So many people run what I call HOPE based marketing. They place adverts online, in the phone book or local newspapers and then sit back and hope that someone reads them and calls with an order.

If you have ever, or currently use the word “hope” in connection with your marketing, you know that you are in trouble. In fact this word should not be used in any association with running a small business. Never hope money will be paid, never hope people will read your adverts, or hope they come to an event.

Turning hope into certain confidence is key to developing a solid marketing strategy that will develop your business into the future.

So our lesson today is: take a look at your business marketing strategy and where you ‘hoping’ that things are going to work, start to change these. In our next post we will begin to discuss more productive ways to target your customers

This week we attended a workshop presented by the Cape Chamber of Commerce on the challenges of doing business in Africa. Some very interesting speakers were present; here are some snippets of their wisdom:

Identified Risks

• Non payment of accounts
• Exchange control issues with unstable currencies
• Problem and expense of moving people around different regions
• Many different staffing regulations
• Credit risk insurance
• Freight and logistics issues
• Labour unrest

Some recommendations

• Find quality partners in each region before launching a new venture
• Visit places personally, do not do internet meetings
• Mitigate risks by investigations and relationships
• Cover all your bases with legal contracts and clauses
• Build in arbitration and mediation clauses into all contracts
• Do not hurry business deals, let them evolve at their own pace
• Plan for the worse, hope for the best

Even with all the challenges and risks, Africa remain the most lucrative market on the planet with countries boasting growths in excess of 25%. First one in gets the catch.

Are you a startup looking for funding? Do you want to compete against the world’s best start-ups and stand a chance of securing up to €1 000 000 (R 15 000 000.00) in investments into your start-up business?

Interested yet?
Get in the Ring: The Investment Battle is a worldwide competition for the most promising start-ups to secure their investment of up to €1,000,000. The competition is selected by the Kauffman Foundation as one of the ten featured events of the Global Entrepreneurship Week. In 2014 this competition will be organized in over 50 countries with over 2,000 participating start-ups. Through 50 National Finals, 8 Regional Finals 8 start-ups will be selected for the International Final which will take place on the 21st of November in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

This year, Get in the Ring (GITR) will be hosted in South Africa for the very first time. The hosts of the South African National Final event of GITR will be Silicon Cape in partnership with the bhive EDC an initiative of the Faculty of Economic Sciences & IT on the North-West University Vaal Triangle Campus and Silicon Cape.  Find out more

Fear of failure, fear of friends and fear of success are common in our excuses to perform. We duck and dive and delay the inevitable day when we have to step out into the spotlight and announce to the world that we are either a success or just an average person who will never amount to anything.

The opposite of fear is confidence. This comes from a number of habits that we instill in our business leaders. Some of these are easy to define and practice. Issues such as the removal of clutter from our daily lives. Finding focus on our purpose. Understanding who, what and why we are. And to top it all practice. Creating a number of daily habits that include practicing for what lies ahead will overcome the fear and replace it with confidence. Even if you are unsure what to say or do, to do it with confidence will swing the odds of success in your favour. Learn to stand tall and build your self image around a positive attitude and confident mindset.

In my books confidence starts in the brain and moves to the heart and from there to the very tips of your being. Make no mistake that this is easily toppled, so a daily adjustment is required to get and keep it in shape and ready to face the world. Confidence results in attempt, and attempt results in success. Remember that you will miss every shot you do not take.

Having a website for your business has to be one of the best ways to attract new customers that you do not yet know. It has also become an important tool to validate your claims and product offerings as well as give potential customers access to your contact information and product details. More important is the conversations around your brand on social media platforms that support your claims. All these need to be set up and managed by your business. But how well does yours perform?

We use a number of different leading-edge website assessment tools, together with our experience, that not only assesses your current layout and design of your site but the ability to be used as a marketing tool to attract new customers and grow your business. Using this tool together with a number of other assessment techniques, we are able to give your website a full examination and under-the-hood assessment giving you a comprehensive report on how your score and what to do about any shortfalls.

We are giving away 20 free assessments this week to celebrate our 20 years of democracy in South Africa. If you would like to be one of the lucky 20 to get this free assessment report worth R350, then email us here with your domain name and a contact number and we will email you a full report.

There are not many things that remain constant in our lives these days, one that does is the need for change. With the rules of life, business and love ever changing or modulating from one phase to the next, we need to be on the constant lookout for new opportunities and gaps in the market that require our attention.

A few big changes that we have undergone at the Entrepreneur Incubator is that of our new office.  We are now based in Woodstock, the new hottest venue in Cape Town. Our offices situated in the Upper East Side Complex offers us luxury, security and a range of facilities such as coffee shops, restaurants, conference facilities and a gym and pool for those de-stress sessions.

Included in our office move was the appointment of our newest staff member: Chevon Cupido joins the team as a Strategic Assistant. Chevon will be working alongside myself in supporting our clients and helping to generate modules, tools and workshop materials.

Our offices also boast the ability to create high quality videos for use on websites, training programmes and social media. The green screen technology and wireless microphone allows us to get perfect sound based at any location you desire.

So with change, come the opportunities for us to expand our offerings and for you to join us to help push your business up a notch or two to the levels you have hoped for. If you want to get more info from us, then please contact Chevon direct on admin@ei.co.za