Obviously, most of you are quite familiar with the concept of blogging. With more than 100,000 new blogs created every day, blogging has quickly become a household name. No matter what your familiarity is with blogs, you need to fully understand why this powerful, FREE resource will help you promote your business.

What Is a Blog?

In a nutshell, the word “blog” is short for a weblog and is often thought of as an online diary. Whenever you write an entry into your blog it is called a post and the most recent post appears at the top of your blog page.

Older posts are archived and can be organized by date or by category.

At the bottom of each post there is generally a section where readers can make comments or react to what you have said.

A Website is formal, informational, and professional. Whereas, a Blog is informal, conversational and easy to read.

If you are not familiar with blogs, the best thing to do is to just start reading them. For instance, you can go to the following “blogospheres” and find topics that interest you and  just start reading.

1) www.icerocket.com

2) www.blogpulse.com

3) www.technorati.com

There are blogs written in almost every imaginable topic on earth. However, small business blogs generally fall under three main categories:

• Marketing Blogs are designed to build traffic and sales.

• Customer Service Blogs assist and inform customers/potential customers.

• Public Relation Blogs help influence and shape public perceptions.

You will want to determine the exact focus of your blog. There will be times that your blog may fall into another category, however, you still want to have ONE main focus.

Who Is Your Audience?

One of the delights of blogging is that you are reaching an eager, savvy online crowd. This can do wonders for your business.

According to Andy Wibbels, author of BlogWild, your blog readers fall into the following categories:

• 50% of blog readers are over 30 years old.

• 75% of blog readers make more than $65,000 per year.

• Blog readers spend a lot of time online and are web savvy.

• Blog readers view blog writers as “experts.”

• They look to blogs to inform them of the latest news, what’s hot and what’s worth buying.

How Do You Start Blogging?

I am a big fan of WordPress.org blogs (that’s the platform that this blog uses). The main reason that I like WordPress is that it allows you 100% ownership of your blog. (For instance, if you use other blog platforms such as www.Blogger.com or www.Typepad.com you will be hosting your blog with their companies and will have to abide by their rules and stipulations.)

To download your free WordPress software, go to www.Wordpress.org, download and save it on your computer.

You will also need a good hosting service, I personally recommend www.Bluehost.com. They will host your blog for a very reasonable price.

Of course, you do need to upload your software into your hosting provider and there are two ways to accomplish this:

1) Do-It-Yourself. You can take some time learning how to upload your software to your hosting provider. The good news is that there are hundreds (if not thousands) of tutorials on this subject. Simply go to www.YouTube.com and perform a “How to upload WordPress.org” search and you will have dozens of easy-to-follow tutorials.

2) Hire Someone. If you don’t want to take the time to learn how to upload your WordPress software, there are thousands of savvy WordPress experts that you can hire to do the job for you. For under $100 you can find someone who will upload your blog and put together a simple design. Go to www.Guru.com or www.Elance.com and post your job.

Once your blog is up and running, you are ready to start posting.

What In The World Do You Write About?

One of the best parts of blogging is that there are no “hard and fast” rules. Here are a few points to keep in mind that will help you off on the right foot:

• Make it clear what you do and the products and services that you sell.

• Offer fresh, unique content often (at least 2x per week).

• Fill the pages of your blog with YOUR personality. Readers will come back to your blog if they feel a connection with you.

• Present information informally; your tone should be personal, yet professional.

• Provide useful information to your readers (latest updates, news, and topics in your industry) so that they see you as an expert in your field.

• Provide a place for busy, overstimulated individuals to find the information that they are looking for quickly and efficiently.

• Post testimonials and other positive customer/client experiences.

How Do I Promote My Blog?

It is now easier than ever to promote your blog. With the onset of social media marketing, all of your friends and connections can be notified immediately whenever you have a new post.

• Facebook allows you to add your “blog feed” to your profile so that every time you post to your blog, your Facebook friends are notified.

