Forbes.com is an excellent website full of expert advice for business owners. It also provides general business news, financial information, economy information and much more. They offer an amazing amount of quality marketing tips for small business owners, so let’s take a look at some of those tips and see how well they would work with our businesses.

As the Owner, Connect with Your Customers 

The biggest marketing tool any small business has, is the owner that is running it. By marketing yourself, you will be associating your name with your company, increasing the overall exposure. It is a great idea to create a personal story that is going to connect with your customers because if they can feel connected with you, they are most likely to use your company instead of your competitors.

You could try to make it known as to what inspired you to begin the company, and what made you want to make a difference in your customer’s lives. By adding these two elements into your story, people will be able to respect the company and will think you are trying to make a difference, not just make money.

Marketing Doesn’t Need to Cost A Lot 

A lot of businesses seem to think that if you throw a large amount of money at a marketing campaign it will succeed, while there is a little bit of truth to that, It is not necessary to have an incredible budget to have a successful marketing campaign. There are plenty of ways to reach out to new customers while spend little to no money.

The most popular free marketing strategy small businesses have been using is to blog. Blogging really is one of the best ways to reach out to customers with quality content. Not only does it get new people interested in your products but it also proves to people that your business is an expert at what they do. Starting a blog isn’t as hard as most people think, in fact, you can be up and writing within just a few minutes.

Another great option is to create multiple videos and share it through websites such as YouTube. If you have a small budget to spend on videos, it will go a long way because the higher the production value, the more professional it will look. There are millions and millions of people everyday looking through video sharing websites, so why not tap into that market and get noticed. You never know, you might make a video that goes viral and could bring your business to the next level.

Use Internet Marketing Services 

Using services that allow you to have advertisements reach your target demographic can be a very big help in reaching your marketing goals. Services like Google Adwords will allow you to set your own budget of how much you are willing to pay for a certain amount of clicks within your advertisement.

There are plenty of programs out there that will achieve your goals, and by using more than one at the same time, you can speed up your efforts to see a fast increase in revenue. Although these services can be a bit expensive at times, most of them will allow you to set a budget and not exceed that limit.

Using these services will also give you a great idea at how well your landing pages are doing and give you a conversion rate. If you notice that even though 1000 people clicked on your advertisements, but only 2 people bought your products, you know that you need to change up your website.

Use Programs and Promotions to Attract Customers 

There is a wide variety of different promotions and programs that can be used in almost any industry. People love deals, so give them exactly what they want. The best type of promotion a small business could use is a referral program. By implementing a referral program, you are increasing your customer base, keeping your current customers happy, seeing more sales, and also growing your overall business.

You might need to advertise the promotion that you are currently having, but it will really help in the long run. Once you have picked a certain promotion or program that you are interested in doing, make sure to take the time and properly set it up. The last thing you want is to have a great promotion, only to see if end up in failure because you forgot to implement a major part.

Get Involved with Your Community 

It doesn’t matter if your business is a local shop or just an internet store, getting involved with your local community will get you noticed and will give you opportunities to market your company. By volunteering, conducting local events, or anything else that involves your community, you can promote your business and also gain the respect of those around you. The best marketing is always going to be word of mouth, and by gaining the loyalty of those you help, you can be sure they will be willing to support your company.

When you decide which event you will get involved with, make sure the host understands that you are doing it to promote your business. You don’t want to get there and them not allow you to represent your company, it is only fair that if you and/or your employees are helping them with whatever it is they are doing, you get to promote your own interests.

Forbes has much more information to offer, from small business to corporations, anyone can get great advice from them.

Tom writes for Make a Website, a top resource for people who want to start a website.