Anyone who has started a business without a lot of start-up capital has faced a vicious catch 22. You have to market your company in order to increase sales, but until sales have increased (and you've received payment) you can't afford to market your business. Fortunately, you've got more options than you realize, after all, more than a few other businesses have gotten past this hurdle. So can you.

First of all, don't advertise in the newspapers, on television or the radio because it can take considerable time to see results from these mediums and at this stage of your business, your budget will likely be gone long before you see them.

One powerful way that a business with a small marketing budget can gain exposure is by networking with other people. There are many inexpensive or even free networking organizations in just about every city and all that you need is a handful of business cards and a winning smile.

Another way to increase you business is through co-op marketing with other related but non-competing businesses. If your company sells work-out clothing, you could partner with a gym and a supplement/nutrition store on a direct mail campaign. All three businesses could merge their data bases to reach a larger segment of the market while reducing their costs by roughly one third (or possibly more due to volume discounts on printing).

Establishing yourself as an expert can work wonders for your business because people will come to you first. This can be done by blogging, starting an email newsletter or public speaking on your industry. These can all be done with little or no money out of your pocket, just a relatively small investment of your time and some patience.

There is most likely a sizable wealth of leads that you are not tapping into. Think of all of the people you know — some may be potential clients and others may know someone that may be a potential client. You won’t have the chance to find out unless you tell people that you are looking for new business.

Jeremy L. Knauff is the founder of Wildfire Marketing Group, an innovative marketing company that specializes in guerilla marketing techniques to help smaller companies compete with larger companies and win . For article submission & directory submission services visit rcplinks.com

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