• LinkedIn includes an application so that your “blog feed” appears on the front page of your bio. New connections have instant access to your blog posts.

• Twitter your followers every time that you have a new blog post.

• MySpace has a feature to integrate your blog as well. You are able to let friends know when you have a new blog post.

• Your Website should include a link to your.

• Your Signature can have a link to your blog.

Just Do It!

Of course it will take some time to figure out all the ins and outs of blogging. But, it certainly is not an overwhelming marketing strategy to put into action.

I advise 97% of my clients to host a blog in order to promote their businesses. There is no better way to connect to new customers, position yourself as an expert and offer valuable information all at NO COST!

It’s time to get blogging!

Most likely you’ve heard the idea that you are only removed by any other person in the world by “six degrees of separation.” The theory (made popular by Stanley Milgram), suggests that  “if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is only six steps away from any other person on Earth.”

Interestingly enough, this very theory can be applied to your small business. If you need to contact a boss, colleague, consultant or prospective customer, client or employer, it’s obvious to tap into your own network of connections.

But, what if there was a way to tap into the connections of the people that they know, and the connections of people that they know, and so on? Most likely, you wouldn’t have to go through more than 4-6 connections to find the exact person that you are looking for.

So how can you tap into a network that allows you to leverage the power of your connections quickly and efficiently?  That network is called LinkedIn.
What Is LinkedIn?

Once you have registered for a free account through LinkedIn, you are able to invite others to “connect” with you through the site.
Once you begin connecting with others, you are able to ask them to connect you with their network. (The entire system is built on referrals, so there is a good amount of quality control already built in.)

LinkedIn  (much like any networking site) works best when you apply simple and strategic marketing strategies to boost its effectiveness.

Here Are Ten Tips For Making LinkedIn Work For You and Your Small Business:

1. Complete Your Profile. It’s important that you add as much important and relevant information about your small business as possible. Your profile is the first impression that you make upon your prospects and business partners. Make sure to include a picture, past job experiences, current job experience and personal information. The more information people are able to take away from your profile, the better connection they will have with you.

2. Keep Your Profile Fresh And Up To Date. Don’t make the mistake of creating a LinkedIn profile only to let it stack up with dust. Make sure that as you change jobs or achieve business recognition that you update your profile to reflect this.

3. Connect With Clients, Customers, Co-workers and Colleagues. It’s important to connect with past and current individuals in your field. However, it’s also a wonderful way to find new clients and learn about exciting new job opportunities in your field. Remember, that the main purpose of LinkedIn is to create a giant network of possibilities for you and your small business.

4. Use LinkedIn To Research Prospective Business Partners or Prospect. Before you contact a new business partner or prospective client, make sure to research them through LinkedIn. Their LinkedIn profile functions much like a resume and will provide you with insight about their potential strengths and/or weaknesses.

5. Get Recommendations. It’s fairly simple to gather recommendations from individuals in your LinkedIn network, In fact, all you need to do is click a link. Of course, the more professionals that are able to vouch for your products and services, the better your business will appear to others.

6. Use LinkedIn to search for consultants and contractors. There is a great component in LinkedIn called the “Service Provider” feature. It allows you to pre-screen and research independent business people.

7. Join Relevant LinkedIn Groups. As you become involved in LinkedIn, it is in your best interest to join groups that are relevant to your particular field or industry. There are thousands of LinkedIn groups and you can find even more connections by becoming an active participant in several of these groups.

8. Create a LinkedIn Group. If you are interested in being perceived as an expert, then you will want to create your own LinkedIn Group that you personally manage. Once you create the group, you can invite others in your network to join. If you promote your group effectively, you can eventually have hundreds, even thousands of members that you are able to communicate with on a consistent basis.

9. Tap Into The “Question and Answers” Feature. One immense bonus of LinkedIn is the fact that you are able to ask thousands of business professionals important questions, receive immediate answers at no cost to you. In addition, you can answer other business professionals questions and, again, position yourself as an expert in your industry.

