Every business owner wants to use time-proven, effective marketing tactics that build strong brand awareness and increase its clientele. Small business owners today may not necessarily have the tools to spend an insane amount of money on television advertising, radio spots, or other costly advertising avenues such as billboards emblazoned with state-of-the-art graphics. Other advertising methods exist that are cost-effective and have the ability to get the company’s branding message across. We have looked at some of the most efficient and least expensive advertising measures from websites such as here and others for small business owners that we believe will fit in with your budget while helping to create a profitable business. These include:

1. Postcard marketing
2. E-mail blasts
3. Social networking sites (i.e. Twitter or Facebook)
4. Podcasting
5. Creating a website

It is no surprise that 163.3 million Americans use the Internet whether it is to find out new information, shop online, or learn about a business. For this reason, it is crucial for start-up and small businesses to leverage the power of the Internet instead of focusing on traditional advertising maneuvers such as print media and television advertising.

Postcard marketing may seem slightly outdated, but it is important to highlight the massive effect of postcards. Postcards printed on 4” by 6” index cards are highly noticeable in the mail because they can be flipped over and read in a matter of seconds. Immediately, the message is sent across to the end-user without them having to peruse through a pamphlet or packet that usually instills a lack of interest or frustration.

E-mail blasts are excellent for small business owners to send out to their network of contacts. Even better, they’re excellent for building a database on a website. E-mail blasts should be kept simple, to-the-point, and underscore promotional offers to gain the reader’s attention. Moreover, they can be sent out to multiple parties from the recipient, increasing word of mouth buzz.

Social networking sites have become a marketing phenomenon that is helpful for businesses in spreading their brand, mission, and services and/or products in the form of a user-profile. Also, sites such as www.Twitter.com and www.Facebook.com have changed the face of Internet marketing by establishing the online sphere as a word of mouth metropolis. Now is the time to take advantage of social networking sites.

Another helpful marketing suggestion is to create a simple podcast. Not sure how or where to start? Make sure your computer has a web cam. If it doesn’t, these gadgets can be bought at inexpensive price at large computer and electronic retailers. Introduce your business concept through the podcast that is less than 30 seconds. Podcasts are an excellent marketing tool because they can be posted on a website, sent through e-mail, and posted on sites such as www.YouTube.com. According to www.Quantcast.com, www.YouTube.com averages 72.5 million users per month.

With the implementation of these media, businesses are likely to see an increase in interest. The next step would be to create an intuitive, user-friendly website that summarizes the concept of the business without too many graphics or distractions. Following these steps can help an entrepreneur bolster their brand and reach their selected demographic.

In an interview in BtoBObline, Marcy Shinder, VP of Brand Strategy and Marketing at American Express OPEN, offered up these tips (in a different format):

• A downturn is a good time to identify ways to transform a company.
• A lot of companies look at delivering better customer service as a differentiator. (For service organizations, this can be a challenge since your competitors are likely to be trying the same things. Instead, think about what improvements would deliver the most value.)
• Companies need to stay relevant. (In other words, think about the problems customers buy from you, and make sure that what you provide truly solves their problems.)
• Provide tangible value. (We have a client with a fascinating vision of the future of technology in their sector, but we’ve advised them to make that game-changing vision a secondary message because their first goal is to sell product. So they need to focus on ways they provide real value to their customers. A compelling vision of what’s to come is good, but that doesn’t always help customers when deciding to buy now instead of putting off the purchase for later.)
• Companies need to market differently from the day of the 30-second spot. They need to provide insight, inspiration and advice during every customer interaction.
• Companies need to answer what they can do for their customers.

Some good common sense advice, yet I’d bet a lot of companies don’t follow up on this. Check out the complete article, “American Express’ Shinder on marketing to small businesses.”

It depends how you do it.

Going to cocktail events and social hours, grabbing business cards and tossing yours around, brief handshakes while looking over that person’s shoulder for the door or the next person in the room.

Nope, that doesn’t work.

Connecting, helping others first, taking a sincere interest in them and their business, helping them see opportunities they may not see themselves.

That’s what I’m talking about.

And yes, it is work. Just like building any relationship, it requires commitment, follow up, and heart.

And it’s worth every minute.

Do you make networking a regular part of your business and marketing strategies?

Are you connecting in person (or over the phone if geography is a challenge) with people you meet online?

How are you contributing to your networking relationships? Just this morning, on a call with a colleague, I thumbed through my mental Rolodex for a connection that will help her grow her network and her business.

Easy, peasy, Japaneasy. It took about 5 minutes to make the connection and a warm introduction. She’s off and running, with gratitude, and I feel very good about it.

How’s that for honoring a “Givers Gain” philosophy?

How do you use networking in your business? How has it helped you? Tips to share?

When people think about marketing activities they usually think of tactics like having an ezine, direct mail, sending an email, networking, holding a teleseminar, and so on.

But I think the one marketing activity that weaves its way through all marketing tactics is the activity of creating connection.

