The connected customer has emerged as the driving force in a world of constant innovation, mobility, and disruption. New technologies have put customers in the driver’s seat of the marketplace giving them power over which brands sink or swim in the digital age. Businesses that treat customers with awareness and intelligence and put the customer experience at the centre of their business strategies will succeed in this new connected world.

Technology has given people more choice than there has ever been before. This choice has created an environment where excelling at delivering an outstanding and integrated customer experience is the new battleground for differentiation. The consumer now demands that businesses create a personalised approach to customer experience, that's not disruption, it's improvement. 

LinkedIn is a great tool for your career, particularly if you own your own business as through your network you can establish yourself as an expert in your field and extend your reach and exposure. But shock horror, you actually need to be active on the platform to get the most from it.  And it’s a platform where size does matter.  Remember, the more first-degree connections you have, the more second- and third-degree connections you have, making you literally one connection away from millions of people.

Developing strong customer acquisition and customer retention strategies are extremely important to your business’ longevity and to your online reputation. Though the cost associated and overall time spent to acquire customers is typically higher than that of customer retention, both elements have a direct effect on a business’ success and should be regarded equally. With the ever-growing Internet and Social Media space small and large businesses alike have enormous opportunities to reach new prospects and hold on to their established clients.  

These days, it isn’t enough to have a website for your business – your digital storefront extends to social media marketing sites like Facebook and Instagram, and it’s time to start capitalising on it. If your company still doesn’t have an Instagram account or a Facebook fan page, it’s time to get with the program and bring yourself up to speed (or risk falling behind your competition).

Being small doesn’t mean going unnoticed.  Think about David and Goliath.  Smaller in size, David strategically used his slingshot to attack Goliath’s weak spot.  And, just as in business, small businesses need to maximise their strategic strengths to enable their business to appear larger than it actually is while still celebrating their competitive advantage over their larger counterparts.

Each year we set ourselves five goals to help keep us focused on business and personal growth.  We got together in December and worked through the five most important things we want for Connect Plus in 2017 and to keep us accountable here they go!

The New Year sees many of us many goals we aim to complete by the end of the year, and 2016 saw the girls at Connect Plus Plus make some lofty goals.  So how did we go?

There is no stopping it now, Christmas is coming and with it the opportunity to make 2016 your best yet by rolling out a Christmas campaign based on the feeling of Christmas rather than yet another discount-driven promotion or having your customers shop elsewhere. We've pulled together a few of our favourite things, Christmas Blog style, to help you through the Christmas planning for your business. No time to delay!

Last week we headed off to the Taking Care of Business Roadshow which has been travelling the country over the past month.  If you weren't able to get along here are some of the tips which we picked up. Thanks to Craig Foss, Minister for Small Business, the Government has rolled out a series of initiatives to help the small business owners in New Zealand.  It's great to see the Government start focusing on small business, after all, 97% of businesses in New Zealand are classified as SME. Here's what we learnt.