What is marketing?

When I'm delivering my training courses on marketing for small businesses and start ups across Norfolk, we usually start with a fairly simple question - "What is marketing?" I ask everyone to jot some ideas down to try and get a picture of the level of knowledge in the room (and also to give my voice a break from talking all day!) This exercise is also hugely valuable to get people "into the groove" and "thinking marketing". I truly believe that marketing is so much more than just a process like accounting or administration, its a whole way of thinking. Those that srtuggle with the concept will often start by putting advertising down on the blank sheet of paper but marketing is so much more than simply advertising.

Some of the most successful small businesses and start ups are those which think marketing all of the time. By this I mean that they are open-minded to creative ideas - anything from giving some products away to a charity to forming alliances for referrals or collaborating to host an event. So here are a few of the more unusual things that some of my training course delegates think are marketing that you might not have thought of:

1. Giving away free samples of your product - this could be at an event, in the street or even mounted onto the front of a magazine
2. Holding an open day
3. Writing an article in a magazine
4. Writing a blog or using other social media
5. Setting up a customer loyalty scheme - use a simple business card to collect stamps and give loyal customers a free drink etc on their 6th visit.
6. Clever packaging and point of sale (POS) - a dull product can look totally different in a clever box or display stand
7. Incentive schemes - encourage word of mouth from existing customers by rewarding them for referring a friend to you
8. Giving away branded promotional gifts such as pens, stickers or carrier bags

Can anyone suggest any other smart marketing ideas?

Access to finance for rural start ups

Research recently published by the Commission for Rural Communities has identified a worrying problem with the lack of access to financial advice in rural areas, a particularly pertinent issue in the current economic climate. Its not the first time that this theme has reared its head, and yet there is still limited recognition of the real issues or specific services to meet the needs of rural people and their businesses.

A lack of access to finance was one of the key findings of ground-breaking entrepreneurship researcher Izzy Warren-Smith back in the mid-nineties. Her work identified that in many cases women were the driving force behind the surge in farm diversification projects for struggling rural agricultural businesses. Yet these enterprising women were coming up against significant barriers in their quest to build a sustainable business, and lack of access to finance was a big issue. Farmer's wives/daughters/sisters would go to the bank with a decent business plan, but they were more often rejected. On the back of her pioneering work, Women in Rural Enterprise (WiRE) was established to offer support to these women, and is now a thriving national organisation which helps women to grow and develop their rural businesses.

I recently attended the WiRE annual conference at Harper Adams Agricultural College, which was buzzing with enthusiastic women in rural business. One of the key messages which came across was the tendency for women to stereotypically be more conservative with money (when running a business, not when shopping for shoes!) which puts us in a more recession-proof position and perhaps less in need of financial advice than men in rural areas.

Legal issues of setting up a small business

While there are so many things to think about when starting a business, staying inside the law is one thing that no new business owner can afford to overlook. Without trying to sound overly morbid, having a close brush with the long arm of the law could finish your business before you have even started.

At the First Steps Business Club for new business start ups in Norwich last night, we had a down to earth session on the key aspects of legislation that every small business owner needs to know. Rebecca Cleal from Clapham and Collinge Solicitors explained in practical terms how important rulings such as The Sale of Goods Act can be simply adopted in your business. It was really insightful, both from a business owner and a consumer perspective. Did you know for example, that within the 1st six months of purchase, the burden of proof is on the seller to prove that an item was not faulty if a customer returns it with a complaint? All consumers are protected by a range of statutory rights which apply in addition to any additional warranty or guarantee package offered by the seller. So in many situations spending money on an extended warranty is fairly pointless as the law already protects you as a consumer.

We talked a lot about the law and also the interwoven broader issue of good customer service - at the end of the day if your customer complains and is being a bit unreasonable, its generally good customer service to honour their complaint regardless of the grounds, in order to protect the priceless reputation of your business. The most damaging type of customer is a "silent complainer" - someone who doesnt raise their complaint with you (the business owner) but instead goes out and tells 10 of your potential customers to avoid your company like the plague!

The First Steps Business Club for new business start ups meets monthly at The Rivergarden in Thorpe St Andrew, Norwich to support people with enterprising ambitions or in the early stages of starting a business.