Media training 101 for small businesses

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Great news: you just scored a big press interview to promote your business. The story will expose your brand to the perfect new audience and drive meaningful traffic to your website. So…don't blow it. Yes, just as quickly as the excitement for the opportunity arrived, the realization that you now have to do an interview sets in. I get it—press interviews can absolutely be intimidating. The resulting coverage represents a significant opportunity to acquire new customers, drive sales, or raise awareness, and you want to be sure to represent your brand well and really compel the audience to check out your company. On top of that, you have to contend with adrenaline and nerves in the moment. You may be thinking, "So many other business owners are so polished and articulate in their interviews. How am I going to pull that off?" Deep breath. A successful interview is usually the result of good media training: preparation and practice in advance of an interview. I've tr...
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Turn Microsoft Teams into the ultimate collaboration hub with these automation tips

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Out of all the team chat apps out there, Microsoft Teams' distinct advantage is its integration with Microsoft 365 products such as Excel and Outlook. Streamlining work and communication is a huge plus for small businesses needing to move quickly.

But what if you could connect all your apps to Microsoft Teams? That's not a hypothetical. If your business is using an app that doesn't have a built-in integration with Microsoft Teams, Zapier can help.

We connect web apps to automate the tedious stuff in your day. Our automatic workflows—which we call Zaps—send information from one app to another, so you don't have to hop between different apps.

Microsoft Teams users rely on Zapier to track marketing efforts, coordinate sales, inform important business decisions, and more. We've collected a few Zap templates—our pre-made workflows—to get you started. Just click on it and we'll guide you through the set-up process. You can read more about setting up Zaps here and learn how to use Zapier within MIcrosoft Teams.

You'll need a Zapier account to use the workflows in this piece. If you don't have an account yet, it's free to get started.

Stay up-to-date on marketing efforts

Marketing is a ton of work. To capture even one person's attention, you have to be in all the places: Google search, social media, SMS, and so on. And once you're in all the places, you need to not only track those efforts, but respond appropriately when necessary.

These Zaps will send updates to a Team channel, so you can keep track whenever someone leaves a Google review on your business, sends a message to your business Facebook page, and more.

Track leads

If all goes well, your marketing efforts will generate leads. Many form and lead management apps have their own notifications, but if they come in by email or are only accessible in that app, there's a risk of overlooking one that will turn into a sale.

Use an automatic workflow to send notifications of new leads to a specific Teams channel. Members of your sales team can jump in and claim specific ones to follow up on, so you'll never have to worry about whether a lead went unclaimed.

Get sales updates

Your business is acquiring all these new leads, but are you making any sales? Most customer relationship management (CRM) apps will have some kind of dashboard illustrating where specific opportunities are in the sales process. While it's important to have a big-picture view of your sales pipeline, you also need to act quickly when there's a major change. For example, if a deal closes successfully, you need to make sure you get paid.

These Zaps will send a notification to a specific Teams channel whenever an opportunity moves to a stage in your sales pipeline.

Track document changes

Many spreadsheet apps allow multiple collaborators, which is a lifesaver for folks who tend to break spreadsheet formulas or just need a little extra help updating an expense report.

You can use a Zap to automatically notify you in Microsoft Teams whenever there's a new row or updated information in your favorite spreadsheet app.

Monitor communication

The great thing about Microsoft Teams is that it virtually eliminates internal emails. Unfortunately, you still have to monitor your email if you're communicating with potential clients, vendors, and other outside people.

If you're spending the majority of your time in chat, emails will pile up quickly. (I speak from experience.) Try these Zaps, which will send a message in a Teams channel or chat whenever you receive an email.

You can use filter steps to refine these alerts, so you can avoid newsletter subscriptions from clogging your Teams notifications.

Take your team chat to the next level

This is just the start of all that you can do with Microsoft Teams and Zapier. Zapier supports thousands of apps, so you automate almost any task at work. Start building your Zap now and see what you can create.

New to Zapier? It's a tool that helps anyone connect apps and automate workflows—without any complicated code. Sign up for free to use Microsoft Teams with Zapier.

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