10. Respect The Network. Always remember that your LinkedIn connections must be treated with the utmost respect. Answer your emails, respond to questions and give appropriate recommendations. If you are going to be a part of the LinkedIn community then you need to be involved and active in order to find success.  The good news is that it only takes a few minutes every day to reap the rewards.

If used correctly and consistently, LinkedIn can be a powerful networking tool for the small business owner. To learn more about LinkedIn go to: www.LinkedIn.com.

Over the past ten years marketing has changed more than any other time in history. The marketing world has gone through three main transitions that are important for the small business owner to understand.

1) Traditional Marketing includes tools such as television, radio, billboards and direct mail. The marketing message is commanding and directive and there is no interaction between the marketer and the consumer. As a result, consumers began to distrust the commanding nature of traditional marketing and turned to the internet in order to feel more in control over their purchasing choices.

As consumers moved online, traditional marketing was forced to change. Small business owners realized that they needed to utilize the internet to reach their clients and customers. Thus, internet marketing was born.

2) Internet Marketing includes tools such as pay-per-click advertising, banner ads, text ads, solo ads, etc. Internet marketing is more dynamic and more focused on the wants of the customer than traditional marketing avenues.

However, the consumer continued to change. They wanted even more participation in their purchasing decisions and wanted to become personally involved in the buying process.

As a result, consumers developed various networks of trusted friends and colleagues through social media platforms to help them in their purchasing decisions. Thus, small business owners were forced to embrace new marketing tools in order to market their businesses and relate to customers in an entirely different way.

3) New Media Marketing includes tools such as blogs, video sites, social networking sites and podcasts. This marketing approach is vastly different from either traditional or internet marketing. Instead of an aggressive, pushy and a one-sided dialogue, there is an open process that includes listening, interaction and involvement between the consumer and business owner.

Today’s consumers are savvier than ever before. They aren’t interested in the commanding and directive ways of traditional marketing. Instead, they are interested in interacting and developing relationships with the companies they do business with.

Therefore, another way to understand the vast changes in the marketing world is to divide marketing into two distinct categories: interruption marketing and relationship marketing.

Interruption marketing is exactly what the name implies. It is marketing that “interrupts” the consumer. For instance, as you watch a TV show, a commercial cuts into your program. Or, as you listen to the radio, an ad abruptly takes over your favorite song.

Research suggests that consumers detest interruption marketing. Here are some interesting statistics that show how quickly interruption marketing is dying:

According to Justin Kirby and Paul Marsden authors of Connected Marketing:

• 90% of people, who are able to skip TV ads, do skip TV ads.

• 65% of people believe they are constantly bombarded with too much advertising.

• 56% of people avoid buying from companies that they feel advertise too much.

According to a McKinsey and Co. Report:

In just a few short years, traditional TV advertising will:

• be 1/3 as effective as it used to be.

• experience a 23% decline in ads due to switching the ads off.

• experience a 37% decrease in the marketing message due to saturation.

A report put out by The Internet Advertising Bureau states:

• In 1980 fewer ads reached more people with undivided attention.

• In the 2000’s more ads reach less people with shorter attention spans.

So, what do these statistics mean to you and your marketing plan? In a nutshell, our audiences are changing so our marketing needs to change.

People are tired of traditional advertising. They are sick of “being sold” and want to make purchases in a completely different environment. Research clearly suggests that consumers are moving away from trusting directive advertising and moving toward trusting their friends, their networks and the networks that they have created around themselves.

More and more consumers are moving online to establish this network of trusted friends and colleagues. They are active in social networking sites, business networking sites, sharing sites, and publishing sites. Therefore, if you want to capture the attention of this new consumer, then you need to move online as well.

However, it’s not enough to simply build a website on the internet. You must develop ways to genuinely interact with your potential clients and customers.

The good news is that there are hundreds of free marketing platforms that allow you to engage with your prospects in very authentic ways. Blogs, videos, podcasts, ezines, articles, press releases and social media sites are all new tools perfectly designed to communicate with your target market.

