Marketing Your Small Business in 10 Steps

1. Advertise with Signs
Whether you operate your business from home, a storefront or office, signs are an easy and low-cost way to let people know about your business and events you are having. Signs and banners can be used at your business location, but also on your vehicle.

If you run your business from you home, your city may not allow you to use signage on your property, so vehicle advertising comes in handy. SignsBannersDecals.com lets you create your own sign design online and save money.

2. Set up a Website
These days, a website is essential for virtually any business. Often, small business owners think they are too costly or complicated to use, but you can actually set one up yourself for under $3 a month.

Consumers expect businesses to have websites, and even if you don't sell anything from your site, you can advertise your products, services and specials. Customers can find out more about your company and what you offer from the comfort of their computers or smartphones.

3. Get Business Cards
Business cards are cheap advertising. Not only can you include your contact information on them, but now that you have a website, you can add that as well.

Business cards can also include information on the services you offer, coupons, photos and more. You may not need many to start. You can get 250 Free Business Cards from Vistaprint.

4. Get Promotional Items
One customer walking into your shop or using your services is great, but one customer who tells 10 of their friends about you is even better. Promotional items are a cheap and effective way to get customers talking about your company without really thinking about it.

There are lots of gadgets to choose from, so when selecting your promo items, think about what your customers are likely to use and appreciate the most. You can design your own promo items at Action Printing, Inc.

5. Create Some Coupons
Coupons are a great way to attract new shoppers to your store, but also bring customers back to buy more. When you announce your company's grand opening, it is a good idea to advertise a special deal that people can take advantage of. If you are prepared with coupons, this can be a big money-maker for you.

There are a variety of coupons you can use. You can advertise coupons in newspapers, hand them out to customers, offer them from your website, send them to customers via email or advertise your specials on other websites like Groupon.

6. Set Up Social Media Pages
Social media is not just a new trend, it's quickly becoming a standard way of communicating - and marketing. And social media is a great way to build lists and generate leads for your business.

With social media, be yourself rather than trying to be a salesperson. Communicate like you would with friends and family. You can talk about what you do for your business, but also share ideas and tips that would help your target market with what they are doing (ideas and tips that aren't about your business). Twitter and Facebook are two of the most popular sites and are free to join.

7. Get Listed in Local Search Directories
With the increased usage of smartphones and computer tablets, more and more people are looking for local businesses online (instead of using the traditional yellow pages). You can list information on your business location, hours, etc.., and you can usually link to your company website from directories.

Local search directories that are affordable and receive lots of visitors include: Google Local, Yelp, Super Pages (and more specialized sites Trip Advisor, Urban Spoon and Insider Pages).

8. Prepare an Email Marketing System
Once you have established contact with customers, you want to stay in touch with them. Direct mail can get expensive and phone calls time consuming. Email is easy and cheap, plus consumers can review your messages at their convenience, so they are considered less of an interruption.

You can follow up with customers via email with special offers, new products, company news or events that are happening. It's cheap advertising and a great way to reach the prospects who are most likely to buy from you anyway. Email marketing companies like Constant Contact will help you build your customer list with their customizable website sign-up form. You can try their service free for 60 days, no credit card is required.

9. Hold a Free Workshop
Customers often like to know more about what they are buying. Educating your customers is key to gaining market share from your competitors. Hosting a free workshop is a simple way you can do this, and you can combine it with your grand opening announcement to really give people a reason to visit you.

Workshops can be brief and low-key. If you don't like public speaking, keep your event small and include hands-on activities where people get actively involved instead of simply listening to your speak. Alternatively, you can also partner with a knowledgeable expert to do the speaking.

10. Announce Your Grand Opening
Write a brief press release or "letter" to your local paper announcing the grand opening of your new business - or (if your business is not new) an event that you're holding. You want to include the "Who - What - Where - How and Why" and give people an event they won't want to miss. See: press release samples.

At your event or workshop, you will now be prepared with business cards, promotional items and coupons to hand out. People love free stuff. You can also collect email addresses to follow up with them in the future, and they will know your website address where they can go for more information.