(This is a "reprint" of my original Scribd post a day or so ago.)

No matter what the state of the economy is in, small and locally-based businesses need to find better ways to grow their businesses. I'm going to show you five dead-simple ways to either increase your revenues or reduce your costs.

TODAY.

Yes, you can put each of these tactics into effect and begin reaping the rewards today.
 

Revenue Booster #1

Start a loyalty program. It doesn't have to be big. It just has to be effective. In order to be effective, a loyalty program has to endear your present and past customers to your brand.

How?

Simply by treating your customers like they're more than just cash holders. Features of a good loyalty program are frequent interactions with customers (and they want it), special discounts and rewards non-members could not get at any price, and unique "early bird" notices of upcoming promotions.

It doesn't take much imagination to create a loyalty program and it doesn't have to be fancy, either. Just use as an example a loyalty program (like a supermarket club card) that you currently participate in and determine for yourself what you like, what it lacks, and what you wish you could realistically get with it.

Tiered discounts work (the more a customer spends, the bigger his subsequent discount).

You can also single out one or a few customers by holding contests or raffles. It doesn't have to be extravagant – it merely has to create a buzz around people buying your products.

It's easy and cheap to start a loyalty program with a simple email autoresponder.
 

Revenue Booster #2

Start an email — or, better yet — a postcard program. Customers love personalized communications. Who wouldn't like a hand-written postcard arriving in the mail from her favorite retailer?

Pique interest in the postcard by suggesting that they'll receive something special if they bring the postcard in.

THEN DELIVER ON THE PROMISE!

Postcards are a lot cheaper than standard direct mail and they reach your most important potential customers — people who have already bought from you!
 

Revenue Booster #3

"Get social!" Leverage the web! There are a ton of useful websites available nowadays that make it really easy to create a buzz around one of your promotions. Sites like Groupon, LivingSocial, and BuyWithMe are itching to help you sell more of your stuff!

How cool is that?

For example, Groupon doesn't cost anything to try. You simply pay a cut of the sales. Watch this video for more info. They email all of their members about your deal, too. It's simply advertising gone viral!

It's pretty cool.
 

Revenue Booster #4

Advertise! But not in the traditional sense. Sites like Facebook and Craigslist offer very economical advertising rates compared to their online counterpart, Google, and especially compared to traditional media like television spots, radio ads, and even newspaper classified.

Plus, they are very easy to test, track, and change. You can have a Facebook ad program up and running in just a few minutes. Test an ad. See how it performs. At the end of the day, tweak it. Then re-test. Changes can be made very quickly.

Try doing that with a Yellow Pages ad!
 

Revenue Booster #5

Leverage your website! You paid for your website (and you probably paid a lot for it, too) — now go get a return on investment (ROI) for it!

Put your URL on everything — traditional media (TV ads, radio, classifieds, Yellow Pages). In fact, you will be wise to continue using traditional media that works. Try tweaking existing ads just a little bit, by adding your homepage URL. That's it.

See if you get more web traffic. If you don't, try changing your website address location on the ad.

If you do get more traffic, you can actually consider reducing your spend on the traditional media and increase your outlay on the internet marketing.
 

Conclusion

The internet is a powerful medium. Use it to your advantage. Never in history have you been able to reach out to the entire world so easily. If you're solely local-based, you can laser target your customers.

It's win-win. You can implement any of these strategies and begin reaping rewards today.