You are currently part of the most exciting marketing phase in history. Anyone can quickly and efficiently grow their small business, using a combination of effective marketing tools, without spending a dime.
 
So, go ahead and begin your journey into the exhilarating world of free marketing.

We live in a world where our potential clients and customers are barraged with thousands and thousands of ads every single day. The competition is fierce, the climate is noisy and it’s not going to lighten up any time soon.

So how can a small business owner, on a shoestring budget, even compete? The answer is simple: repetition through massive visibility.

Research suggests that we are exposed to over 4,000 ads each day. As a result of “advertising overload”, our brains are forced to filter out and ignore most of these ads. Plus, let’s face it, most of the advertising we encounter is just a caberet of bedlam and babble that doesn’t even apply to us.

But, all of this is great news for the savvy shoestring marketer.

Each time your prospect catches sight of your brand, their filter becomes weaker until finally, your marketing message has broken through. But, it certainly doesn’t happen overnight. In fact, your prospect needs to see your marketing message, on average, between twelve and twenty-four times. (You can read about creating a marketing message here.)

How do you ensure that your prospects come into contact with you and your brand over and over again? First and foremost, you need to ensure that you and your brand are everywhere. You must become so visible that your prospects can’t ignore you.

You should become an active participant in Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Dedicate time each day to blogging, podcasting or video marketing. Send out online newsletters and host monthly teleseminars.

I signed up a new client last week and here’s the interesting part. After reading my blog, watching my videos, becoming a friend on Facebook and following me on Twitter, for one full year, she decided to sign up for my ezine. I did some quick math and figured that, over the course of that year, she was exposed to my brand thousands of times through my status updates, blog posts, videos, podcasts and ezine issues. Not to mention that she also came to at least ten of my live webinars.

Obviously, she took longer than usual to make the commitment to purchase my products and services. But, she let me know that one of the main reasons that she joined forces with me was because she “saw me everywhere.”

So, make an effort to get yourself out there, in front of your target market, as much as possible. It’s the only way to break through all the competitive businesses clamoring for your prospects’ attention.

If you’re interested in capturing more prospects and growing your small business on a shoestring budget, you must have a brilliant marketing message (a concise statement that explains the purpose of your small business to your ideal clients and customers).

The fundamental reason why a marketing message is such a powerful component of your small business is that it forces you to become extraordinarily clear about what you do. Believe it or not, most small business owners do a “little of this” and “a little of that” and aren’t able to effectively articulate what business they are in.

The main objective behind your marketing message is that you want to describe what you do as quickly and succinctly as possible. If your marketing message is effective, it should create an instant connection with your target market that sparks conversation.

The end result should be a one to two sentence statement that highlights the main benefit(s) your prospect will receive if they decide to do business with you. Once created, your marketing message should be used everywhere: on your website, blog, ezine, newsletters, brochures and business cards.

Here are five industry-specific marketing messages:

Fitness Trainer: “helping women over 40 create rock-solid bodies”

Dog Trainer: “achieving lightening-fast results with naughty dogs”

Insurance Agent: “creating family-friendly health-plans at rock-bottom prices”

Dentist: “delivering pain-free results for your entire family”

Virtual Assistant: “maximizing time and money for the busy business professional”

Here is an easy, three-step formula for creating your own marketing message:

1) Describe What You Do. Use an active, precise adverb to begin your marketing message.

2) Identify Your Ideal Client. Who is your potential client or customer? Are they women? Men? Small business owners? Writers? Dog owners? The better able you are to determine exactly who needs your product or service, the clearer your marketing message will be. 
3) Pinpoint The Main Benefits Your Clients/Customers Will Receive. Your product or service should ultimately solve a nagging problem or potentially improve your prospect’s life. A well-crafted marketing message will clearly accomplish this in the mind of your prospect.

