How to market a small business?You don't have to be a Fortune 500 in order to lead a great marketing

Only because you are a small business owner, does not mean that you can avoid marketing. Of course that you don't have to put up a threesome billboard in SoHo like Kelvin Klein did (unless your products stopped being relative somewhere in the 90's) but you should defiantly have a decent, small budget campaign, that can elevate your business and help you come out strong from this rough economic climate. A smart campaign can help your business make new customers, and make the right customers purchase more from your business.

But where do you start? Strategy? Campaigns? Tactics? Guerrilla? There's a reason why marketing terminology borrows so heavily from combat training manuals: it's a war zone out there. To make it out alive, you need to be the best. Not necessarily the biggest, no, you don't have to be huge to win a war - on the contrary, being small and smart is your best weapon. First think about your strategy. It should consist of a combination of marketing tactics based on market research, consumer insight and close attention to your budget. Sounds scary? It shouldn't be. Marketing tactics could be as simple as building a website, opening a blog, getting business cards, flyers, direct mail, t-shirts or any other way to get your name out there. Market research means that you need to know what people want at general and how can you help them with your product.

Once you decided on a strategy, it's time to start marketing. At its simplest, marketing is communication followed by a request. You are telling your potential customers about your products or services and then asking them to give it a try. Such a simple task, yet so complicated because of many small details: how do you describe your product? Where should you put your massage? How can you break through and stand out among so many other products competing for attention? One way is creativity. Great Creative should achieve three things: get you noticed, deliver a message, and drive customers to take action. As a small business, your creative should be unique, unexpected, it doesn't have to cost millions, it just got to be driven by innovation. Another way is smart Media Planning. Media and Creative must go hand in hand. You should make sure that your message, execution and targeting match perfectly with each media tactic chosen. TV and radio is one possible media channel. For a small business, Direct Marketing could be a good answer.

So what's next? Get a financial advisor, copy writer, graphic designer, media planner, contact a print manufacturer, great... When will you have time to actually do business? It's a classic business fantasy: make one phone call for all you marketing needs. Devising strategy, developing creative, buying media, tracking results - why can't there be a company that does it all?