Top Ten Marketing Tips for a Small Business Owner

Having been a small business owner for more than 13 years now, I know that marketing a small business can be one of the most time-consuming aspects of running a business, but without marketing, it's tough to get clients or customers. Since clients and customers are what make your business profitable, it stands to reason that marketing is essential for the success and growth of a small business.

Over the years, I've learned a lot about marketing and promoting a small business, both from trial and error and reading everything I could find on the subject. This article will summarize the top 10 small business marketing tips I have learned.

Small Business Marketing Tip No. 1 - Network, Network, Network

There is just no way around it, networking is key to marketing a small business. Who you know, who they know and who knows you and your business can make all the difference. The best advertising any business can get is word-of-mouth.

Small Business Marketing Tip No. 2 - Become an Expert

Read, study, learn and know your business and its industry better than your competition, and share that knowledge so others know. Share your expertise in your field via marketing articles, a professional Web site with information, pod or webcasts or telephone seminars so your clients or customers can see you know your stuff.

Small Business Marketing Tip No. 3 - Know your Consumer

Be your own customer, put yourself in their shoes and look at your small business like a potential client or customer would view it, and not like someone in the industry. Perhaps you're too close to your own small business to see it the way a consumer would, so ask friends, family or business associates to give you critical and honest feedback from the perspective of a client, and then use that feedback to best benefit the consumer.

Small Business Marketing Tip No. 4 - Make Time to Market