While this has officially been declared the year of the entrepreneur, starting a small business has actually never been harder. The tools are plentiful, the costs are low and the market seems huge – so what’s the problem?

The biggest problem small business owners face nowadays is standing out from the crowd and reaching out to their customers. A high quality product alone just won’t do – smart branding and active marketing are key to taking your business to the next level.

Huge, expensive marketing campaigns ran by large, corporation-like agencies are successful almost without exception. However, a campaign of that scale is extremely expensive, and is most often out of reach for an emerging small business. [Read more…]