A common statistic floated around recently, though slightly varying according to the source, is that about 90% of businesses in the United States are categorized as “small” businesses; that is, firms that have less than 500 employees on staff. Even though 90% of businesses are small, they only generate about 40% of the country’s business revenue; large corporations take in the rest.

Although those huge businesses employ lots of people, they aren’t nearly as significant to the health of the country as small business; those small businesses account for the livelihoods of a ridiculous amount of people. The 2006 study by the U.S. Census Bureau discovered nearly six million firms (aka businesses) exist in the United States, but only about’,000 of those businesses constitute the size of a corporation like Wal-Mart, which has more than 10,000 employees, as mentioned earlier.

Those businesses have been critically wounded by the ongoing economic hardships. Critically wounded, but not destroyed. Hopefully they’ll continue to remain upright as other businesses fall around them (e.g. Circuit City declaring bankruptcy earlier this year). Remaining upright has proven a more difficult endeavor for small businesses because of the limited available options for them to generate revenue and generate operating capital. Because banks have been hit just as hard, they’re less likely to disperse loans to businesses with the possibility of losing money; they have to be nearly assured a return on investment, which is a difficult guarantee to make in these conditions.

With those obstacles placed in front of small businesses, now is a critical period to learn the most efficient strategies for operating small businesses by investing the least amount of money to produce the best possible results.

Choose investments with careful deliberation and scrutiny. Past marketing tactics don’t hold as much use in the current climate, because a lot of those marketing tactics require decently-adequate funds. Electing to hire an advertising agency to handle the distribution of your message may pay off in the long run, but the hindrance caused by giving them money will have short-term implications. Those implications could preclude even seeing any revenue generated by the long-run objective, because you’ll go broke before you can see it.

Take time to learn the free way of advertising, for instance. Become adept with social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, that charge nothing for access but allow access to potentially thousands of people. Research other methods of advertising effectively without spending a lot; more exist than you may think. Even simply placing flyers around a neighborhood park doesn’t cost more than the printing costs, and maybe some discontentment from people who find flyers on their windshields.

Trivial investments are no longer quite so trivial. For example, one may assume placing a soda machine in the office wouldn’t influence your monetary situation to any great extent, but all those quarters will accrue and become more than you ever considered. Take care not to anger employees by removing what they believe necessary, however, so consult the workplace before you make any radical changes.

In closing, small business will continue feeling the effects of declining sales in the entire country, but not all of them will feel it so deeply that they must declare bankruptcy. The businesses that take the time to research efficient, low-risk strategies for producing worthwhile results will find themselves still living at the end of the recession, which is all one can ask.

Brian WayneScott enjoys writing articles about businesss strategy. Previously he’s written how to locate survey jobs, and why online survey jobs can be a great part time job for almost anyone.

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