It’s not easy to describe everything that you do in a simple sentence. However, once you are able to capture the essence of your small business by speaking to your target market and providing them with benefits, you will have crafted a brilliant marketing message.

Last Monday, one of my neighbors proudly announced her determination to learn the “secrets” behind marketing on Twitter. She thinks that Twitter will save her business. Ironically, the very next day, one of my clients reported to me that if he only understood how to “power market” on Facebook, his business would catapult to the top of his industry. And three days later, I noticed a small business owner complaining in a forum that he will never succeed until he has unlocked the keys behind YouTube marketing.

Enough is enough! Without question, new media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) are wonderful places to market your small business. Obviously, I market my own business through every single one of those platforms.

Believe me, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but, there is absolutely nothing magical or supernatural about any of the new media platforms. They are just platforms. Nothing more, nothing less. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are simply ways to spread awareness about your brand.

Mark my word, there will always be another “amazing” platform that will supposedly “save” you and your business.

But, before you tap into any marketing platform, you need to understand the basic philosophy behind marketing. You need to know “how” to market your business before you even dip your toe in the pool. Because if you don’t understand the basic tenants behind good marketing, Twitter won’t do a thing for your small business. Even if you spent eight hours a day with 2 million followers, you wouldn’t get anywhere if you went about your marketing in the wrong way.

Marketing platforms come and go, but understanding how to market will never go out of style.

Whether you are marketing on YouTube or running an “old-fashioned” ad in the newspaper, the same rules of good and solid marketing apply. You use marketing platforms as a way to drive your prospects back to a webpage, landing page or blog in which they give you their name and email address in exchange for free information from you and your small business.

You might offer a downloadable ebook, a special report or a 10-part audio class. It isn’t the format of your offer, it’s the offer itself that is important. Your offer must be perceived as a means for your prospect to better their life or solve a particularly stubborn problem. You want your free offer to be utterly irresistible.

Once you have obtained your prospect’s information, you can begin the task of building solid and significant relationships with them. This is when you are able to send your prospects’ additional educational materials, helpful advice and important resources that will position you as an expert in your industry.

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube marketing are only effective if you use them as tools to drive traffic to your landing page or blog. Newspaper classifieds are only effective if used as a tool to drive traffic to your landing page or blog.

So, yes, in essence there is a well-kept secret on how to effectively tap into the power of new media. Learn the basics of marketing. For if you understand exactly how to market, you will always be ready for the “next great marketing platform.”

Most small business owners mistakenly think that marketing is synonymous with advertising. They believe that if they put an ad in their local newspaper, run a Google Adwords campaign and stay active on Facebook, that’s all there is to it.

However, marketing is so much more than running various advertising campaigns. Marketing is every single encounter that you have with your prospects, customers and clients.

Marketing is the way that you answer the phone; marketing is the speed at which you answer your customers’ emails; marketing is how cheerfully and quickly you refund your customer’s money.

There is research to suggest that when a customer or client is happy and satisfied with your product or services, they will tell up to 10 of their friends. However, if a customer or client is unhappy with your product or services, they will tell up to 50 friends.

Obviously, you want to do everything humanly possible to make your customer’s day.

Last week, my family took a day-long trip to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin (a small tourist town on a beautiful lake).  The place was packed and it was almost impossible to find a place to park. Once we finally did find a parking place, we had to put twelve quarters into the parking meter.

Well, of course we didn’t have ten quarters handy so I went into the nearest store to see if they would give me change for three dollars. The woman behind the counter huffily answered that she was “not an ATM machine and if I wanted change I needed to purchase something.” She then abruptly turned away with a huff.

Needless to say, I won’t be entering THAT store ever again!

I walked into the next store feeling that it would be the same story. However, to my surprise the woman behind the counter smiled and said that “of course she would give me quarters for the parking meter!”  She cheerfully pulled out twelve quarters as she engaged in a nice conversation with me. She commented that my kids were adorable, how wonderful the weather had been and asked if I wanted a complimentary cup of coffee.

