A small business may run limited advertising campaigns because of the high cost of print ads in newspapers and magazines. Or, the high cost of travel may force a business to scrutinize every travel request and limit the amount of contact that employees have with customers, suppliers or even each other.

By using e-business, though, marketing and communication become more affordable to small businesses, and put a wealth of new tools at a business owner's disposal.

Do you need Web marketing?

Web marketing is simply the integration of traditional marketing operations with online tools and services. Take the example of a single-location culinary retailer that had a very loyal but exclusively local customer base. The company added a wedding registry to its Web site and soon out-of-town wedding guests were using the registry to make online purchases.

Here are some questions to ask yourself that might help you determine if it's time to consider Web marketing for your company:

• Have you lost any customers to competitors who had a stronger online presence?
• How advanced are your competitors' Web sites compared to yours? For example, do they offer interaction with customer service via their Web sites or feature product demonstrations or online manuals that make it easier for customers to interact with them?
• Do you have a way to collect feedback from customers via your Web site?

Which Web marketing tools are right for you?

There are a number of ways to use the Web to bolster your current marketing activities. Here are some examples:

• E-mail. You probably use e-mail at home and in the office to keep in touch, but have you considered using as an extension of your marketing programs? For example, you can enhance your service orientation simply by generating a "Thank you for placing your order" e-mail when a customer purchases from you. You can produce an e-mail campaign to introduce a new product or service. Your customers may even prefer getting e-mails to receiving flyers in the mail — but, if they don't, you easily can offer them an unsubscribe option.

  For example, a small marine supply company uses e-mail to confirm purchases, payment, and anticipated delivery dates when customers place an order. They can also add a targeted discount, if appropriate, such as offering a matching antenna at a discounted price when a customer orders a marine radio.

• E-newsletters. Even if you never considered sending newsletters to customers, the Internet age may make you want to try one. Electronic newsletters can be customized in ways that would be cost-prohibitive with traditional print newsletters, and e-newsletters make it possible to add links, animation, and graphics that can extend your e-commerce site to customers and prospects. As with e-mail, you want to make sure that customers and prospects can "opt out" if they don't want to receive the e-newsletter.

• Loyalty, referral and affiliate programs. These are programs that allow you to offer incentives to loyal customers. An incentive might be something as simple and inexpensive as a discount or a gift certificate. Perhaps you want to offer an incentive for customers who refer prospects to your site.

• Online advertising. If your business currently relies on print advertising, why not look into the world of Internet advertising and try something like an interactive banner ad to drive prospects to your site? One retailer specializing in Celtic products purchased an ad on a popular online newspaper based in Dublin, Ireland, primarily for Irish expatriates living in the United States. The ad brought in new customers and strengthened the retailer's brand with existing customers.

Do you need Web communications?

Web communications combine the convenience and immediacy of a telephone conversation with the ability to add text, images, sounds and even video. Here are some questions that might help you determine if you can use Web communications to enrich your contacts with customers and between employees and suppliers:

• How fast can you currently communicate critical news to employees, customers and suppliers?
• How effective is your communication with your partners or suppliers?
• Does your company promote team collaboration as well as you think it could?
• Do you spend a lot of money on travel expenses for meetings and training that might be accomplished online?

Which Web communications tools are right for you?

There are many ways to use the Web to promote communications. Here is just a sampling:

• Messaging. You can use a variety of tools such as Web-based e-mail, instant messaging, text chat, voice over IP and video messaging in order to enable interactive and collaborative communication between employees or between employees and customers.

• Web meetings and conferencing. One way to save on travel is to use the power of the Web to bring groups together electronically for meetings, sales presentations or product demonstrations.

• E-learning, online seminars and webcasting. This is a big bucket of Web communications that encompasses all of the different tools available for training and informing employees without costly and disruptive travel to an off-site training facility or meeting place.

You can use a combination of Web communications tools to your advantage. A small law firm was about to lose a partner who was trying to balance his work and personal commitments. The firm did not want the partner to choose a competing firm that was offering flexible hours. So they set him up with Web communication tools, including instant messaging and webcasting, and enabled him to telecommute from home several days each week. The partner decided not to leave the firm.