Open Source Content Management

facebook is a great resource.

Twitter.com is something like an instant messenger type of platform. It allows for short messages or status updates as its called to be posted of which your followers can directly see. Can't remember the business stats on it offhand right now but they are very impressive.

Wohooooo...

Had my first two sales through Face book groupe
Thanks Richard for your advise. Had to let you guys know..

I'm working on the groupe to make it a social type thing not a sales point as you sugested with links to my wesite and some points of intrest.

I was quite surprised at the responce

Well Done.

I am very proud of you! With determination and work anything is possible.

I think regardless of what state the economy is in marketing is a crucial part of business growth. Simply put, i believe that marketing is your conversation to your prospective clients...and you don't want to stop talking to them just because it's costly. They'll think you're gone!

Look at Motorolla, they virtually disappeared in front of our eyes, not because they stopped manufacturing phones but they stopped advertising so much in RSA. The worst thing you can do is go M.I.A in the development stages of your business and I believe once you start advertising yourself you cannot stop.

There are cheapways to advertise, there ae expensive ways to advertise. If you can't afford to hire a marketing agency...do it yourself. But just make sure it is done.

Innovate relentlessly.

There are many other ways of marketing....in the recent times marketing and advertising does not only depend on the budget factor but the method adopted for doing it is important..for eg: text message marketing..which is very nominal and far reaching a method..

Marketing and advertising are essential at all times. In fact in times of recession the importance increases. Facts are that small businesses need results. Brand building is great for big business the have budgets exceeding most small businesses turnover by millions.

As a small business owner Return On Investment(ROI) should be your mantra with every cent you spend on marketing and advertising. People will tell you that quantifying it is impossible. Bollocks!

Every time you place an advert, ensure you check the results. There will be immediate returns and long term returns. Long term returns are for big business. If you spend R 1000.00 on adverting and get no immediate return, you are R 1000.00 deeper in the hole.

I maintain that any business not using 5 - 10% of their profits to generate more business, is a dying business. Any business wasting 5 - 10% of their profits on advertising that gets no results is a dying business.

Analysis is more important than the spend. If you spend R 3000 on a website and it generates no income, It is a nett cost. If you spend R 10 000 on a website and marketing it and generate R 20 000 worth of business the cost is too high, but the R 10 000 was cheaper in cost than the R 3000.00

Any advert that pays for itself is a brand building excercise with value. any advert that costs you money is an expense. Expenses should be trimmed always.

Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is folly. My friend Dorinda said to me: "I am not a business person. I bake and if a recipe fails I don't expect that it will be any better the second time. If it fails, I need to know why, Did it need more eggs or milk, or is it just a crap recipe?"

Are you spending money on web marketing and not getting results? Do you need more eggs or milk? or do you need an entirely new recipe? Only good analysis will tell you. Do you know why the last 5, 10, 15 prospects contacted you? How they found you?

You have some of the info at hand already. remember running a business without advertising is like winking at a bird in the dark, Only you know.