I've been so busy starting blogs, designing logos and 'Facebooking' all my new clients that I've taken ages to get around to starting my own, but after reading a post in a marketing forum today I thought "I have to write something about this today!"  So here we are.

The post was made in a small business forum and asked the million dollar question - 'how do small businesses and start ups market on a limited budget'.  If I had a penny ...

Now before impart my great wisdom to the cyber universe, I'd like to say that I don't have a marketing degree. I have never worked for a huge multinational with hundreds of thousands to spend on flash marketing campaigns.  I've learned what I know from a career in the hospitality industry (where you engage with your customer 24/7).  It slowly progressed into a career helping businesses learn to market themselves, not just their products.

So you have the contacts, networking and financing for a great business and want to get going on your new venture but how are you going to come up with a marketing plan? So many business owners and entrepreneurs make the mistake of believing that because their business ideas are great, they won’t have any problems selling their product or service.

 A penny saved is a penny earned. The scenarios:

1. The money boss makes the marketing decisions
2. Believing that not spending on advertising or PR is saving money
3. It seems so expensive so I am going to get the cheapest one OR
4. It seems so expensive so I am going to get the smallest quantity even though the cost per unit is almost double

So many entrepreneurs believe that the mere ingenuity of their idea is what will sell it. Most of the right are right, but most of them also do not give any thought to how they are going to get that idea across to their target market. So many business owners think that the brilliancy of the idea alone will attract customers.

There’s free and there’s low cost. When you spend a bit of money your capacity to make an impact goes up; it’s something of an investment in your target audience. Here are some easy and cost-effective ways to get your brand out there.

Corporate gifts - unique and free

Branding promotional goods that are unique and eye-catching is a great way to ensure you stay front of mind. The trick is to make them unique and useful.

You may be surprised to hear that there are only 5 ways to increase your profit. It may sound scary, but actually, when laid out in a business framework it is easier for you to work on your business.

Is it important to do marketing and communications during a recession? Nokukhanya recently ran a workshop with young entrepreneurs who raised this question which raised very interesting debate and we hope that this may assist with the answer. While marketing and advertising is very beneficial to the growth of a...