The trap I see almost all small business owners fall into, is that they stop marketing like crazy. They seem to get comfortable and "hope" they'll magically make more money.
It ain't gonna happen without constant marketing, and creating several ways to pull in customers!

Take these Four Action Steps to Generate a Constant Stream of Customers For Your  Small Business

1. Market Constantly to Get New Prospects and Customers

If you market to local customers in your immediate area, advertise with flyers, create promotional events, and have permanent ads running in your local press or radio station. You simply have to keep these ads running and stage promotional fun events to be present in front of your prospects on a consistent basis.

If you market nationally, make sure you also market consistenly in front of your target market, via adwords, magazines, TV or radio ads, direct mail and Press Releases etc. Test what medium is profitable to you, but make sure you have a constant stream of prospects becoming aware of your products or services too.

2. Market Your Website With Both Search Engine Optimization Strategies and Google Adwords

Get prospects to your website with Search Engine Optimization strategies and Google Adwords. All Google Adwords clicks should lead to a squeeze page where you get them to sign up for your special report or newsletter. This is the most efficient way to justify the cost of the adwords campaigns. If you simply send these adwords visitors to your homepage, most of them will browse your site and leave… so make sure you send these visitors to a squeeze page and capture their name and email!

3. Introduce Your Customers Into Your "Continuation Program"

If at all possible, get your customers into some kind of continuation program that pays you month by month. No matter what you sell, think of a way to engage your prospects into a monthly payment program (give them a discount for doing this), so you can build your profits exponentially as you manage to get more customers. You don't want to sell them once and then they're gone….

4. Create A Back-End Product or Service For Your Best Customers

Think of a Back-End product or service which you can sell the raving fans of your business. Almost all business have raving fans… those 10% who love your product or service. Create a higher priced product or service these fans will love, which will enable you to generate sales without having to find additional customers.

If you follow these four steps, keep marketing for new customers, and keep developing good products and services for your customers, you'll always be able to make a profit and stay in business. You have to be active and market like crazy though. That's your insurance policy to stay in business and succeed.

What are your strategies for making a small business thrive?