Archive for the ‘management’ Category

Online Marketing Trends To Grow Your Business

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
Online Marketing Trends

Online Marketing

As we come to the end of the first half of 2010, businesses in Nigeria need to look to meet the needs of an increasingly mobile and social customer. It’s our opinion that the businesses in Nigeria that will be the most successful are those who adapt their strategies to align with shifting online trends.

The adoption of new online marketing techniques will also be paramount to keeping a competitive edge and ensuring return on investment (ROI). To help point you in the right direction, we have identified five trends likely to impact online marketing ROI in 2010 and beyond.

  • Email Marketing: Contrary to speculations, email is not dead. With its low cost and targeted reach, it is the perfect base from which to build other online marketing initiatives. Email is the most measurable marketing channel, with proven and reliable high rates of return on investments (RoI). And when combined with other online marketing channels it becomes even more powerful and effective.
  • Online Marketing Analytics: If your business has an online presence (not just a website!), improved integration with online marketing analytics tools will empower your business to extract detailed data reporting, offering new opportunities for you to optimize your marketing campaigns, show results and demonstrate market share. Currently there are several companies investing huge resources to ensure that they improve internet connectivity in Nigeria. Therefore, your business most be prepared to explore new opportunities.
  • Blending Email Marketing With Social Networking: Social networking is now being described as the number one activity on the Web and it plays an integral role in a large majority of customer buying decisions. When you blend email marketing with social networking, it becomes more effective and can extend reach, enhance engagement, grow customer opt-in lists and build customers’ trust and loyalty to your brand.
  • Mobile Marketing: The presence of different telecom operators in Nigeria has opened up different avenues for mobile marketing. Mobile marketing reaches your targeted audiences and drives the urgency of your message in real-time while extending marketing reach, building customer retention and loyalty, and building a strong, interested and opted-in customer base. Mobile’s low execution cost means maximized campaign effectiveness.
  • Integrated, Online Marketing: In 2010 your business now has the opportunity and the ability to easily create integrated online marketing programs – joining email, search, social, mobile and other online marketing channels – and most importantly measure and optimize those programs with integrated metrics.

There’s no question that email marketing is the anchor for online marketing, and significant opportunities exist for your business to take advantage of synergies between online marketing channels.

Mauco Internet Consultants is ready to assist you with your online marketing efforts. We have made it our goal to help your empower your business online to make you more successful. Contact Mauco now if you need help in developing an effective online marketing strategy.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Articles, Business Success, Internet Business Solutions, Online Business, management, social media | No Comments »

How To Start A Successful Small Business

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

Starting a  business in any economy can be a very daunting task. But that’s not to say that it’s impossible or unadvisable. There are dozens of successful entrepreneurs who are doing quite well despite the challenges.

So what are some of the things you need to keep in mind when starting your own business? What I’ve personally come to realise by interacting with a couple of entrepreneurs over the years is that there’s no silver bullet or magical formula to success, you just have to take it step-by-step an work very hard. Here are some of the steps that you need to take:

Start Small

This obviously is a no brainer because most businesses have very humble beginnings in garages or college dormitories and with a shoestring budget but in time they grow to be global giants. So as the saying goes, do not despise the days of humble beginnings.

Learn From Others

If you are a one-man-show, then self doubt is naturally unavoidable when you start your company. You must realize that things will certainly go wrong and when they do, you’ll have no one but yourself to blame. So its best to join business groups, forums and associations so that you can have an opportunity to learn from others. Fortunately today, there are several networking sites like LinkedIn, Xing etc, where you can tap from a huge wealth of knowledge and resources.

Reading books alone is not the answer! Because what you read and what you have to execute are often as different as light and darkness. It’s best to have a mentor who can show you the ropes in a practical way! Reading alone is a sure way to failure because there’s a lot of things you won’t understand until you actually do it.

Go Out And Get Customers

No business can exist without customers. Know who your customers, where they hang out and go get them. Its a good idea to have a website that can act as your virtual storefront 24/7. Even if you can’t afford a website, you can at the very least get a Facebook page or where you can interact with your customers. Your existing and potential customer can have access to information about your business and what value they can derive from doing business with you.

Formalize Your Business

As soon as possible, register your company or business name, start proper bookeeping and get a corporate bank account. Seek the services of a good lawyer or accountant to help get your business documents in order. Once you have formalized your business then you are bound to take it as a serious business.

Know Your Competitors

Always keep tabs on what your competitors and what they are doing. Figure out their strengths and weaknesses and learn from same. Try to distinguish your business from your competitors. Stick to what you know best and don’t try to be everything to everyone.

These are some of the steps you will have to take to start a small business. Remember as a small business you can afford to be dynamic and explore new innovations and opportunities and don’t be too rigid.

Have we left out any step you feel is vital in starting a small business? Feel free to share your views with us by commenting below.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Articles, Business Success, Website Design, management, social media | 2 Comments »

7 Tips on Time Management

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
We can manage time. We cannot manage time. Nor can we save it.
We cannot possibly do everything we want to do, or all the things there are to do.
“To do list” don’t help us get this done but rather reminds us that they are not done yet.
There is no such thing as a “quiet time”. We can reduce interruptions, but never eliminate them.
The biggest time wasters are self-imposed, e.g. procrastination, perfectionism, spending time on trivial tasks etc.
When handling projects, it’s more effective to break large projects into small one or two-hour chunks and work at them for a brief period each day.

Time is more than money, it’s life. You can always get more money, but you can never get more time. It’s an irreplaceable resource. When time’s gone, you’re gone.

Here are 7 tips on time management to get you through the day:
  • We cannot manage time. Nor can we save it.
  • We cannot possibly do everything we want to do, or all the things there are to do.
  • “To do list” don’t help us get things done but rather reminds us that they are not done yet.
  • There is no such thing as a “quiet time”. We can reduce interruptions, but never eliminate them.
  • The biggest time wasters are self-imposed, e.g. procrastination, perfectionism, spending time on trivial tasks etc.
  • When handling projects, it’s more effective to break large projects into small one or two-hour chunks and work at them for a brief period each day.
  • Time is more than money, it’s life. You can always get more money, but you can never get more time. It’s an irreplaceable resource. When time’s gone, you’re gone.

What are your secrets on time management. Feel free to share your thoughts with us.

Tags: ,
Posted in Articles, Business Success, management | 5 Comments »