Make Your Roof a Billboard, Slow Down the Internet, and More Tips for July-August

MARKETING Get on the Map

Google Maps regularly updates its “satellite views” of urban areas in North America, although it rarely publicizes the schedule for its flyovers (the images are actually a patchwork of mainly aerial photos). In this age of mass access to intelligence data, your rooftop is a billboard. What does your roof say about your business? How about: “HIGH-IMPACT GRAPHICS” in 6-foot lettering.

PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO

HIRING Find Former Corporate Talent

If you’re trying to keep payroll expenses down but are still in need of high-quality staff, here’s an AllBusiness.com strategy: Look for smart women or men who’ve left corporate life for a better work-life balance. They can make excellent part-time specialists, especially in areas such as technology and marketing.

PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO

EVENTS Sound Advice

Back in 1959, physicists worked out that noise levels at social gatherings remained manageable as long as people having conversations could hear each other over the “background noise.” As soon as indirect sound exceeds direct sound, people begin to raise their voices, starting a chain reaction that will cause the volume in the room to skyrocket. According to WIRED magazine, researchers in Italy have now figured out a ratio to determine when that threshold is reached in a room: If you want to throw an event where guests can hear each other — or more important, your salespeople — invite no more than one person for every 21 square feet.

HIRING Choke the Internet

Want a quick insight into the true character of that prospective hire filling out a job application? “Move them onto an abysmally slow internet connection and observe,” says Wired co-founder Kevin Kelly in Excellent Advice for Living.

TECHNOLOGY Track Who’s Sharing

Want to thwart spammers by identifying and filtering out those who share your Gmail address without permission? When signing up for newsletters and other subscriptions, create variations of your email address by inserting a plus sign (+) and an identifying word before the “@” symbol. For example, if your email is “[email protected],” use “[email protected]. If you then get unwanted emails to that address, you know your information was shared, and you can send to junk or create a filter to keep all of the unwanted emails — including those from the original sender — out of your inbox.

PERFORMANCE Get a Weekly Dose of Smarts

A Canadian research study found that those who receive regular weight-loss advice via emails or tweets dropped more pounds than those who didn’t. We figure the same must apply when it comes to good business advice. Sign up for Big Picture weekly bulletins: bigpicturemag.com/bulletins.

FINANCES Mention the Competition

When applying for a business loan, it’s important to show that you have thought about the competition, says entrepreneur Richard Branson. In Business Review Weekly, he says: “If a bank or other investor is looking at your business, then they’ve probably looked at your competitors, as well. Show you understand your competition and irreverently explain why your business will do better. Don’t be overly negative; at best you’ll seem humorless and self-important and at worst like you don’t take your competitors seriously enough.”