Posts about business development

What are the reasons for a Successful Online Business?

Patrick Zuluaga - 01 May 2013

This is a puzzle for many a business owner with the majority of businessmanagers and owners looking to grow web traffic using search engineoptimisation or search engine marketing.

Yes, building web traffic volume is very important to thesuccess of an online business. However, we need to keep in mind that NOT all web visitortraffic is equal. Traffic for traffic volume alone is a total waste of our time and resources. We need the right kind of quality traffic –targeted and interested potential customers!

What in your own experience contributes to a successful online web business presence?  Let's hear from you!

How can You Achieve Effective Online Marketing?

Patrick Zuluaga - 09 November 2012

In my marketing newsletter for November 2012 I answered the question "How can You Achieve Effective Online Marketing?"

While many in the business world perceive that online marketing is difficult and complex to achieve the desired results, I view the situation as really a lack of understanding marketing principles.

Let us list these challenges for achieving better marketing results for your business whether using online marketing and/or traditional print based-marketing.

We have three key business marketing challenges, these are:

  1. Focused targeting of your potential customers
  2. Compelling relevancy of your offer
  3. Call to action for your interested customers

What is your prospective of these three key points in online marketing versus marketing as a whole?

Clearly the same principles apply and once you understand and master the concepts it will work for your online marketing too!

Let us hear your views.

Marketing Challenges of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Patrick Zuluaga - 29 August 2012

The three of the most common and difficult small business and medium enterprises marketing challenges are:

  • Finding new clients and customers
  • Using engaging marketing messages that generate results
  • Implementing business oriented marketing systems

I have published an article on the Marketing Challenges of Small Business & Medium Enterprises (SME) that provides useful information and tips on how these challenges can be handled.

Many of you that have been in business a number of years will have encountered these challenges and have survived the experience to grow their businesses.  For those of you that have kindly share with us your successes in managing these small business and medium enterprises marketing challenges.

What is Preventing Growth for Small Businesses?

Patrick Zuluaga - 14 December 2011
Did you know that more often it is the things that you may not be doing that will have a much greater impact on your business growth than those that you do? These are areas that I have found as a business consultant as the most prevalent in holding back the growth of small companies:
  • Understanding your Customer Market
  • Adequate Planning
  • Managing Cash Flow
  • Operating a Marketing and Sales Development Process
  • Targeted Marketing Campaigns and Programs

What do you think? In your own business situation have you faced these issues or other more significant challenges? Share with us your views and expereinces.

[Read the complete article]

Better Marketing Results with Integrated Multimedia Direct Mail

Patrick Zuluaga - 26 April 2011
What makes direct mail campaigns successful? 
  • Addresses a specific group of people or targeted audience
  • Uses creative to cut-thru the clatter of the mail box
  • Offers a personalised message that communicates a compelling benefit
  • Creates a sense of urgency and excitement with the mail piece
  • Provides a your clear and visible ‘call to action’
Using this structure approach will achieve superior response rates from direct mail campaigns.

How can we  use integrated multimedia to dramatically improve the results from direct mail campaigns? Consider the following factors:
  • Personalise all communications with the recipient across the different media
  • Using several multimedia channels in the promotional campaign
    • Letter, postcard or mailing piece
    • Mobile phones and other smart mobile devices
    • Web landing pages with personalised URL (PURL – define)
    • Email marketing and auto-responders
  • Using a QR image (QR Code define) image to support the ‘call to action’
Essentially, an integrated multimedia direct mail campaign allows a one to one personalised engagement with the recipient.  It has the ability for the recipient to immediately accept the offer or secure additional information with readily available technology such as their mobile phone or access to the Internet.

What is your own experience with integrated multimedia direct mail campaigns? Let's hear from you.

Group discussion on marketing challenges and solutions

Patrick Zuluaga - 17 April 2011
At a recent small networking business group (SBNG) breakfast meeting, we discussed the challenges in marketing and what were their successful experiences in reach out to their target markets.  Here is the list complied from the meeting:
  • Face to Face meetings (Personal Networking & Selling)
  • Understanding exactly who is your target market/customer (targeting potential customers)
  • Using a system to generate a prospecting funnel and manage the conversion process
  • Testing marketing first before bulk roll-out of the campaign
  • Having the right attitude toward communications with your prospective customers - helping instead of selling
  • Target your own customer database using RFM segmentation (define)
  • Market & sell your benefits not features (how) or use an Objectives-Benefits-Features (define) chart
  • Use marketing mediums that your customers use not what you are comfortable with.
What did you think? What is your own experiences with successful marketing?

What Makes a Successful Small Business Owner?

Patrick Zuluaga- 22 March 2011
In my experience as a marketing consulting with business owners I havefound that the following traits are characteristics of successful businessowners along with a profound view that they have ownership and areaccountable for their own success.
  • Planning
  • Systemise
  • Test & Measure
  • Watch Competition
  • Focused Marketing
  • Engage with Stakeholders
  • Persistence and Perseverance
  • Cash is King
  • Entrust your Staff
  • Keep it All Together
  • Look after Yourself
  • Dedication and Passion

What do you think? As a business owner how many of these characteristics are in your profile?  What have you identified as an area for development and what are you going to do about it?

How to Make your Customer Database your Best Friend

Patrick Zuluaga- 25 October 2010
Many businesses neglect this very valuable asset - your own in-house database. Why? Most think it is too time-consuming to keep updated or simple fail to realize the potential goldmine from using and maintaining their database.

You may have heard of the marketing phrase “Content is King”, however, you may not have heard that the “Database is Queen”!

Your database must be viewed as a valuable resource asset. It is a potent source for marketing intelligence and a powerful tool for building relevance while nurturing relationships.

To make the most from your database you must be able to answer these five questions:
  1. What is your database objective?
  2. What information is available?
  3. How can the information be captured?
  4. How can you use the information?
  5. What is the best way to segment your database?
What do you think? Have any of you taken the time to segment your database to achieve better marketing results?

View my presentation titled "Why your database should be your best friend" at the recent Email Marketing Summit Australia EMSA 2010 held at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney.

7 Business Development Marketing Tips for Social Media

Patrick Zuluaga- 28 June 2010
You would have heard so many marketing experts telling everyone to use socialmedia as part of their promotional marketing mix. The Internet is flooded withinformation on using FaceBook, Twitter and other social media sites.  Numerousarticles have been written on how using social media can help promote your brandimage and how it can generate web traffic for your main businesswebsite.

Keep in mind that that social media is a marketing tool and itis only effective when used properly to promote your business. The keyquestion for a business is “How is social media harnessed to generate realrevenue and customers?

Here are the 7 Business Development Marketing Tips for using Social Media: [Read complete article]
  1. Go where your customers are and not where you are comfortable
  2. Engage and interact
  3. Research your competitors’ activities
  4. Release offers and programs that are exclusive to your social media channels
  5. Social media participation requires authenticity and transparency
  6. Look for value opportunities in selling through social media
  7. Always test and refine based on results generated
Social media programs as a marketing channel are not exempt from testing and refining your messages and offers. You must make the effort to test, gather results and analyse how it can be improved before launching the program to the entire channel.

Apply these 7 Marketing Tips for using Social Media to give you the foundation for success building and growing your business using these communication channels.

I am sure many others can add to this list, share with us your own successes using social media!
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