StevenHickey

(As featured in Start Your Business Magazine, 'Ask the experts' June Edition)

Regardless of the nature of your business, the plethora of technology available in the modern age not only allows you to promote your business online – it also allows you to DO business online.

For me, the killer combination for small and large businesses alike has to be ecommerce and email marketing. The two activities provide such synergies that more and more businesses setup, trade and thrive purely in the online realm.

For bricks and mortar businesses, ecommerce and email marketing also provide a huge area for diversification and in many cases; present a brand new channel to explore and monetise.

Any small business can realistically afford to run an ecommerce website (online shop) for as little as £20 per month with award winning platforms like ekmPowershop.com. It doesn’t cost thousands of pounds like it used to – so there is no excuse, no matter how small your business or budget!

Email marketing on the other hand provides you with a great channel for leveraging extra spend from existing customers by way of promoting special offers, company news and other initiatives you may wish to communicate in bulk. Email marketing also provides non retail and service based organisations with an effective channel where ecommerce may not be feasible.

Powerful email marketing systems like ekmResponse.com allow you to track your email marketing campaigns with pinpoint accuracy – you can see who opens your mail, where in the world they are, who has clicked on certain links within your email. Such systems can even integrate with your website where data capture is concerned.

Put the two together and you have a finely tuned formula for online success. And the best part… either one of the activities should cost your business less than £20 per month.