The Role and Importance of Marketing in South African Township SMMEs

Small, Micro and Medium Entreprises (SMMEs) in South African townships, as in many countries worldwide, has a high failure rate. Effective use of marketing and other initiatives made available by the South African government, can help to decrease the number of failures. In order to assist SMMEs effectively, it is necessary to know how they approach marketing, what their training needs are and if they are aware of the initiatives available to assist them with various business functions. A survey was conducted in this regard with small business owners across South African townships. It can be concluded from the research that marketing plays a vital role in the growth and sustainability of a SMME. SMMEs that experienced a decline in growth in the previous year required more marketing training. The growth decline ratio is 1:1.08. It is furthermore clear from the marketing approach in relation to turnover ratios, that SMMEs that grew in turnover over the past three years are almost twice as active in performing marketing functions as the SMMEs that experienced a decline in turnover in the past three years. The need for marketing training was also pointed out as the most poignant training required by SMMEs. It can thus be deduced that the role and importance thereof cannot be overstated since the need expressed warrants the importance. The majority of respondents also indicated that they are not aware of any governmental programmes to assist SMMEs with their marketing.