Connection is the glue that holds together your marketing plan and really, your business.

If you are not building connection with your prospects, clients, affiliates, joint venture partners, peers, assistants, referral partners and vendors - then you’re not going to gain their like, trust and respect.

They won’t join your list, subscribe to your ezine or newsletter, buy your products, sign up for your teleclasses, attend your workshops, or become a member of your mastermind circle.

If people don’t feel a connection with you, they won’t tell other people about you, share their questions and concerns with you, invite you into their business via the telephone or email, want to partner with you or make joint ventures together.

So you see, creating connection is the number one marketing activity in my experience because everything else will follow from that connection.

Think about that the next time you sit down to craft a sales page, write an email, draft an outline of a new product, create a new service, write an article and any other marketing activity you do.  Focus on creating connection and you’ll do just fine!

As consumers, we get offered upsells all the time:  the car rental company offers upgraded insurance packages, the furniture retailer suggests scotch-guarding the fabric, the fast food joint wants to super-size your meal, the electronics store offers extended warranties, and so on.

So why do most small business owners cringe when it’s suggested that they should be utilizing upsells in their day-to-day interactions with their customers?

Many of us tend to think we’re being pushy salespeople or we’ll make our customers angry at us for wanting more of their money or time.

It’s all in how you approach it.  If you have created products and services that truly help people, then telling them about something else (an upsell) that could increase their satisfaction or help them faster or easier is almost your duty.

Unless you’re upselling in a really obnoxious or annoying way, most people will either upgrade and say thanks for the great offer or just say “no thank you”.

Of course, only some clients will take advantage of the upsell offer but if you don’t let people know about it, then you’ll have no one buying your add-ons!

Take a look at all the different components of your marketing strategy to identify areas where it makes sense to let the customer know about an upsell product or service:

• the thank-you page in your shopping cart can list other products people may want to buy
• the email to people providing the download link to an electronic product they’ve purchased can have a suggestion for the next ebook that would most benefit them
• an insert in a workshop/seminar binder telling them about some products and services they may find beneficial in implementing what they’ve learned at the seminar
• a thank-you email after purchase, telling people about a membership club or teleseminar series they may benefit from as well
• a flyer inserted in the monthly newsletter mailing informing people of an upcoming seminar or teleseminar

Don’t be afraid to upsell your customers - just do it in a helpful, non-pushy and authentic way, and watch your revenue increase.

I remember when my business coach talked about creating products and services that would be ongoing and provide recurring revenue.  At the time, I was just starting out and getting one little ebook created and off of my plate was proving to be an arduous task.

The thought of doing something on an ongoing basis scared the heck out of me!

But now that I’ve gotten some marketing tactics running consistently and smoothly (well, most of the time!) and have a few products and services to offer people, I’m re-looking at the thought of ongoing services to offer.

Who doesn’t get excited when you hear the words “recurring revenue”?!  Especially for us small business owners who have experienced the whole “feast or famine” nature of doing business at some time.

But it’s not just the money that gets me excited; it’s the fact that I would have loyal, stick-around clients and customers that I could really have a meaningful, rewarding business relationship with.  To me, it’s always been really satisfying to see people progress and learn over a period of time, and get to share in their triumphs and missteps and really see them grow.

There are many examples of ways that you can “sign up” clients for a lifetime:

• set up a members’ only blog or forum
• send out a CD every month
• sell a subscription to your monthly newsletter
• have a membership program
• have ongoing coaching calls
• have a “book of the month” type of program
• have a teleseminar series

There are many ways to offer ongoing help and assistance to your prospects and customers - you’re limited only by your imagination and your target audience’s needs!  So start brainstorming today and reap the rewards of recurring revenue and an ongoing connection with people.

Having an information product is the best way to do something once and get paid for it over and over again.  It’s the way smart business owners and solo-preneurs stop trading time for money and start trading all that great, valuable knowledge in their heads for money!

So where do you start?

Here are 3 ways for you to inexpensively and quickly create an info-product:

1)  Offer a teleseminar or teleclass

• record it using audioacrobat
• offer the MP3 or burn some CDs and offer it with a transcript if you want

This is a good choice if you are starting from scratch and aren’t already doing any training or workshops.

2)  Use an existing training program or workshop

• record the training or program and offer with or without the transcript
• if you already have a recording, then just package up with an introduction and sell as an MP3 or CD, or as a higher end product that included both the transcript and audio
• if you’ve only got the written version, record it yourself using audioacrobat

Choose this one if you are already delivering some content to people and you can take advantage of an existing program or booking.

3)  Re-purpose existing articles, reports and blog posts

• collect the best ones, add an introduction and sell as an ebook
• record some of the articles and add an MP3 or CD to charge more

This works well when you have lots of existing content (i.e. articles and blog posts) that is still relevant and “fresh”.

As you can see, creating info-products - especially “beginner” ones - can be inexpensive, quick and painless!  Take a look around you and see what opportunities you can take advantage of to make simple, yet valuable, information products that you can offer to your prospects and clients.

