Taking Advantage of Online Marketing and PR

According to the list of 2009's Top Small Business Trends published in USATODAY.com, three of the top five spots all involve how the Internet can be used by small business to win in this struggling economy.  The examples given include interactive Internet actions that enable even small businesses to reach existing and potential customers like never before; how blogs, online video and other online tools can be used to create big marketing campaigns for much less than "traditional" campaigns; and finally social networking tools such as Facebook and countless more which can help a business owner not only communicate with the public that buys their products/services but also find potential connections to new opportunities.

The bare bones minimum to taking advantage of online marketing and PR is a website and most of you reading this have a website which is good, but is your website working for you? Can your public easily find you on a search?  When they do is the search engine entry tasty enough to make them click? What about the competition? And how does PR fit into the mix?

What if you could quickly and substantially increase your presence on the Internet resulting in even a handful of new clients?  How much profit would those clients represent compared to the cost of online campaigns versus traditional campaigns?

The key is PR.  Public Relations makes you and your products known and well thought of so that any marketing you do is that much more effective.  If you don't already have a well thought out and planned PR campaign - get one!

In 2009 you have to move faster.  The Internet moves at the speed of light and so must you if you are going to keep up and beat not only your competition but also the economic crisis.