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The initial marketing a business does when it starts isn’t marketing and sales. It’s entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is whatever you do at the beginning of a business to see if you have something viable on which to build a business. It is a subject on its own and has its own course material covering things like bootstrapping, speed, spending more time out of the office than in the office, begging for money, begging for payments, listening to customers, and growing at all costs. Marketing is when you know something will sell, and you then make an outsized, on-face-value-irrationally large-sized investment in telling the world about it so you can sell more of it. It’s a case of spending money today to make more money tomorrow. Of course, marketing has a heart called the brand - the thing that sets you apart and legs, namely your sales activities. But I digress - none of this should ever be confused with entrepreneurship. Most SMEs are not businesses; they’re experiments trying to beco...

Obviously you've tried to sell something and felt like you were hitting your head against a brick wall? It happens. Think about this: if I tried to sell you a slice of chocolate cake for R50, you'd probably tell me it's too expensive. But what if, instead, I told you the story behind it? Like how it's made with 70% pure cocoa and baked by my grandmother? Then, you might just be tempted. See, the way many entrepreneurs approach sales is all wrong. Their "recipe" often looks something like this: 0% brand 30% marketing 70% sales And the result? Usually a flop or a constant struggle. But there's a better way, a better recipe: 50% brand 40% marketing 10% sales You can only use this recipe if you know what goes into it. So, let's break down the difference between brand, marketing, and sales. Brand Your brand is what makes you different. It's what sets you apart from the crowd. Without it, you're just another "me-too" busine...

Running a workshop can be a rewarding experience, both personally and professionally. As a solo consultant, I've had the opportunity to design and deliver workshops on a variety of topics. Along the way, I've learned a lot about what it takes to create a successful and engaging learning experience. In this blog post, I'll share some of my key learnings and insights. Start with a clear problem statement Before you even begin to design your workshop, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of the problem you're trying to solve. This will help you to focus your content and ensure that your workshop is relevant and impactful. Design your workshop to address the problem statement Once you have a problem statement, you can begin to design your workshop. I've found that it's helpful to have a few standard models that I can customise to fit the specific needs of each client. Create an agenda A well-structured agenda is essential for keeping your workshop on track...

I spend my December holidays doing two things: Stress—I wait for the new year to start because I find it nearly impossible to relax when the whole world is unavailable, and the economy is at a standstill. I’m at my most relaxed when I work. Read—I catch up on the numerous podcasts, videos, and articles I have bookmarked throughout the year but haven’t had time to read or listen. One of the things I laboured through, not because it is so long but because it is so dense—is a video by the celebrity-ex-professor Mark Ritson on the history and future of brand management. I’ll spare you the details, but here’s the key part for me, seven minutes from the end: That’s right. According to Mr Ritson, in about ten years from now, AI will do all your marketing, from devising a marketing strategy to conducting market research, defining a communications plan, designing ads, and managing the roll-out—the whole shebang. Granted, we see a lot of fancy - and fanciful - predictions, especially when it co...

An aspiring marketing consultant recently reached out to me with some questions about how to get started in the field. Below is a revised version of my email responses to her. It should give you a good idea of how I got started and hopefully some useful tips. B *** Q: Where did you find your very first clients? A: I reached out to a business owner I knew from my corporate career and offered my services for a project. Q: How much time do you devote to your own marketing? A: About 30% of my time is spent on marketing activities like updating my website and social media. I also allocate roughly 10% of my budget to marketing efforts. Q: What are the biggest mistakes you've made? A: Rather than one major blunder, it's been a series of smaller mistakes. For instance, appearing bored in a client meeting or inadvertently mentioning a competitor's name. A key takeaway is the importance of avoiding lengthy proposals; concise emails outlining collaboration options are often more effec...

Interesting question, isn't it? Should a marketer be more successful at starting a business than a non-marketer? Why do so many marketers fail at doing their own thing? Just last month, I heard of a good marketer who couldn't make it as a marketing consultant - an "own business". What does that say about their skills? And about marketing in general? Is this a classic case of not being able to practice what you preach? Does it maybe expose how useless marketing is as a business function - when it can't even help an expert build their own business? Or could it point to an age-old suspicion that marketing does not impact sales, and sales is what ultimately drives business. Many marketers try and fail at business. Does this stain the field's reputation? Marketing isn't business A full-funnel, strategic, 4P marketer undoubtedly understands many parts of how a business works. They appreciate that there's a process involved in attracting, informing and conver...

Y ou can replace the word "strategy" with "focus". Where are you going to focus? Understandably, entrepreneurial businesses prefer to refrain from concentrating their efforts because they aggressively explore every possible opportunity. Yet, they have the most to gain from targeting their limited resources instead of following a spray-and-pray approach. The Consequences of a Lack of Focus  The problem with not putting enough effort behind a single point is that many ideas remain sub-critical - they never receive enough support to either work or fail entirely. In our experience at Firejuice , doing more of one thing allows the business to get a clear sense of whether it works or doesn't. Unfortunately, in too many cases, a chronic lack of focus often leads to murky decision-making and companies that end up chasing their tails. Structured Opportunity Exploration Entrepreneurial businesses will always search for opportunities, but exploration should not be unrestra...