Small business’s and entrepreneurs in South Africa have a tendency to never get past the “one man and his dog” type business, and if your business is still around after the initial capital outlay and recoupment of that capital (and you have some sort of Sustainable Competitive Advantage), then theres no reason for you not to start thinking about expanding, whether in staff or product lines, and marketing is probably one of the most important tools to get you there.
The reason why I posting about this is that there is this small stand on a busy road that I travel on every morning that sell cigarettes. Two guys park their car next to the road, early in the morning, put up a small stand, and thats it. No signage, no pictures, nothing.
They did put up a sign that had the price of a couple of brands of cigarettes, but it was so badly written, you could hardly read what it had to say. So they took it down.
I would love to see what would happen if they… started from the bottom.
- Choose a catchy name. something to do with the road, cigarettes etc. Something recognisable.
- They dont have to be graphic artists or sign writers, just write the name neatly but in a large letters on a large piece of cardboard. Use colours if possible.
- Find another couple of pieces of cardboard and write the prices of their cigarettes on them. Rotate the signs daily. Show some of them today, others tomorrow.
Taking only these 3 tips, I would love to see what would happen to their sales.
