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As a small business, you’ll need cost-effective, yet simple ways to promote your services. Using popular social media sites and sending out targeted e-mail blasts are two simple ways to get your ideas off the ground and out into the Web. After all, as of June 2010, 77.4 percent of North Americans used the Internet, according to InternetWorldStats.com. With data like that, you can’t afford not to use online marketing to reach a wide variety of people.

Types of Marketing

There are many different types of marketing you can use, depending on who you want to target and what you want to send out to potential customers.

1. Email newsletters: When creating an e-mail blast, it needs to be catchy and it needs to capture the attention of the reader, almost immediately. ‘Users spend 51 seconds reading the average newsletter. The layout and writing both need superb usability to survive in the high-pressure environment of a crowded Inbox,’ an article on Lyris.com said.

2. Social Media Marketing: Using Facebook or Twitter to advertise specials at your business may be one of the cheapest and most well-read ways to get your message across to the general public. Blogger, MySpace and WordPress are other options you can use, if you are interested in making a company blog, or appealing to slightly different markets than Facebook and Twitter alone. Also, making a Facebook page for your business could get your name and what you do out into the social media bubble.

Having a Facebook page may allow your business to appeal to an international market as well. ‘About 70% of Facebook users are outside the USA,’ a report on ecoconsultancy.com said.

 3. Mobile Marketing-via text or call: The statistics are clear’”the majority of people log onto the internet via their mobile phone. ‘Mobile Broadband: Beyond the Cell Phone’ predicts that the number of U.S. mobile broadband users will increase by more than 200% by 2013,’  an article on Lyris.com said. Mobile internet usage now is higher than ever. Requesting customer information so you can send texts about promotions or specials is just one way to get into this high value market.

Simple Steps to Online Marketing Now

Quick Tip #1: Use print marketing

‘Turn the back of your business card into a promo. The back of your business card is advertising real estate that you own, and, best of all, it’s free. By featuring a photo of yourself, a picture of your product, a 10 percent off coupon, or a list of services that your company provides, you can turn your business card into a powerful marketing tool,’ an Entrepreneur article, titled ‘Small Marketing Changes with a Big Impact,’ said.

Quick Tip #2: Use your signature

‘Put a Twitter link in your e-mail signature. By including a link to your Twitter page at the bottom of the signature file in your e-mail messages, you can spread the word about your business every time you hit the Send button,’ the Entrepreneur article said.

Do you have any suggestions or successes in online marketing, that you would like to share? Please let us know in the comments section!

By Kelly McLendon. Kelly is studying Environmental Policy and Journalism. She can be reached at mclendon.kelly@gmail.com.