You have a great product at a solid price, offer memorable customer service experiences, and are located in prime real-estate. So why aren’t customers flocking in to your place of business?

Investing a lot of money into marketing can be seen as a gamble. Will a billboard drive customers through the door? Did that TV ad see a return on your investment? While marketing is a vital aspect to growing your business, it doesn’t have to be done with an excessive budget. The great thing about marketing in the 21st century is that it no longer employs a ‘fishing with a shotgun’ approach – and that is key for small business owners.

1. Targeted Online Advertising (Facebook, Adwords)

We’ve reached an age where we can segment so specifically that you are bound to reach your target demographic. If your campaign isn’t creating the results you hoped for, you have the ability to tweak it at any time. Facebook offers in-depth targeting based on likes, demographics and interests. Adwords gives you the ability to advertise on YouTube, Google Search, Google TV – the best part is that Google Adwords often offers new customers coupons to get started ranging from $50 to $100. Start small and give it a shot. Just make sure to analyze your results and improve with each campaign.

2. Run a small contest

Word of mouth in the online world is just as effective as the old school word of mouth. In fact, the ability to share thoughts and links gives you the ability to amplify your message beyond what traditional marketing could ever do – and since it’s coming from them and not you, people are more likely to engage. Running a small contest gives you the ability to craft a message, offer something interesting, and broadcast your message to your brand ambassadors.

Get some graphics done on the cheap, put forth an offer that would entice your customers and ask them to share it. You won’t regret it.

3. Recruit Brand Ambassadors

Have you ever asked a friend for a referral? Do you see value in asking how someone else’s experience was before ‘taking the plunge’? Referrals are the most convincing way for your business to gain new customers because it come across as organic and genuine. Speak with some of your best customers and ask them if they can refer others to your business should they see a fit. Entice your brand ambassadors by giving them special coupons for the people they refer. They get to help out a friend, the friend gets a discount, and you get the business. Triple win.

4. Piggyback Marketing

Ultimately, reaching out to your target market costs money. If your cash flow is tied up in other projects and activities, you still need to market your business to remain fresh in your customers minds. Piggyback marketing helps alleviate some of that pressure by finding synergistic relationships to help boost your marketing reach. That means two businesses that offer complementary – but non-competing – products or services can represent each other’s offering in their respective markets.

Take for example a butcher who recommends eating at one of his favourite restaurants in the city. That restaurant in turn displays the logo of the butcher and the waiters boast about the local butcher cuts on the menu.

Or how about a flower shop that tells its customers about the home-made greeting card store down the street for an added touch of sweetness.

These represent effective, personable and real engagement that wipes the floor with costly television ads.

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There are many ways to operate your small business marketing on a shoestring budget. If you need to focus your cash flow on other projects, keep in mind that your marketing efforts keep new customers coming in. And that continuous flow is vital to your business’ longevity. With a little bit of creative thinking and positive outreach, you can find what efforts work for you.

When it comes to social media, one segment of users that dominates engagement and that is often targeted by brands and businesses, is mothers. In fact, the current landscape of the blogosphere clearly demonstrates the impact of moms – 1 in 3 bloggers are actually mothers.

Juggling the daily tasks of carpools, cooking, and kids, a large contingent of moms are actively involving themselves in their own businesses. Hampered by rigid office hours and inflexible benefits (amongst other variables), many mothers are now looking to strike a better balance between home and work by becoming ‘mompreneurs’.

According to thestar.com, in 2010, women accounted for 36 percent of Canada’s then 2.7-million self-employed, up from 26 percent in 1976. This makes female entrepreneurs one of the fastest growing segments in the Canadian economy.

While achieving a balance is critical to maintain a healthy life, understanding small business in Canada is an equally important aspect for the business lives of these entrepreneurial women. Setting realistic expectations and keeping operating costs to a minimum represent some of the challenges and tasks facing mompreneurs.

Buoyed by a continued increase in women with a high level of education, and the advances of social networking tools allowing mompreneurs to reach out to new clients from the comfort of the home or on-the-go, momepreneurs are a trend that won’t be disappearing any time soon.

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Articles of interest 

How to be a mompreneur – The Globe and Mail

If These Moms Can’t Find It, They Invent It – NY Times

The rise of mompreneurs - The Star

Social Networking in Canada: The Infographic

Infographic: The Digital Lives of American Moms

April presented the second-best small business confidence reading for the year amidst a modestly growing Canadian economy. With each province accounting for its own share of challenges, the general consensus is that local businesses are feeling optimistic.

Here are some highlights from the CFIB Business Barometer report based on 807 responses:

- Business owners in Alberta and Saskatchewan continue to be the most optimistic in the country. The surge in optimism in Ontario in March was partially corrected in April, but the region remains above the national average.

- 44 % of business owners expect their businesses to strengthen in the next three or for months, compared to only 16 % who expect a weakening—a balance of opinion of +28 per cent.

- Planned hiring took a big swing to the positive in April. Twenty-one per cent of business owners plan to increase full-time staffing levels in the next three or four months, while only 12 per cent plan to cut back.

- Overall, 42 per cent of business owners describe their state of business to be in ‘good’ shape, almost three-times the 14 per cent who say it is in ‘bad shape’.

- Concerns about customer demand levels have been trending down as the economy gradually strengthens.

- About one business in five, appears to have significant difficulties in finding necessary credit.

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With a general upswing in optimism and consumer confidence, it pays to be on top of your businesses cash flow needs. With a large segment of Canadian small businesses recognizing the busy season ahead, they are pro-actively preparing by making new hires and training their staff to account for an increase in sales and customer traffic.

Act today and profit from tomorrow.