Generating publicity is a major part of any small business marketing campaign. But when tight budgets meet up with lack of know how, many excellent opportunities can go to waste. Small business owners looking to expand their marketing tactics on a shoe string may want to consider these options: 

• Send out a press release. Expanding your business, launching new products or services, gaining new clients, or sponsoring an event are all examples of newsworthy events that can be the focus of a press release. You can send out press releases to local newspapers, magazines, or radio stations, who attract the attention of people in your target market. Alternatively, for a small fee you could use the services of an online news release agency such as PR Web or PRLeap.com. Not only will this help to get your name out there, but it will also temporarily help your website’s Google ranking.

• Sponsor and/or host an event. Associating your company with a special event, such as a workshop, a lecture series, or some form of entertainment may generate positive interest in your business and drum up sales. You should try, however, to be involved with events that are both relevant to your business and directed to your target audience. 

• Book yourself for public speaking engagements. If you are comfortable speaking in front of others, offering to be a speaker on a topic within your area of expertise can generate a lot of good publicity for your business- even if you are doing it pro bono. If you are having trouble finding places to speak, there are even public speaker brokers who can help hook you up with groups in need of a speaker. 

• Get involved in community service project. Your company’s involvement with local charity or community service organization, such as a shelter or a soup kitchen, can generate a tremendous amount of good will and build up a positive reputation for your company, not to mention help those in need.

• Conduct promotional events. Promoting events, such as giveaways, theme nights, special “value” deals, can generate a buzz among your customers, increase brand awareness, and encourage people to use your products or services. Keep in mind that creativity and planning are central elements to running a successful promotion.

• Hold a contest. Holding a contest is another easy and fun way to promote your business. Here are a few examples: Have customers send in videos using your products; hold a contest for the best customer-generated t-shirt or logo design. Conduct a lottery for all those who patron your business on a particular day.

• Create a viral marketing campaign. With a little creativity and know how, a well executed viral promotion can greatly increase brand awareness and generate an increase in sales. Viral promotions typically involve short videos, interactive Flash games, ebooks, software, images, and sometimes email or text messages that are quickly spread among the users of various social networks. To see some examples of the most successful viral marketing campaigns over the last decade, check out this post at Ignite Social Media.

• Build an engaging online presence. In 2010, developing a business’ online presence can mean more than just maintaining a website and getting listed in local online business directories. It may also involve producing an engaging blog and using social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook as well as social bookmarking sites, such as Digg , Delicious, and StumbleUpon. Learning how to effectively integrate these sites into your marketing campaign can generate a tremendous amount of interest in your company and make your business known to people you would be unable to contact otherwise.

• Build a useful and informative online presence. Aside from being engaging, if you consistently offer useful and valuable information, products, and/or services to those who reach you online, you can also generate a great deal of publicity. Writing articles to e-zines, offering a free e-book or white paper, and posting to or moderating forums are all ways to spread your message and generate leads to your site.

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Small business owners wondering how they can harness the power of Twitter to increase sales and build their business connections can find several great lists floating around the web. For example, check out here, here and here.

Almost all of these tips essentially boil down to one point: success with Twitter as a business tool revolves around building and maintaining your relationships- something which on the surface seems surprising given that posts are limited to 140 characters. How much can one actually do in 140 characters?

As it turns out, quite a lot.

Twitter is a dynamic online social experience that provides a real-time wellspring of business networking, and customer interaction, as well as critical information and insight from industry leaders and experts. But underlying all this, Twitter allows a community of users to engage with each other in a quick and easy way.

Below is a summary of the most essential tips for small and home business owners looking to break into the Twitter scene for the first time. In a following post, I will examine several Twitter apps which can significantly enhance your Twitter time and information management.

1. Develop your business’ profile page. If you are new to Twitter then your first order of business is to build up your profile page. This is the page that other Twitter users (i.e. your potential business contacts and customers) will consult to find out what you and your business are all about. One of the biggest pieces of advice regarding this page is to let your personality or your business’ brand image shine bright. For a few stunning examples, check out @idesignstudios, @sitepointdotcom, @spurrachel, and @Doubleolee. If you are not the creative type, there are several web apps available, such as, Free Twitter Designer, that can help you create a customized profile page background.

2. In the beginning… silence is golden. Some new to Twitter may be tempted to jump right in and start tweeting away. But before you seriously begin offering any comments, ancedotes, links, or responses, it is a good idea to spend a couple of weeks just following a few of the conversations. Getting used to the tone and flow of a thread before posting will help you to keep your tweets focused and relevant.

3. Build up your followers list slowly. Don’t start following a hundred people on your first day. Begin adding friends and family, then work your way out. By slowly adding people or businesses to your followers list, it gives them the time to get to know who you are and maybe reciprocate by following you.

Another tip: If you are specifically looking to add a certain group of people to your followers list, for example, other business owners in your state or county, then it is also a good idea to send out a tweet letting people know that this is your intention. That way, if you add anyone from this group they will know why they were added.

4. Stay away from spam, and over self-promotion. Though advertisement and self-promotion have their place on Twitter, it should be done carefully and in moderation. One of the biggest turn-offs in the Twitosphere (followed by a quick click on the “unfollow” button) is being bombarded with sales pitches.

5. Focus on building relationships. One of the best ways to build connections and increase visibility on Twitter is to take some time to scan the message stream and retweet or reply to the posts of other users. Specifically look for places where you can offer help or advice. Engaging with your followers is also important. Don’t forget to acknowledge anyone who took the time the RT one of your tweets.

6. Keep your flow of tweets interesting, consistent, and well-balanced. Ideally, your tweets should be a mixed bag of links, “status” updates, responses to other users, interesting retweets, and even a bit of chatter. The goal is to be approachable, engaging, and genuine. If you have a good sense of humor, use it as long as it is tasteful.

7. Use Twitter with time and content management tools. Twitter can be a really big time guzzler. After setting up your profile page and adding a few people, businesses, and/or communities to your follows list, you will want to put some controls in place to ensure that you are not spending too much time with the site. Your “tools” can be as simple as having a daily schedule with your “Twitter time” blocked out at set intervals, or you can use Twitter in conjunction with any number of Twitter apps, such as tweetdeck and tweetbeep.

8. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. There are many creative ways that small businesses can use Twitter. Some examples include: running a Twitter contest, offering discounts to Twitter users, sending out real-time updates of what’s happening in your business, as well as tweeting new product and service announcements.