As a small business owner, you undoubtedly know how important making contacts is for your business and networking is unquestionably the best way to make these valuable contacts; but what happens when you get back to the office?  These contacts are vital to the ongoing success of your business and for marketing and customer relation purposes and if treated correctly they are cash in your hands.  So why do most small business owners then dump them into a rigid, inflexible email database?  They are worth so much more than this!

The problem with ‘databases’

Many programs referred to in everyday work are called databases but in fact fall far short of what a real database can do.  For example, it is quick and easy to save a contact name and email address in many email programs but those programs will not tell you if you already have that contact or if it is part of a ‘group’ and if for some bizarre reason you need to add it to another group, you will need to re-enter all the details.  Your email database will not flag up if you haven’t spoken to a potential client, are due to send an email or need to make that vital follow up call.  In customer relationship (CRM) terms they are pretty useless.  Databases that have been specifically developed to manage contacts will be fully relational and will overcome all of these issues immediately.

Treating your contacts with respect

If you respect something you look after it, you nurture it and you ensure it is in the best possible environment.  The same values should stand for your contacts! They are, after all, the past, present and future of your business.  It does not matter how many clients you have or whether you have just started in business, you need to look after your prospective and existing clients. So do it right from the start and it will save you a whole lot of time and effort later.  A well-developed, fully-relational database will help you project an image of a professional business or organisation – after all, your contacts, clients and your business are only going to grow.

Fully relational databases 

Investing in an affordable, fully-relational database is the choice of those who know.  These databases guarantee that you only need to enter contact details once and they can then be assigned to many different groups.  Fully relational databases make finding contacts easy and eliminate the risk of duplicate entries; they make mail out campaigns (online or offline) a very simple process.  Tracking, setting tasks, follow ups, scheduling calls, invoicing and the general day to day management of your most valuable asset, your customers, becomes a pleasure rather than a task.  This not only saves you time, but also ensures deadlines are not missed, This will project an efficient and well run organisation or business.

Choosing the right database for you

As a small business owner or the secretary of an organisation or group, cost is going to be your number one concern.  The variety of databases on offer can be baffling, so setting your requirements before you start looking is always a good plan.  Always look for a fully relational database as this will save you an enormous amount of time and give you complete control over your database.  Other considerations are the support you receive during your purchasing and the aftercare service which can be a deal breaker.  If you work from home or small office with no IT support you are going to need that support from your database provider and preferably in the form of a human!

Summarising your contact management needs.

So to summarise, a good database will save you time and money and be an invaluable marketing and client management tool, both of which are necessary to help your business grow.  To get the maximum from your database it should be fully relational and within your budget.  Research your options thoroughly and remember if you do not receive the support and advice you need before you make the purchase, you are unlikely to receive it afterwards.

Heather Godfrey owns Contactfile Database offering affordable fully relational databases that take the hassle out of managing your contacts.  The databases are easy to use, they come with a variety of add-ons such as invoicing systems provide excellent customer support and aftercare servicing. For more information please visit www.Contactfile.co.uk
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There is a dearth of options to get to your customers. The market is just so full with all forms of media options – from outdoor advertising like billboards to traditional print products like flyers and color business cards. The internet also provides a competitive advantage to small business or start up business because of its extensive reach and little overhead costs. But the multitude of choices leads one to ask, ‘What is the best platform that is both cost-effective and at the same time would be able to reach the widest audience?’ There is no direct answer to this but read the following questions and it might be able to help you arrive at a conclusion.

First, before you decide on a communication platform, ask yourself who your audience is? Who is going to read or look at your ads? Who will be receiving your email alerts? Where do you plan to distribute a good number of your color business cards? As you are a consumer yourself, you may be your own best test market. Just ask yourself what kinds of media you are exposed to on a daily basis while commuting on your way to work. Do you prefer to read magazines, watch TV or surf the internet on your free time? Your answers to these questions might just help you identify which is the best platform for you to use.

Second, do a bit of a research. If you intend to use the newspaper, check the newspapers’ website to know the rates or other basic advertising pricing and guidelines. Visit their office and find out their circulation or their readership. If you want to use color business cards, go to business card printing online companies and ask about their rates and options. If you want to use the local cable TV, find out about their rates and demographic data.

Third, find out what others are using. Learn what the competition is using. If you are in a particular industry, one medium like the TV air time may provide better results than say, traditional print products. Take for example the growing market for online advertising. Even online marketing is gaining a good share of the market. Nevertheless, there is still a good number of the population who prefers the local daily. Call them old fashioned but they still prefer something that they can touch and smell or something that could smear.

Whatever your media platform might be, the rule of thumb is always where you are comfortable with as a person or better yet, as a consumer. You are the best resource person and you would know what is best for your business or your market.

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In recent years, the term Web 2.0 marketing has become a popular term, encompassing a cache of new technologies and developments in the online business world. As the Internet evolves into what we call Web 2.0 and new technologies begin to take over the old, it can vastly change the way that we communicate online. So what does this mean for the business industry? How would you be able to implement it and get “buzz” generated about your product line? That’s exactly what we will be discussing in this article and analyze what really makes Web 2.0 marketing tick and why it can give you great results on the long run.

Web 2.0 is not brain surgery; it does not require a degree to utilize. It is a more elegant system for using the Internet. The amount of people that are computer smart has exponentially grown due to the popularity of the Internet. Because of this, creating effective marketing to this group has to be increasingly targeted. Web 2.0 has produced many communities online and they are very lively and active; these can allow for huge company growth if you are marketing to the correct audience. The ability of viral marketing to effectively be distributed has become more effortless than ever.

Blogging, commenting, and syndication feeds have increased and multiplied the speed of communication and information exchanges. These interactive technologies have resulted in an explosion of highly social Web 2.0 sites that provide marketing savvy entrepreneurs numerous opportunities to create and experiment with diverse marketing concepts. Internet marketers now have a stage to announce their presence in the market by releasing specific content to specific audiences that are read and debated within the online communities. Web 2.0 has a great deal of freedom built into it and many people have taken advantage of this and created their own Web 2.0 companies.

The vast array of direct contact with your customer is what makes Web 2.0 such a useful technology for businesses to use. When content is posted on your site it will be commented on by visitors which allows you to see what the opinions of the populace are. In fact, the more comments you get the better. Commenting will help you build a personal relationship with your audience and potential customers and provide a source of fresh content for search engines. To obtain the greatest possible benefit from search engine and search engine spiders, you need to provide fresh content on a regular basis and comments can help with that. And by far the best aspect of the direct contact with the customer is the free advice that they give you! The more diverse the comments on your website are, the better your search engine rankings will be because there will be a greater number of relevant keywords to search. Now that we have discussed comments, we should look at another important technology; RSS feeds allow users to subscribe to the feeds on your page so that they will receive all the updates you make to the site. Your “repeat visitor” numbers will be greatly increased with this technique, as your subscribers will be returning to discover what’s new.

Web 2.0 marketing can really give you amazing results, if and only if you work towards it. You won’t ever have to worry about oversaturating this market, due to the relation-based nature of it. It’s an easy, cost effective way to reach your target audience and sell your product/service.

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