The marketing landscape has changed significantly in the past few years with the shift mainly driven by new technology, changes in customer needs and the evolution of consumer tolerance.

A few years ago marketers were talking about customer relationship management and brand management to drive loyalty and retention. Fast forward a few years and the new buzz words are customer engagement and brand experience. So you may ask, what is the difference? Notice that the words management has evolved into less authoritative terms, engage and experience.

The ultimate outcome of an effective CRM strategy should be customer loyalty and increased customer life time value, which will positively contribute to your bottom line.

As a rule it is more expensive to recruit a new customer than to re-serve an existing customer, as the relationship of trust already exists. It therefore makes good business sense to spend some time on developing a CRM strategy that engages your customers.

For many smaller businesses, making decisions about advertising can be difficult. Especially if you have a persistent advertising sales rep on the telephone trying to flog you, what may seem to be, a bargain / not to be missed deal.  Before you fall for the crafty salesperson’s charm, there are a few things you should always consider first. So take a breath ask them to send you information via email and politely put down the phone so that you could assess the opportunity objectively.

As some of you may be aware the EU’s Privacy and Communications Directive has sneakily come into play on 26 May 2011. The directive requires users to give consent before a website can use cookies. Just to explain - cookies are text files that help organise and store browsing information. Things like Google Analytics, live chat software and most Open Source content management systems (CMS) like Joomla and Drupal use cookies to track a website’s visitors.

In the current economic climate it might seem very tempting to change your pricing strategy in order to compete on lowest price, especially if other organisations are clearly benefiting from under-pricing. Before you start slashing prices, you should evaluate if it is the best option for your business.

There is one constant in today’s market place, one thing that we can count on without fail, the constant of change.

In today’s markets the cycles of change are accelerating, with that in mind your customers’ wants and needs are also evolving and changing at an accelerated rate. How then do you keep track of these changes and how do you offer products and services that serve your clients and your business goals?

Strategic planning is an integral part of any organisation, but for small business owners this may seem like a daunting task. I have compiled a strategy checklist below to help you cover all the angles.

So it’s that time of year and you need to start sending out your Christmas cards. It’s not supposed to be an unpleasant ordeal. You can get the cards you like, you’ve got your list of contacts, you can write the cards with a traditional, generic message and off you send with plenty of time to spare.

Except for businesses it’s not always that simple. When you send Christmas cards to clients it is not down to an individual, you are representing your company and it is important to represent them correctly and responsibly.

Last week I spoke specifically about marketing your website and increasing your search engine rankings. This week we’ll look at social media as an online marketing tool.

Social media has become somewhat of a buzzword in the business arena and in my opinion it’s earned that status with good reason. There have been many extraordinary success stories of organisations that increased sales, brand awareness and brand loyalty with the help of social media. However, I suspect success will average out as the take-up of such services amongst organisations increase in future.

I have often been asked about the inner workings of website and social media marketing by various directors and senior managers. Building your online reputation can do wonders for any business whether it’s a business to business or business to consumer organisation. In most cases it is a relatively cost effective way of spreading the word about your organisation.