It's easy to spend a small fortune on advertising and there's plenty of opportunities out there to market a business using expensive methods, but I'm firmly of the belief that one of the best ways to advertise a business is through word-of-mouth.

On a small island such as ours, the Isle of Wight, making the effort to go along to networking events run by the local business associations allows others to start to get to know your business name and brand, and associate you with it. I've been going along to these now for the past year, and whilst at first it can be daunting to be in a room full of people who all seem to know each other, it's not long before others get to know you and what your business can offer.

And the added bonus is that sometimes you get to have breakfast at some beautiful locations - today's IW Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting was at the stunning Haven Hall in Shanklin where, if you have one, you can also land your helicopter! Perhaps next time .....