The current state of the economy has gotten a lot of us worked up and wondering what we can do to avoid becoming a statistic. There is no denying that we are going through a difficult time, a period in which “being creative” simply isn’t enough. Whether you are running a bustling firm with payroll or investor issues, or you are running a bustling family with health care or grocery bills, chances are you are feeling the effects of the current conditions. In times like these, if you want to get through it, to be a survivor, and to feed those kids (or investors), you need a plan. You need a strategy.  To be a survivor, to be successful, means different things to different people. Here, we discuss survival in corporate America. Building a business is no exact science; there are certainly many ways to go about developing your product, building your team and promoting your offerings. The challenge with new business development is that with dwindling budgets for marketing, advertising and public relations, you have minimal resources to accomplish tasks that are even more important to the organization’s success.

If you have been tasked with any sales-type activities, you know how difficult it is to get the ball rolling with business development. Cold calling and emailing are not especially fun and not always the best use of your valuable time. You may have tried other methods of getting the attention of different audiences only to find yourself questioning the effectiveness of your strategy. Is email marketing still effective? How about search engine optimization? What’s the difference between organic and inorganic SEO? Do I need a million-dollar budget to be successful with Pay-Per-Click? Social networking seems to be the latest thing, but what does it really mean to “social network?” How could I apply it to my business model? Custom Facebook tabs, really?  What does that even mean?

These are a lot of things to consider when planning a business development or marketing strategy. Sometimes it feels like it would be a whole lot easier to ignore this new stuff on the grounds that you simply don’t understand what it means and how it would work for you. Remember the saying that easier isn’t always better? That works here too. The best thing to do is to educate yourself. Do some research. Learn what the buzzwords mean and how you can make them work for you. If you don’t have the time to do this, bring on someone who will, or network with people who work in this arena daily and can share with you best practices that you could use in your approach. Knowledge is power. Roll up those sleeves and get a little dirty–you’ll soon be strategizing with the best of them.

The Web is indeed an excellent tool to spread the word about what you do, create a buzz around your offerings and develop new business opportunities. However, finding success with online marketing endeavors is not something that is stumbled upon. There is tremendous value in a well-researched, balanced approach to marketing your products, services or solutions online, on paper or anywhere, for that matter. There is great opportunity online for those who take the time to learn, plan and execute flexible Web marketing strategies.

Some food for thought as you plan and strategize throughout 2011. Change it up and give those investors and those kids what they are looking for: a new strategy to generate new ideas, new business and new money.