Working for a small business (as well as trying to target small businesses myself), I think this is all great advice.
I would add that you can't underestimate the non-traditional forms of marketing. Pick a sub-segment of your business. If you sell widgits, chances are some people specialize in dark green widgits from France. Find out if there is a French Dark Green Widgit Trade Journal, and see what their rates are. Find out if there is any specialized software which these people use, and see if you can talk to those vendors about advertising. In my experience, unless you're doing extremely specific Ad-Words targeting, most of the usual online "wisdom" is completely useless when it comes to targeting small businesses (which is tragic, since they're such a huge market).
I'm not sure official sales people are going to work, given that they're having trouble getting initial traction. I would think this would be more effective once they've gained some momentum.
I would add that you can't underestimate the non-traditional forms of marketing. Pick a sub-segment of your business. If you sell widgits, chances are some people specialize in dark green widgits from France. Find out if there is a French Dark Green Widgit Trade Journal, and see what their rates are. Find out if there is any specialized software which these people use, and see if you can talk to those vendors about advertising. In my experience, unless you're doing extremely specific Ad-Words targeting, most of the usual online "wisdom" is completely useless when it comes to targeting small businesses (which is tragic, since they're such a huge market).
I'm not sure official sales people are going to work, given that they're having trouble getting initial traction. I would think this would be more effective once they've gained some momentum.