Happy Friday!  Click here for five ways to tell your business story.  If you joined this Wednesday’s live webinar (click here for the replay) Anita Campbell provided some great marketing tactics you can do to generate some awareness and buzz for your business (and at little to no cost).

She also discussed the importance of sharing your story with your customers and potential customers.  It gives your business a human touch and helps to establish an immediate rapport.  Anita also mentioned the importance of a website and how it is very easy to design one yourself today.

From my webinar today presented by the Verizon Small Business Center, “Marketing on a Shoestring,” below you’ll find the links to the sites and resources I referred to, broken down by the three major marketing approaches I touched on.  To catch the replay of my webinar click here or go to http://bit.ly/pUmHUT.

The bleak international headlines contrast with a rising optimism at home among small businesses. In fact, less than  8% of small businesses plan to cut their workforce in 2011.  Small business bankruptcies also are dropping in most areas. And, with consumer prices rising, business will raise prices to keep their profit margins stable. 

Some small businesses are helping Japan by leveraging products via social media and otherwise. The silver lining right now as Japan recovers is that a weaker dollar can make for a better exporting environment.

After several “hints” from mom, I took my parents out to dinner to one of their favorite Italian restaurants the other night. After all, the restaurant shaves 50 percent off entrees on Mondays. The first thing I noticed was all the buzz in the dining room on that chilly, drizzling Monday night and that they changed the bread. 

Instead of the boring – but very good – rolls, the basket came with four different variety of breads… one almost in a shape of a croissant, the other with a little bit of sauce on it… how refreshing I thought.  It got me thinking that this is what all businesses should do, but don’t do enough: change things up.

No one likes the same old, same old… yes, ‘same old’ is comforting and good, but make it your blanket – not your business.

We tend to talk a lot about technology, websites and social media here because you can’t get away from it in business or anywhere else it seems.  But, for a small business, all the posts and webinars we’ve offered are reinforced.  Take a look at this story on the 2011 tech resolutions some small businesses have made.

No secret that mobile advertising can be as important as online advertising because mobile shopping has taken off. So, you also may need to rethink your website in a way that it’s easily viewable on smartphones for your existing and potential customers.