I ended up buying $50 of merchandise from her store. The store was http://www.genevagiftsandfudge.com/

Even if you don’t have a brick and mortar store, the various ways that you interact with your customers and clients will profoundly affect your business.  It could even be the difference between small business success and small business failure.

Even though social media sites are becoming a highly effective way for marketers to promote themselves and their businesses for free, most marketers don’t utilize these powerful platforms effectively. They vacillate between feeling completely overwhelmed and feeling that the sites are a huge waste of time.

Social Media marketing is one of my favorite forms of marketing.  And there are some basic principles to keep in mind in order to make your marketing more effective and efficient.  Here are five important tips that will enhance your social media marketing experiences:

1) Create a Landing Page.  A landing page is a one-page website that offers prospects a personalized introduction to you and your business before they see your official business site. Landing pages are crucial to business success. They allow prospects to connect with you on a more personal level, they quickly highlight the benefits of doing business with you and they offer something of value to your prospect in exchange for their name and email address.

As you may have heard before, the fortune is in the list. Savvy business owners understand that they must generate a list of prospective clients and customers and continue to market to them on a regular basis.

2) Set Up a Complete Profile. If you want your marketing efforts to work, make sure that your social media profiles are complete. If prospects land on your profile page and it doesn’t have a picture and contains sparse information, they aren’t likely to feel any connection with you. You should provide as much information about yourself as possible. Remember, people want to get to know you, so give them what they are looking for!

3) Participate; Don’t Push.  As you begin to market using social media platforms, always keep in mind the 80/20 rule. You should spend 80% of your time sharing, answering questions and interacting with others and only 20% of your time promoting your business. If you stick to this rule, you will be seen as a true participant as opposed to a pushy sales-person.

4) Be Consistent. Social media marketing is all about consistency. You must log into each of your sites every day (Monday through Saturday).  It is extremely important that prospective clients see you on a regular basis. Exposure is the key to gaining your client’s trust and eventual business. So, get on those sites and interact every single day!

5) Create a Daily Schedule. If you don’t have a schedule, you will quickly get sucked into the “social media black hole.” Determine how much time you have to devote to your social media marketing and stick to it! If you only have 60-minutes/day, then only utilize 3-5 social networking sites and generate a strong presence on them. I like to use a timer (honestly!) to keep myself on track. I set my timer and when it beeps, I am off to the next site.

Social media marketing is extremely effective as long as you understand how to tap into its power. If you implement these five tips into your marketing efforts, you should quickly begin to see some great results for you and your small business.

One of the most common complaints I hear from small business owners is the issue of time-management. How do you manage your marketing, book-keeping, research, new product creation, and customer service when there are only 24 hours in the day?

In addition, if you are marketing “on a shoestring” then you’re forced to spend more time on your business than money. This can be a tricky problem.

First of all, it’s important to remember that we all are given the same amount of hours each day. When I was building my business, I innately understood that marketing was key to my success as a small business owner.

Therefore, I was active on ten social networks, maintained a blog and ezine, wrote an article each day, sent out weekly press releases, hosted weekly Webinars, gave several weekly interviews….all while growing my business and caring for my family. I did not start with an assistant and spent zero money on marketing.

So what was my secret formula? I “recycled” my marketing.  I knew that if I was going to accomplish a large amount every single day, then I had no choice but to work quickly and efficiently. I didn’t work hard; I worked smart.

Here is an example of how you can recycle your own marketing.

Pick a topic relevant to your industry and write a 500-word article. Post the article to two or three article directories and, once your article receives quite a few views, it will begin bringing targeted visitors to your website. This task should take you about one hour from start to finish.

Perhaps most individuals would start a completely different task at this point. Not you! If you have just spent one hour creating an article, it’s important that you duplicate those efforts.

Therefore, here is a list of how to reuse your article to bring even more visitors to your website:

1)     Turn the article into a script, film a video and post it on YouTube.