Many businesses and salespeople concentrate all their energies on the really “hot” leads - the people who want something right now and are willing to pay for it now.

I believe this is a big mistake.  ALL of your leads are valuable.  Just because they aren’t customers yet, doesn’t mean they won’t become one later on when their circumstances change or their need is more acute.

There are many reasons why prospects may not be willing to engage your services immediately:

• they are dealing with more pressing things at this time
• they do not have enough information about your product or service
• they are not ready to make a decision
• they do not yet feel comfortable or trust you enough yet
• they are comparing information from other companies and trying to determine the best choice for them

By following up repeatedly with prospective customers, you have a better chance of getting the sale when they are ready to buy - because you’ve remained top-of-mind by providing valuable communications with them.

When you keep in contact with your leads - warm or cold - you are sending them a powerful message: that you believe they are important and worth cultivating a relationship with - even if they haven’t bought anything yet.

So be a smart marketer and treat all of your leads - wherever they are in your marketing funnel - with the same level of respect and importance.  Remember that today’s leads are tomorrow’s customers.

If you are a business looking to grow your lead volume, consider Resource Nation’s vendor program.

I know that many businesses feel that their main purpose is to make a profit and provide for their family and employees.

But I would say that your prime purpose is to give as much as you can to everyone you meet during the course of your business.

Many people wait until someone becomes a paying customer before they start adding value to that person’s life.  I think that’s short-sighted thinking and definitely not in line with the idea that we are all connected, and that prosperity and abundance flows amongst us.

To be successful within our businesses and our lives, we need to start giving.  Giving of our time, our expertise, our opinions, our strategies, our mistakes, our triumphs, our ideas, our money, our credibility and on and on.

I believe that at the heart of each of us, we have a deep desire to make a real difference with our businesses - that’s where the passion and fuel comes from that sustains us through shaky beginnings, down times and expensive mistakes.

Try to approach you business for the next few weeks in the frame-of-mind of giving.  Add value to anyone and everyone you run across in the course of your business day.  Not only will people feel good interacting with you and get an amazing experience, but you’ll have a great day practicing abundance with everyone.

Some ways you can add value are:

• gracefully acknowledge the comments people give you via your blog or online forums/discussion groups, and give them an extra tip
• when people register for a course or teleseminar, always give them a bonus report
• after people buy something, have an extra little goodie they can access on the shopping cart page
• surprise people with discounts on your products and services at unexpected times (everyone gives on their birthday and around Christmas)
• pop a great article into the mail to a client you know would get something out of it
• send a cool link or uplifting video to your list - just make sure it’s something that would be of value to them
• offer special deals and VIP pricing to your top clients
• have a contest for your prospects and offer 3 months in your membership program free for the winner
• pass along a great marketing opportunity you’ve come across to your peers and similar companies
• give a new person in business a break - support their launches with a bonus product, share a business or marketing idea, introduce them to your list

There’s many ways that you can give in your business - try to cultivate opportunities to give value to everyone you talk to…you’ll not only boost your good feelings, but boost your success.

Contests are genius and typically can create hysteria if done right. If you are looking for a way to get your business out there, this is it. Create a contest and give away money. Especially now.

Just type in ‘contest’ in Twitter and you’ll see thousands of people promoting some sort of contest. Contests are ideal for companies trying to brand, sell, or engage people. They give businesses a platform for developing a voice and spreading a message.  The key is to make the contest voteable so participants share with friends and friends of friends gaining even more traction to your site. With online marketing sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Digg, and StumbleUpon, contests can go viral in a matter of minutes.

Before you run off and create one though, make sure you do it right in order to generate the publicity and buzz your business is looking for. For one, the ‘prize’ needs to be significant enough for anyone to care. Don’t even think about creating a contest to give away a book or you’ll be known for the hellacious contest creator. No one wants a free book – they want money.

Here’s a short list of killer contest conductors. Follow their lead if you want to do it right.

• StartUp Nation. Between the Home-based 100 and the recently launched Leading Moms in Business in partnership with LadiesWhoLaunch, StartUp Nation doles out the correct amount of genius to make contests a success. The Home-based 100 contest drove thousands of participants and 249,000 votes were cast in support of contestants. Why? Because people tweeted, blogged, digged, widgeted, podcast’d, emailed, flickr’d. StartUp Nation finds a trend, targets the people following the trend and offers a big reward. Those Sloan brothers are whiz kids.

• Ideablob. Lets members post brilliant schemes for starting up a business and the community votes each month. Winners receive $10,000 grant and can turn the business in to reality.

• Zumanity. Recently announced a contest to create the next Zumanity game. The money here is small, but the real prize is significant for those people entering the contest: travel and accommodation plus VIP tickets to the show and backstage passes.

• A band called Making April created a contest with Brickfish where entrants had to design a T-shirt and in return the band would write a song for the winner.  Results? Additional 100,000 hits to page in two weeks, winner got a shirt, a personal call from the band and song written.