Organic is somewhat of a buzzword these days, most often associated with the latest trend turned lifestyle of eating natural, healthy, pesticide-free food – but it actually applies to your internet marketing strategy too. It’s never too late to change your lifestyle and it’s never too late to start utilizing organic SEO services to keep your business in the green.

As a small business owner there are two things that you never seem to have enough of: time and money. When you’re faced with the latest and greatest social fad presented to you by some overly excited junior executive you tune out. When you have gobs of salesy emails in your inbox from social media management companies claiming to take your business to the next level with a new and improved software, you hit delete. Your first thought is that you don’t have the time to waste on these things, let alone the money to invest in them, but being social online is not a waste of time or money for your business and here’s why.

When I tell someone I work for a content marketing agency, they raise their eye brows, get a glassed over look in their eyes, smile and nod. If they’re brave enough to ask what I actually do, I realize that sometimes I suffer from the disease of the expert, meaning when you do something day in and day out, you forget that other people don’t really get what you do. It’s not that they’re stupid, they just need to be educated. Which is exactly what a content marketing agency aims to do in the first place using, but not limited to, the methods mentioned below.

When I say “ice cream” what three brands come to mind? You’re walking down the frozen section aisle of the grocery store. Ice cream is on the list. Which brand do you buy? You might think that you’ll buy whatever is on sale. Or whatever you have a coupon for. Or whatever your favorite brand is. I almost always buy Breyers, even if it’s not on sale. It’s just the one I like – or is it? Lately, I’ve been seriously considering Ben & Jerry’s. Why? Because I want to try The Tonight Dough™ “caramel & chocolate ice creams with chocolate cookie swirls & gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough & peanut butter cookie dough.” I know! It sounds like mouth-watering madness! Go ahead. Wipe the drool from your mouth and stop teasing your taste buds.

Are you spending money on marketing your small business and wondering where it’s going? If it currently feels like you’re throwing your money out the window while driving down the highway at 70 miles an hour; or watching the coins slowly slip through your fingers like grains of sand on the beautiful beach you wish you were spending your hard earned dollars on vacation, then you need to examine your small business marketing strategy.

Transition in any small business is inevitable. It comes in many shapes and sizes – expanding to a larger facility, adopting new industry trends, hiring or losing employees, financial hardships, or a client that decides to go in a different direction. Transition in your organization and in the lives of the people who make up your organization, can affect your ability to market and communicate your message clearly. Transition also provides an excellent opportunity for your small business to get some clarity in your messaging and marketing.

What kind of marketing do you invest in for your small business? Somewhere along your journey as a successful small business owner you’ve probably tried billboards, radio ads, print ads and other types of traditional marketing. As a business owner who is constantly keeping up with trends and competitors, you probably have also invested in online marketing and have a decent looking website and Facebook business page. How’s all that working out for you?

You’re the successful small business owner of a handyman company. You started out as a jack of all trades and master of none, but over the years you’ve been wise about hiring the right people for the right positions, and now you can focus on managing the business and building relationships.

You’ve grown your business from a small one-man service truck to a 50 employee small business that provides a number of services ranging from gutter cleaning to landscaping to painting. Over the years, your friendly customer service and positive relationships have made you one of the most trusted businesses in town. So trusted in fact, that business is booming. Or so it seems. Service request are rolling in faster than your employees can keep up with them.

When you use the right philosophy, strategy, and tools in small business marketing, you will experience more benefits and a return on investment. Instead of wasting your time hoping and praying that your current marketing efforts are paying off, evaluate what inbound marketing has to offer. It’s a strategy you can start using today to get better results than traditional marketing techniques.

If you’re going to be wise and profitable in your business, you have to look at the return on investment (ROI) you are getting from the money you’re spending on marketing. ROI is important for any business because you want to successfully get more customers and have tangible proof of where your success is coming from, but there has to be a systematic approach to track and measure your ROI. Inbound marketing allows you to accomplish this.