The downturn in the economy has been rough on business owners. However, it has had its benefits. One of those benefits is the fact that business owners have become more resourceful about marketing their businesses. They have also found new ways to boost their revenue to survive the tough times.

Business owners who managed to increase revenue during the recession offer the following tips that can help all business owners out even as the economy improves:

• Look for small, inexpensive ways to generate steady new income. Smart business owners are creating blogs to generate ad revenue and using mobile payments as a way to sell text message information to their customers.
• Take advantage of social networking but do it right. Facebook and Twitter are great ways to market your business for free. However, they only work if they are right for your business and you know what you are doing. Some business owners don’t bother with them because they know that they don’t have the time or knowledge to invest to use them correctly. Others swear by them as a way to boost revenue.
• Learn to barter instead of spending money. You can reduce your own business costs and improve your bottom line if you barter your services instead of paying for everything. Offering up your skills to people who have skills that you can use in return is a smart move that’s gotten a lot more popular since the downturn in the economy.

The theme here is really to look for the little ways that you can cut costs and increase profits. It’s not the big things that matter most; it’s the small ones.