Your Database: Your Marketing Engine (Report‪)‬

Like an engine that drives a mechanical device, a database powers your communication and marketing strategies into motion. Also like a well-designed and well-serviced engine, a good database helps your business run smoothly and efficiently. So if the thought of putting one together and maintaining it makes you weary, think again, because without it your business risks stalling. This article gives an overview of database design and the benefits derived from creating and managing a database for business administration and expansion. The concepts outlined can be applied with any database program such as Microsoft Access or FileMaker Pro. For a small business, these programs are more than adequate. More sophisticated and expensive customer relationship management systems, which are usually used in larger businesses, are not the subject of this paper.