Small companies in particular are facing difficulties in marketing with small budgets. It’s a challenge to create awareness when you can’t afford advertising spots on radio or TV, or any kind of substantial presence in newspapers or magazines. Internet based advertising is still hit and miss in terms of conversion and while no company can afford not to have a web presence and a facebook page, it’s difficult to make a splash without investing in a solid internet marketing campaign.

That leaves events, which can be cost-effective, particularly if an event can be organised in conjunction with a good cause, and promotional items such as office supplies, consumables and clothing.

Simple promotional materials like mugs or sticky notes are the easiest way into the marketing game. It’s better to have long-life items such as T-shirts or mugs than short life ones such as sticky pads or packets of tissues, as you want your item to be used/worn/displayed as much as possible for as long as possible.

Small companies can be creative about marketing themselves through promotional material. A painter and decorator has used a keyring colour wheel with his website and mobile number on the back. Each time a client uses the wheel to see if a new cushion, set of bedlinen or even shirt will work with their other items, they are reminded of his existence.

If your company has many clients who play golf, or if you are in a seafront community, branded clothing that fits with the golf course, or with beach life, can be a great promotional giveaway. If you’re a food production or serving company, why not give away aprons with your name on?

It’s the time of year for pub, hotel and restaurant staff who work in a kitchen or food preparation environment, and who are required to wear a workplace uniform, to make their claim for a tax rebate. The EIM32712 rebate applies to those who have to wear uniform items such as branded polo-shirts, aprons or shirts and who have to pay for laundering, repairing and replacing the branded items. They may receive a flat rate rebate of £60 per annum for full-time employees.

It’s commonplace for employees to have to wear a uniform in the hospitality sector, for Health and Safety purposes and not all kitchen staff are aware that they can make such a claim, or that they can backdate the claim for six years from the current financial year, if they have been wearing a uniform in the hospitality sector for those years.

To make the claim for tax relief, the employer must have HMRC approval for the claimable uniform expense, must provide a uniform with logo that is printed, embroidered or sewn onto the garment (ie, the logo cannot be on a removable badge or lapel pin), the public must be able to identify the company in question by the logo itself.

The flat rate rebate is available in varying amounts and under different criteria, to those who work in agriculture, engineering and even glasswork. Another profession whose employees are able to claim a rebate is textiles and textile printing.

Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday is an old tradition that used up fat and eggs in advance of the Lent period when people fasted to recognise the 40 days and nights Jesus spent in the desert. In Britain, pancakes are thin and crispy, and lend themselves to being tossed or thrown. In other parts of the world, Shrove Tuesday is called Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, and is celebrated by the wearing of masks, bright costumes and the eating of rich foods.

To celebrate Pancake Day with children, you could organise a pancake race like those held up and down the UK, allow them to organise their own pancake toppings, or help them make a Mardi Gras costume. In the first two cases, make sure that children are wearing aprons or old clothes such as a T-shirt and shorts, and if you’re flipping outdoors, check the area for anything they may trip over: kids become totally focused on their frying pan, and can really go flying if there’s any trip hazard. The best pancakes to flip are slightly thicker than the ones you make to eat – a good tip is to flour the pan lightly, rather than oiling it, as this allows a cold pancake to flip more easily.

Mardi Gras costumes are bright and fun and can be made from old clothes, bright crepe paper and masks make from old cereal boxes cut up and painted. Encourage children to choose a spring character such as a flower, baby animal, decorated egg or sun, moon or star. Choose an old T-shirt in a suitable colour and help the child to cut it if it is adult sized, or to decorate it with fabric paints if it is child-sized. Masks need eye and mouth holes cut before they are decorated. Then they can be painted flat, allowed to dry, and decorated with stickers, glitter or ribbons before having an elastic loop added to allow them to fit the child’s head. Wear the costume with a pair of bright tights or leggings.

While many of us spent Valentine’s Day gazing around the workplace looking for romance, nearly a third of UK employers claim they have ‘prohibited’ relationships between managers and subordinates, according to Personnel Today, which has based the claim on the 2012 HRXpert survey results to be published next month.

It’s a tangled issue, with the Trades Union Congress weighing in to remind UK businesses that relationship ‘bans’, USA style, are not legal in this country, where rights to association and privacy issues are enshrined in the adoption of the 1998 Human Rights Act. It is acceptable to develop HR policy which might include clothing rules that, for example, prohibit non-professional garments (short skirts, halter tops and open toed sandals for women, unbuttoned shirts or even shorts, for men) but such prohibitions would have to balance gender equality too – you can’t ban shorts for men and allow women to wear short skirts, and you can’t stop women wearing camisole tops and allow men to wear vest-type T-shirts as such rulings could be considered sexist.

The most that UK law currently allows is that an employer can require employees to behave professionally (which includes clothing worn to work) in the workplace. Any employee who felt they had been held to account for a workplace relationship on the grounds of a ban, rather than on the basis of their having behaved unprofessionally, could in theory take their case to an industrial tribunal. The idea banning relationships with subordinates is particularly vexed, as it appears to allow for some forms of workplace relationship and not others, which is clearly discriminatory.

If you have a staff uniform, what does it say about the organisation? Does it convey any message at all? From the busbys of the Grenadier Guards to the brown coveralls of the UPS delivery staff, uniforms become distinctive and convey messages about the people wearing them, and the company employing those people.

Perhaps one of the most distinctive, and most parodied, British uniforms is the Butlins Redcoat, and it’s just been updated again, by a designer who counts Lady Gaga amongst her adherents.

Hannah Clayton has given the distinctive pillarbox red blazers a new twist, with ‘boyfriend’ styling for female redcoats, allowing the sleeves to be pushed or rolled up, and much sharper navy blue facings, echoing the Savile Row tailoring that is part of the British heritage. There are also platform shoes for the women and long-sleeved T-shirts to create a more formal appearance while allowing for ease of movement in a demanding physical environment.

The designer spent time with Redcoats as they worked, to get an understanding of the need for a balance between the need to look professional and the requirement for Redcoats to be sporty and active.

It’s important, when choosing a uniform, to consider the activities that will be undertaken while wearing it, as well as the appearance of uniform clothing during and after those activities. Garments that ride up or twist around are unsuitable for those in active roles, and clothing that creases easily may not be ideal if people are required to look smart at the end of a long day.