Small Business Marketing Strategy #1: Perhaps the single, most important marketing strategy that should be practiced by all small business owners is to make marketing a daily routine. Granted, there may be 101 different priorities vying for your attention at any given moment, but if you neglect marketing on more than just an occasional basis, then you risk losing potential sales, being overtaken by the competition, and placing self-imposed limitations on your income growth. In a challenging economy it's more important than ever to be known as a company that provides value, dependability, and great service. Without some sort of regular business marketing program, your existing and prospective customers may find themselves to be enticed by your competitor's latest offerings -- which may have been brought to their attention through a postcard mailing, a trade show exhibit, a blog posting, a phone call, a press release, a brochure, a door-hanger, or a well-written sales letter. (It's the old "out of sight, out of mind" principle.)

Small Business Marketing Strategy #2: Develop a "marketing consciousness". If you can get yourself to become just a little "obsessed" with business marketing, then you'll tend to read more marketing books, attend more business marketing seminars, and discover more marketing websites, newsletters, and blogs that will provide you with valuable small business marketing ideas and inspiration. Of equal importance is becoming more attuned to how other people are marketing their businesses, and learning from their successes and marketing blunders.

Small Business Marketing Strategy #3: Continually ask questions, re-evaluate your marketing methods, and be flexible. If your website isn't converting the way it ought to be, try to pinpoint its weaknesses and correct them. The same holds true for print ads that are not generating responses. If the solution doesn't jump right out at you, ask your associates, acquaintances, neighbors, or spouse what their initial gut reaction is to your latest print ad, website landing page, a business marketing postcard, or a radio ad. Instead of asking them what they think of it, ask them the more pointed question of how they think it could be improved (and assure them that you won't be offended by their constructive criticism). Useful feedback can often come from unexpected sources.

Small Business Marketing Strategy #4: Start a blog related to your area of expertise about solving or preventing problems or making the most out of the products or services you offer. Then, invite your customers and prospective customers to check out your latest blog posts. Blogging will help give you more credibility as an expert, and it will also help keep your name and company in the forefront of your customers' minds.

Small Business Marketing Strategy #5: Email a press release to your local media whenever you have anything newsworthy to announce. It's a low-cost way to keep your name in front of the public, and it should be a part of an integrated marketing strategy. Two tips 1) Insert your press release into the body of your short, introductory email message. The reason for doing that is many reporters and editors don't like to open email attachments. 2) Only send press releases if you have something newsworthy to announce. That could include hiring new employees, getting a government grant, organizing a successful fund- raising event, a grand opening, a new web site, being a keynote speaker at a seminar or graduation ceremony, a business expansion or relocation, and that sort of thing. If you'd like to pursue an effective public relations campaign, consider the software, below:

Small Business Marketing Strategy #7: Business cards can either by a waste of paper or an effective bridge between a prospect and their potential to be a long-term client. Business cards are an integral element of your company's branding strategy, and can sometimes make or break you when it comes to getting prospects to take you seriously. A lot of companies skimp on business card design, concept development, and printing; and that lackluster image is conveyed directly to prospective clients. Bottom line is: Your chances of favorably impressing prospects will improve substantially if your business cards are printed on high-quality paper, display a professional-looking logo, and use a font style that's easy to read and is representative of the nature of your business. Your business cards should also contain either a well thought-out slogan or a short bulleted list that capsulizes your services, your expertise, and your commitment to excellence.

Small Business Marketing Strategy #8: Anticipate why a prospective customer might be reluctant or ambivalent about doing business with you, and then make sure to address their concerns in a clear, deliberate, and confident way. Guarantees of satisfaction, believable testimonials from satisfied customers, and assurances of dependable customer service after the sale are a few of the ways that you can reduce sales resistance. In many cases --especially in business to business marketing situations -- a necessary marketing tool for winning competitive bids is a well written business proposal.

Small Business Marketing Strategy #9: If you find yourself chatting with a blogger who's in your profession or industry, but does not directly compete with you, offer to fill in for him, occasionally, as a "guest blogger". Blogging can be a pretty arduous undertaking, so they might welcome the chance to take a break and present their readers with a slightly different point of view. Make sure, of course, that you are allowed to include one or two links back to your website. This will accomplish two objectives: 1) You'll probably draw in anywhere from a "trickle" to a "flood" of additional traffic to your website, and 2) Inbound links to your site from other relevant, high quality sites can help improve your search engine positioning (ranking) in Google, resulted in more targeted traffic and potential customers.

Small Business Marketing Strategy #10: When developing a business marketing plan , don't forget that there is a huge range of business marketing ideas you can employ, many of which are free or inexpensive. Business marketing ideas and techniques include yellow pages advertising, Pay Per Click advertising on Google and other Internet portals, exhibiting in trade shows, networking at local/regional professional conferences and business groups, knowing how to write a business proposal for business to business marketing efforts, using direct mail as a channel for reaching your prospects, distributing coupons, brochures, advertising flyers, postcard marketing, sponsoring contests, and of course, traditional media advertising, such as radio advertising, TV, newspaper, and magazine display ads. Raising your visibility through participation in online social networking sites, such as Linkedin.com, is becoming an increasingly effective way to gain valuable exposure. Since the Linkedin community consists primarily of business professionals, executives, and business owners, actively participating in it can be a valuable part of a business to business marketing campaign.