create an AutoSignature, follow the instructions below.
- Go to the Tools menu on the toolbar in Outlook. Select Options
- In the Options dialogue box, select the Mail Format tab
- In the Signature section, click the Signature Picker button
- Click "New", then enter a name for the signature and click the "Start with a blank signature" option. Then click "Next>"
- In the Signature Text section, type in the text that you want to appear at the bottom of your email. This will be your signature text but could also include your company by-line or other information like "this information is for the intended recipient" stuff (just make sure the message is short and concise). You can use full stops, dashes or underscores to create separators in your message
- Click Finish.
- In the "Use this signature by default" field, select the name of the signature you just created to insert your signature automatically (if you want to choose which signature to use manually, choose "" in the "Use this signature by default" field)
- Untick the "Don't use when replying or forwarding" field if you want the signature to be inserted into all e-mail messages including forwarded ones
- Click OK
- Now when you create a new message you should see the signature block you typed at the end of each message.
Now, every time you create a new Outlook email message, your signature will appear at the bottom.
| Protecting Your Brand |
I am sure that we all know that there are certain terms that cannot be Trademarked or Copyrighted as they are considered to be generic. But how many of us truly realise that a Trademarked brand can become generic and lose the owner exclusive usage rights?
Here in New Zealand there is a new piece of legislation (the Trade Marks Bill) that lowers the threshold for determining at what point Trademarks become generic. There are a few companies here that are in danger of losing their registered trademark exclusivity; Jandals, Sellotape and Yellow Pages.
So what can you do to prevent your brand becoming generic? Fairly simple, but not necessarily foolproof, steps;
- Provide a non-registered descriptive name for your product - eg Iomega Zip Drive. The "Zip" part gets used by a everyone, but the Iomega brand is still strong and hasn't become a descriptor. However, this doesn't always work as Hoover Vacuum cleaners found as some people still say they are doing the "hoovering" (instead of the vacuuming) due to the huge market presence the brand had in the 1950s
- So to help avoid the Hoover trap, always use the TM symbol whenever you use your registered brand name. That way you are continually reminding the world at large that this is your marque, and is not purely a descriptive term
- Educate your audience in your PR that your brands are registered trademarks (TV, radio and print media advertising usually). We have all heard those US ads where at the end of the ad someone gabbles at 150kmph "x product is the registered trademark of blah company..." etc
- ALWAYS contact people who misuse your brand immediately, regardless of whether they are in the industry or a member of the public. Make a big deal about it, because when it comes down to it, loosing your brand could be loosing your business (look at Windows for example - Microsoft have just lost exclusive rights to that term in the US)
| Row Numbering in Excel |
How many of you, as an easy point of reference to read and discuss a report, need to know what row number your data is in an Excel spreadsheet? There are a variety of ways to number rows, but they are either too clunky, too manual or too easy to muck up (by the way, I am not talking about a unique number ID here, just a row number).
Access has a great numbering functions, but I hadn't found the same functionality in Excel. Until now.
I think the best way to number rows is by using the automatic ROW function. This function looks at the cell in which it's entered into and returns the corresponding row number (the number in grey at the side of the spreadsheet).
There's one catch to numbering your rows using the row function: your row function will return the physical row number, so however many rows you have taken up in column header labels will mean your row number misses out that many.
Easy to fix: subtract the number of column header label rows when you enter the row function for the first time. Whenever you insert a row, copy the function into any new rows you add and the row number is automatically updated. Whenever you delete a row, the numbers will adjust on their own.
Instructions;
- Enter, into desired row number cell (if you have two column header rows), =ROW()-2
- Click, hold and drag the function down all your data rows
| TLAs for SMEs |
Here are this newsletter's TLAs for you;
- CTR, Click Through Rate. The percentage of times that Web page viewers click on each banner ad, causing a request for the advertiser's Web site to be transmitted to the viewer
- E2E, Exchange-to-Exchange. The exchange of information or transactions between Web sites that themselves serve as exchanges or brokers for goods and services between businesses. A form of B2B
Please feel free to email me with any TLAs that you want to get the bottom (meaning!) of.
| Short+Hot Keys... and now tips |
All the Function keys for you again, but this time we are shifting as well - all you can do with Alt, Shift, Ctrl & F1;
- Access "To display ScreenTips; after pressing SHIFT & F1, move the pointer to the menu command, toolbar button, or screen region, and then click the mouse" SHIFT & F1
- Access "To bring the Database window to the front" ALT & F1
- Excel "Insert a new worksheet " ALT & SHIFT & F1
- Excel "Create a chart that uses the current range " ALT & F1
- FrontPage "Display context-sensitive Help " SHIFT & F1
- Outlook "Display ScreenTip for the active item." SHIFT & F1
- PowerPoint "Start context-sensitive Help" SHIFT & F1
- Word "Microsoft System Info" ALT & CTRL & F1
- Word "Next Field" ALT & F1
- Word "Prev Field" ALT & SHIFT & F1
- Word "Tool" SHIFT & F1
| Hot Linx |
This site gives us a retro peek at some dreadful LP album covers. You must check out teaching your children ball skills, how to buy meat and how to use the telephone... hilarious! Check it out at http://www.whenlpsroamedtheearth.com/
Want some of the real September 11 survival stores? Then check out USA Today's article at http://www.usatoday.com/news/attack/2001/12/19/usatcov-wtcsurvival.htm
For any of you looking for an excellent journalist's site, you can't go past the investigative and challenging quality of Ozzie John Pilger's work. Check him out at http://www.johnpilger.com/
Catch you again soon!! E-mail your suggestions to me here