2)     Tweak the article and post it on your blog.

3)     Reuse the article in your weekly ezine or online newsletter.

4)     Adapt the article and use it in an email campaign.

5)     Rearrange the article and submit a press release.

6)     Turn the article into part of an online e-course.

7)     Adapt the article idea for a Webinar or Teleseminar.

8)     Use the article for the basis of an interview.

9)     Turn the article into a Special Report.

10)  Use the article as a basis of a Podcast.

Obviously, the possibilities on how to recycle an article are endless!  The point is that you want to get as much possible mileage out of your original article as necessary. This is crucial for online success. The last thing that you want to do is to submit an article, then write an entirely different blog post, tape a YouTube video from scratch, etc.

As smart, and often time-crunched, business owners, we need to use our time as efficiently as possible. I have found that “recycling” marketing ideas is one of the most efficient ways to get more done in less time!

Many years ago, poultry farmers would gather their eggs, place them in baskets and put them on wagons to bring them to the market. Of course, the poultry farmers didn’t need to be reminded that if all their eggs happened to be in one basket, and that basket fell off the wagon, financial tragedy would occur.

The very same rules apply in today’s world of marketing. Too often small business owners rely on just one or two marketing methods to sustain their businesses.  They are then surprised when their business remains stagnant or, even worse, loses money.

However, shoestring business owners implicitly understand that in order to obtain the best results, they must arm themselves with an abundance of marketing tools. Here are seven reasons why it is absolutely essential for small business owners to utilize several different options in regards to marketing their businesses.

1.  Massive Visibility In today’s world, it is vitally important that you launch a marketing campaign where your prospects see you over and over again.  Research suggests that most prospects need to encounter your marketing message between seven and twelve times before they even notice you!  Therefore, engage in a variety of marketing platforms, engage and interact with your prospects and get noticed.

2. Suspended Accounts  Obviously when you are engaged in social media marketing, you are completely dependent on the rules and regulations of those particular networks. Many social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn shut down accounts if they sense any “spam-like” activity. Even if you aren’t spamming, the social media platforms may have a different opinion. It’s important that you never invest all of your marketing efforts in just one or two social media accounts in the off-chance that your account is suspended.

3. Marketing Method Ceases To Work  If there’s one rule you can count on, it’s that marketing methods go through cycles. They may bring in impressive results for a number of months and then suddenly become weak and ineffective.  Some marketing methods, seemingly overnight, cease to work at all. Obviously, if one of your marketing methods comes to a screeching halt, you want to have many more marketing tools, already in place, that are working hard for you and your business.

4. Reach Different Audiences  As a small business owner, it’s important to reach a diverse population.  If you repeatedly use the same marketing platform, you will always reach the same type of prospect. However, as you broaden your marketing efforts, you will soon discover that prospects on YouTube are often quite different than prospects on MySpace which are different than prospects who find you through your weekly Radio Show.

5. Establish Your Expertise  As you immerse yourself in different marketing activities, you are immediately viewed as an expert in your industry. Your prospects will follow your advice on your blog, learn about a proven strategy through your articles and read about a new product or service that your company has introduced through your press release. 

6. Quicker Growth  It’s no surprise that small business owners who engage in at least five to fifteen marketing platforms realize much more impressive results than small business owners who utilize less than five. If you arm yourself with an abundance of effective marketing tools you can quickly and efficiently double or even triple your business profits.

7. Better Prospect Involvement  Your prospects are able to network with you in diverse ways when you use an assortment of marketing tools. They can interact with you on Facebook and Twitter, watch and comment on your instructional videos on YouTube, read your ezine and listen to your Podcasts. This allows your prospects to develop a relationship with you on many different levels.

As the marketplace continues to become more competitive, noisy and crowded, the shoestring marketer has no choice but to develop an abundance of marketing tools and techniques. However, as you begin to implement a mixture of marketing methods, your small business will quickly realize results that you never thought possible!