Is this some kind of a joke or the marketing guys at ABC Auctions are just trying to communicate that they can auction anything no matter how old it looks.

Is there really a market for this old “junk”? Or perhaps ABC Auctions marketing team is up to something?

Pictured above is a post on ABC Auctions’ official Facebook page.

What initially attracted my attention to the post was not the photo of the derelict stove, but the comments section. So I quickly browsed the comments section and chuckled all the way as l read through. When it comes to posting comments on Social media, Zimbabweans are talented. Finally, after reading the comments, I scrolled back up and tapped under the Facebook page name to confirm whether it was indeed their official page. Yep, it was indeed the ABC Auctions official FB, page. So why on earth would they post that old “useless” thing? Is this good for business? Then it suddenly hit me. It’s all about numbers! Generating traffic. Rigging the algorithm.

If you have a website that gets lots of traffic, you know that the more traffic it generates, the higher it will rank in the search engines. Likewise, the more engagement on your post the higher the views.

So that post generated lots of comments (negative, positive, hilarious, etc) and obviously attracted thousands of views as well. And I think the ABC Auctions marketing team has achieved its objective. Well done guys!

Over to you

• What “innovative” marketing strategies are you implementing in your communication to attract new customers?
• Do you think the ABC Auctions stunt marketing strategy can be adopted for your business?

Please note that if you want to go for stunt/shock marketing, be prepared to deal with any backlash from the audience.

Compiling books on opportunities is a daunting task as one cannot just sit behind a desktop and start writing about opportunities. One needs to research, experience entrepreneurship, conduct field tours and carry out a lot of surveys. The good news is that our forum now has 100k active members and therefore our book shares their experiences, insights and contributions.

This helps explain why it takes us 24 months before publishing new editions. Our past Business Opportunities Books include the 2018 and 2020 editions with the 2020 edition available for free reading on this site on the resources page.

So 2022 we give birth to an another exciting book which we hope will inspire you particularly college graduates exploring available opportunities in the country and across the globe.

The book contains 8 chapters which include farming opportunities, Business Plans –6 business plans, Advanced digital marketing, Clients experiences, Premium Chats, Zimbo Discussions and Risk Management.

A new inclusion is business plans which is essentially a spoon feeding initiative and also includes start advice to diasporas considering relocations back to Zimbabwe.

Our interest in the B2E model is apparent as shown by the noise we made in 2021. To those always asking what businesses they could venture into? Our answer is enable others to make money–Business 2 Entrepreneur. We covered in detail this model with a couple of case studies.

Zimbo Discussions Chapter is another exciting chapter that covers a few top forum discussions on business with more than 50 forum members providing feedback through comments.

There is little material on practical digital marketing in Zimbabwe–what works locally, so our advanced digital marketing chapter covers local experiences on digital marketing and written in simple to understand language. This is our follow up to Digital Marketing introduced in our 2020 edition.

Our Premium Chat covers some of the premium chats hosted in 2020 including Maputo Opportunities, Angolan Opportunities, Auto spare parts opportunities, Hybrid Paw Paws and our own forum experience of one of our companies that manufactures mealie meal.

Why did we include the Clients Experience Chapter? Zimbabwe is generally a poor service country but this creates opportunities to those who plug the gap. We have personal experiences from Thailand and how this can be implemented locally and outclass competition.

We end the book with Risk Management viewing risks as opportunities and also as less benign. A couple of areas such as ponzi schemes, cyber security, practical case studies of risk mapping and forum contributions too.

We do not want to beat our own drum but believe we have just published one of the best books on business opportunities in the country. And the book will help inspire future readers as most of what we covered is timeless.

The book is for those in entrepreneurship, those contemplating joining and those interested in analysing business opportunities in Zimbabwe.

The book comes out this week and being sold for US$5 per print copy (This includes automatic subscription to the forum), the print copy is available for US$20 and also includes automatic forum subscriptions.

Our contact numbers are +263774081808 for Whatsapp or +263773 055 063 for direct calls.