Five ways small business owners can boost their visibility online and improve sales, according to a digital marketing expert

Across Southern Africa, many women run small businesses that form the backbone of their local economies -and yet many struggle to be seen, heard, and paid fairly for their work. Limited access to markets, networks, and digital skills remains one of the biggest barriers to women's economic empowerment. Running since 2017, UN Women's EntreprenHER programme, delivered with support from De Beers Group, is working to close that gap through the provision of training, mentorship, and small business grants. Recently, a new pilot addition to the programme in South Africa was a three-month digital marketing course designed specifically for women-led small businesses.

The training was delivered by KPRM Media Solutions, a female-led marketing firm and implementing partner on the EntreprenHER programme. According to Kanyisa Xoki, Head of Enterprise and Supply Development at KPRM, the women she worked with shared strikingly similar starting points: limited digital marketing experience and modest resources, but with a few practical shifts, many grew their visibility significantly. 

Here are five of her top tips for any small business owner looking to do the same:

1. Build a simple marketing plan

The single biggest shift Kanyisa encourages is creating a basic marketing plan. "A marketing plan is essentially your guide to say that this is what you're going to do and when you're going to do it to put your business out there," she explains. Many of the women had already invested time and care into a business plan - the same discipline, she found, makes all the difference when applied to marketing too.

"Even if you feel as though, 'I will never be able to do this', just try. The plan does not need to be perfect from the start. It needs to exist," Kanyisa says. 

2. Start with what you have

Marketing does not require a big budget, the latest phone, or a perfectly polished product. People often think that "I need to have a big budget.” or “I need to have a fancy iPhone,” or “My product needs to be aesthetically pleasing." These are the kinds of assumptions Kanyisa works to dismantle from day one.

Her advice is simple: "If all you have is a 20-litre bucket to make and sell a product, you start there. Even with marketing, if all you have is access to social media, that's a good place to start and grow. It doesn't matter how big, it doesn't matter how small it is, it doesn't matter even if it's not aesthetically pleasing - start with what you have."

3. Consistency wins over perfect content

Many of the women entrepreneurs had tried social media for their businesses before - posted once or twice, seen little response, and stopped. Kanyisa says consistency, more than any single post, is what builds an audience over time. "It was reinforcing the fact that consistency is what is going to make people hear you, to listen to you," she says.

"Even if it feels like you are a tape recorder and it's literally just press play, that consistency will build an audience. Simple posts that showcase your product, services, skills, or expertise." Posting three times a week, every week, proved far more effective than posting occasionally with no rhythm.

4. Speak about your business with confidence

This is the tip Kanyisa returns to most. It isn't taught in marketing courses, she notes, yet it changes everything else. She describes working with entrepreneurs who had run their businesses for years, with real skill and experience, yet still struggled to describe what they do when asked directly. With practice, that changed. "Clear, confident language about your own business is something you can build through repetition, the same way you build an audience," she says.

5. Use the right platform for your business

Different platforms call for different content - and reaching further sometimes means going beyond the platform you already know. A picture, for instance, will not perform on TikTok, where video is what works, while Facebook and Instagram allow for more varied content. Kanyisa also encouraged business owners offering professional services to open a LinkedIn page, since corporate buyers and potential partners are active there too.

Her advice to one entrepreneur selling condiments was direct: don't limit yourself to Facebook and Instagram alone. "You never know" who else is watching.

It all comes back to your story

Underlying all five tips, Kanyisa says, is something she calls storytelling. "The audience does not necessarily buy the product. They buy the story behind the product," she explains. Even a quiet day in business is content worth sharing. "Even if you post 'a day in my life - today I had no clients, but tomorrow we try again,'" she tells the women she works with.

For Kanyisa, that message extends beyond marketing technique - it speaks to the confidence and visibility that the EntreprenHER programme aims to build in every woman entrepreneur it supports. "Your story is not boring. It has never been boring. You just need to get good at telling it on different platforms to different audiences," she says. "Don't wait for someone to give you the platform. Create a platform for yourself and for your business."

The EntreprenHER programme is a partnership between UN Women South Africa Country Office with support from De Beers Group, strengthening the economic power of women entrepreneurs across South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. In South Africa, it is implemented by the Blouberg and Musina Municipalities. Since 2017, De Beers Group has supported more than 3,900 women through EntreprenHER, providing training, mentorship, and micro-financing to help women entrepreneurs grow and thrive.