Social media campaigns may seem like an obvious Christmas marketing tool but social networks with millions of built-in, active audiences often go under-utilised by small and mid-sized businesses that don’t always have the time, resources and budget to support them. And when social media is increasingly used by consumers to research, discover and purchase products online -particularly during the holiday season - why wouldn’t you want to talk to prospective consumers?

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. 

Social media is becoming an ever more important part of an organisation’s media mix. Accordingly, organisations are starting to manage Social Media Platforms like traditional offline and online media. And just as all businesses are different, so too are their response to managing social media. So, how can you best manage your Social Media presence to achieve your business objectives, and still manage to run your business? We call it Social Media Bingo!

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 advantages, such agility, over their larger counterparts.

Holy Christmas Bells, it's almost time to drag the tinsel out, decorate the store and get your Christmas on!  Yes, Christmas is about to be all around us and as the tinsel hits the shop floor, as a business owner you know that it means that unless you are organised your stress levels are about to explode the fairy lights!

Technology has put customers in the driver’s seat of the marketplace giving them power over which brands sink or swim in the digital age. Connected, Empowered, Purposeful. You've heard the terms but how can businesses keep up with their evolving expectations?

Social Media is the most interactive customer service and marketing channel there is, so it’s important that you resource it wisely. Making a mistake online doesn't go away in today's digital era so it's more imperative than ever to ensure that your online brand isn't damaged through a bad social media game.

It's the same time every year and yet it always seems to sneak upon us. Christmas, the season of joy so they say and if you are organised, this year it could be just that for your retail store. With Google Trends showing that people actually start searching for “Christmas Gift Ideas” in August... yes last month... it's time to get organised.

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. 

Today, more people are wearing being busy as a badge of honour. But for the rest of us, we want to manage our time. So why is time management, the age-old dilemma harder to find than the hunt for the holy grail? Here are our top tips to take charge of time and get organised (editor note, we might need to start following them ourselves!).

Are you caught up playing the endless and fruitless game of tracking vanity metrics? As Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup has stated, “Vanity metrics are dangerous.”  

Why are businesses getting all chitty chatty about chatbots? Because for the first time ever people are using messenger apps more than they are using social networks. Let that sink in for a second. People are using messenger apps more than they are using social networks. Here's a simple reason you need chatbots in your life? To simulate a more interactive and user-centered experience for the customer.

We know there is going to be an outcry, talking Christmas when it's only just August. But guess what folks. As business owners you don't have the benefit of putting your head in the sand and pretending the big jolly C-word isn't heading our way. But this Christmas is going to be different because this Christmas we have you covered. 

If you want to grow your subscriber database and place more engaged shoppers into your sales funnel, your customer relationships are your most valuable asset. Don’t miss opportunities to engage with them again by forgetting to ask for more information in stores, not listening to their preferences, or making it impossible to engage with you on mobile devices.

What’s a social media content calendar? Only the most helpful tool you could ever add to your social media marketing toolkit. It’s exactly what it sounds like: a tool to help you plan and schedule all your social content in advance. 

At the most basic level, developing a customer avatar will help you become more effective in your messaging and cut through the noise in today's marketing landscape. Using it in combination with a solid lifecycle marketing strategy is a sure-fire way to explode your business growth

Often overlooked, but not to be forgotten, email marketing is the hidden gem in your promotional toolbox. While social media is a fantastic marketing tool for small business (when used correctly), trusty email marketing is still an important ingredient in a marketing strategy.