Guerrilla Marketing

by Debra Kahn Schofield

Guerrillas are busier and more mobile than ever. Remember the good old days when the workday was confined to eight hours spent in an office? If you are running a small business, repping a product or simply making yourself available to your clients after hours, you can utilize high-tech tools to improve productivity, reduce stress and keep you organized. Hand-held devices such as contact managers and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) can help you get a handle on it all.

To differentiate between contact managers and PDAs, think of a contact manager as an address book on steroids. It tracks names, addresses, and phone numbers and handles countless minute details. PDAs, on the other hand, are designed to help you organize all sorts of information, including the notes you might scribble on a legal pad. They also keep track of contacts and appointments. Several programs provide optional compatibility with PDAs. These include: Now Software's Now Contact and Now Up-To-Date, Symantec Corp.'s Act, GoldMine Software Corp.'s GoldMine, and Maximizer Technologies' Maximizer 97is.

Most PDAs combine appointment books, phone books for maintaining address lists, task managers for organizing to-do lists, and notepads for storing personal data. And most highlight calendar and schedule functions. There's a wide variety of PDAs on the market, ranging from simple, standalone calendars and address books to complex, customizable organizers. Many allow networked users send e-mail, schedule group meetings, and share information such as contact data and calendars.

PDAs such as U.S. Robotics/Palm Computing's Pilot are relatively inexpensive due to their low level of functionality. They are generally used for storing phone/address lists, schedules, and to-do lists, and are not intended for word processing or spreadsheet use. Their primary limitation is a lack of expansion capabilities: They do not offer PC Card slots or other expansion ports, and software expansion is limited.

On the higher end, Apple's Newton message pad acts as a mini-PC and can do everything from simple spreadsheets to email and web browsing and it's much maligned handwriting recognition works has improved to work very well in the latest models. The Newton is compatible with both Windows and Macintosh computers. Windows CE based machines are also available that copy the entire desktop environment in a super slimmed down fashion. The Pilot and Newton appear much more popular because they create a new interface based on a notepad metaphor while retaining compatibility with Windows and Mac machines.

A PDA can be used to update contact data or create e-mail messages in the field as situations arise. With PalmPilot, for example, you enter information by tapping a tiny built-in stylus on a keyboard LCD. Or you can print by hand directly on the LCD, letter by letter, and let the built-in software interpret each character or keystroke.

Guerrillas know that one of the most important aspects of conducting business-every bit as vital as offering quality goods and services-is a company's ability to maintain consistent, positive relations with colleagues and clients. A good contact manager can save you from forgotten appointments, lost phone numbers, and missed calls, and can help you immediately access a client's name and entire history.

But contact managers go beyond simply managing data on business associates and customers. The latest offerings provide varying degrees of Internet support, letting you download program updates, access Web sites with a single click, capture contact data from your Web site, or send e-mail from within a contact record. Some packages let you use the Internet to merge and synchronize your contact database with other work group members so everyone has up-to-date information. One package even provides you with your own free, private Web site and access to contact data from more than 100 million prospects.

The latest batch of contact managers also offers enhanced calendars and related features. You'll find group scheduling, drag-and-drop rescheduling, the ability to hide private appointments, color coding by type of activity or group member, and new graphics views. Most of the packages have added more printing options that can be used with various hand-held planners. Expense and project tracking have been beefed up in several programs, with data linked to contacts or groups.

Communication options have mushroomed. Calendar and contact information can be shared over a network or through e-mail. Mail merge has been extended to include e-mail and faxing so you can send customized mass mailings, group e-mail, or broadcast faxes.

Many industry observers predict that before too long, hand-held devices will offer nearly the same functionality as today's notebooks. PDAs and even Contact Managers may be equipped with flat-panel color displays, external keyboards, and enhanced memory devices. Though tomorrow's technology is always exciting, the high tech tools on store shelves today can help you to work better and faster, anytime and anywhere.