Small Business Marketing

Here are 7 inexpensive strategies you can use to jumpstart your Internet marketing even when business is slow and you've got more time than money:

1. Comment on blogs. Use Google Blog Search or Technorati to locate higher traffic blogs that your target market might read. Use a blog feed reader, like Bloglines, to receive regular updates on these blogs. Make it a part of your daily habit to read the updates each day and post thoughtful, relevant comments on those posts (not just "Hey, great post") where you have something to add. Adding your email signature file and your call to action is a no-no when commenting on blogs, so instead, use the name field of the blog comment form to your advantage. Instead of just entering your name, enter a quick nickname for yourself as well, such as Jane Smith Sales Diva or Holly Johns Marketing Maven. Compel those readers who have learned from your posts to check out your website.

2. Submit articles. If you're not busy working with clients, get busy creating content. Writing and submitting articles to major article directories will drive traffic to your site, establish you as an expert in your target market's eyes, and give you content to repurpose into information products. Tips-based articles, like this one, are the easiest to create, the easiest to repurpose, and are the easiest for the Internet surfer to digest.

3. Host teleseminars. With the vast availability of free bridgeline services, it's quite easy to hold a teleseminar. You can use one of your tips articles as your starting point, put together a description, list the teleseminar in various places online, and record your class. You've engaged your audience by delivering valuable content to them (part of the like, know and trust process), have added subscribers to your list, and have a complete info product that you can sell or make available to your website visitors.

4. Embrace social networking. No longer do you have to get dressed in your business suit, jockey for a parking spot, and pay a fee to attend networking events. Online social networking, like on Facebook and LinkedIn, can now be done from the comfort of your home office, with comparable results to attending a face-to-face networking event. Determine where your target market hangs out in the social networking arena, and create accounts with those services. Complete your profile and start making friends and connections. Ask, questions, provide answers, be helpful, and build your business.

5. Speak before groups. Have you created your signature speech or teleseminar that you can present whenever you're asked to speak to a group? If not, there's no time like the present to create one. Research groups that contain your target market both in your geographic area and online. Contact the meeting hosts and offer to speak to that group and provide the host with your signature speech descriptions. Make it as simple as possible for them to invite you to be the speaker. Once you've landed the gig, strategize your best call to action for the group -- do you want participants to sign up for your email list, purchase a product, or book a consultation?

6. Seek out strategic alliances. Brainstorm a list of business colleagues with whom you'd like to create some type of alliance. Make a phone call or send an email to set up a get acquainted (or reacquainted) meeting and explore the options of what each of you can offer to the other's business. Perhaps you can offer to interview your colleague and invite your list, or maybe you'll think of a project you can work on together. In slow times, who you know becomes more important than what you know, so make the most of your down time and create some strategic alliances.

7. Start a podcast or create a video. With the download of free recording software, like Audacity, or purchasing an inexpensive video camera like the Sony Flip, you can create an audio podcast or a video quickly an inexpensively from your home office, and list it in various podcast directories, like iTunes, or in video hosting sites like YouTube. If you're not sure what to talk about in your video or podcast, take a look at your articles and read one of those for your audience. Don't forgot to include your call to action for your listeners/viewers.

A recession doesn't have to mean gloom and doom for the savvy business owner. Take advantage of this slower time and ramp up your Internet marketing efforts by using strategies that won't break the bank. You'll become better known, have content ready for information products, and become the "top of mind" expert in your industry.

Just came across GoDaddy.com CEO Bob Parson's list of 16 Rules for Business and Life and found these incredibly relevant to small business marketing and entrepreneurship.

See if you agree with me (and mainly Bob) on these words of wisdom...

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone.
I believe that not much happens of any significance when we're in our comfort zone. I hear people say, "But I'm concerned about security." My response to that is simple: "Security is for cadavers."

2. Never give up.
Almost nothing works the first time it's attempted. Just because what you're doing does not seem to be working, doesn't mean it won't work. It just means that it might not work the way you're doing it. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn't have an opportunity.

3. When you're ready to quit, you're closer than you think.
There's an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true. It goes like this: "The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed."

4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be.
Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of "undefined consequences." My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, "Well, Robert, if it doesn't work, they can't eat you."

5. Focus on what you want to have happen.
Remember that old saying, "As you think, so shall you be."

6. Take things a day at a time.
No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don't look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment. You can get through anything one day at a time.

7. Always be moving forward.
Never stop investing. Never stop improving. Never stop doing something new. The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die. Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way. Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen. Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.

8. Be quick to decide.
Remember what General George S. Patton said: "A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow."

9. Measure everything of significance.
I swear this is true. Anything that is measured and watched, improves.

10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate.
If you want to uncover problems you don't know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven't examined for a while. I guarantee you problems will be there.

11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you're doing.
When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.

12. Never let anybody push you around.
In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you're doing as anyone else, provided that what you're doing is legal.

13. Never expect life to be fair.
Life isn't fair. You make your own breaks. You'll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).

14. Solve your own problems.
You'll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you'll develop a competitive edge. Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: "You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others." There's also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently. It goes like this: "A wise man keeps his own counsel."

15. Don't take yourself too seriously.
Lighten up. Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck. None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.

16. There's always a reason to smile.
Find it. After all, you're really lucky just to be alive. Life is short. More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: "We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time!"