468 The purpose of this paper was to determine the need for a marketing strategy on the part of small craft producers in South Africa. Existing literature on marketing planning and the local craft industry was used to prove that craft producers need marketing strategy planning to overcome the market access challenges they currently experience. Craft producers lack access to the market and need to formulate appropriate marketing strategies in order to overcome this obstacle. A marketing strategy impacts positively on business sales and the profitability of a business, and is the backbone of any enterprise, regardless of size. However, craft producers need an understanding of the market for them to formulate an effective and efficient marketing strategy.  https://mail.ijmcs.co.uk/details&cid=468 https://mail.ijmcs.co.uk/cdn/article_file/2019-04-01-10-48-23-AM.pdf Volume 13 Issue 03 37 2019-04-01 2019-04-01 no Craft producers marketing planning marketing strategy small and medium enterprises (SMEs) none 578921 105 7 KM Makhitha Department of Marketing and Retail Management, Pretoria, University of South Africa