Cash flow is critical.  Always has been, always will be.  Businesses that planned ahead with open lines of credit were not only in better shape when the economic situation worsened, but they were able to take advantage of it by investing in low-cost market opportunities that other businesses could not.
 
One such investment opportunity is social media. Technology will play a huge role in how the economic recovery unfolds, with even more promotion to online communities. With so much of the world moving to Internet resources for their news, shopping, even personal finance management, the places that people are being targeted is shifting. That is the most obvious, but not the biggest argument to move to targeted online marketing and advertising. Not only does the Internet allow you to reach pockets of your market globally, it also offers straight-through access to your product or web site. Small businesses that figure out how to leverage online marketing and advertising, as well as social media, will experience fewer barriers when it comes to garnering recognition for their business and services.
 
You may be thinking to yourself that this does not seem like news; the Internet is no longer a novel marketing method. But here’s the twist: Women outnumber men on every popular social network, from Facebook to Twitter.  First off, women are an ever-increasing presence in the workforce. For the first time in the nation’s history they now make up almost half of American workers (49.9 percent in October, 2009) and run some of the world’s best companies.[i]  The impact of female purchasing power is evident. Globally, they control about $20 trillion in annual consumer spending and that figure could climb as high as $28 trillion in the next 5 years. They also make decisions in the purchases of 91 percent of homes, 60 percent of automobiles, and 51 percent of consumer electronics.[ii] Finally, if women-owned businesses were their own country, they’d have a higher GDP than France, Italy and the United Kingdom!
 
Women represent the majority of the online market. Twenty-two percent shop online at least once a day, 92 percent pass along information about deals or finds to others, 58 percent would give up their TV if they had to get rid of one digital device  where only 11 percent would toss their laptops, and 51 percent of these women are moms.[iii] An overwhelming majority of women are savvy with this type of interaction and, as this last statistic would indicate, it comes down to a convenience factor. The trend toward online shopping is especially evident in women who are juggling the balance between the responsibilities of life. When they need something they are more likely to go online to find it because the time-saving, and often money-saving, benefits are very helpful.
 
The time women spend online automatically translates into a particular familiarity with this territory on the business side. They have a better understanding of what the people going to these channels are looking for – which means a greater leverage of this type of technology by women business owners, and in turn a more lucrative  economic recovery for women business-owners!
 
If you are a business owner looking for a good place to start breaking into online media there are the obvious sites including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, but oftentimes these sites find you lost among such a variety of users that your pitch or angle can become lost as well. It is important to find applicable online spaces to network and market your business, and often these are not the ones that first come to mind. It's worth it for you to look around the web for free tools offered by nonprofit consumer organizations, insurance companies, banks, credit card companies and government agencies which might have forums or calculators to help you build your business and your business connections.

S.USA Women, a microsite started by SBLI USA Mutual Life Insurance Company, Inc., offers a space geared specifically toward women looking to manage their money and lead financially healthy lifestyles. S.USA Women’s user-generated message board extends the discussion of finances to the impact of the economy on the areas of work, home, and philanthropy or volunteering.

SBA, the Small Business Administration, offers a Small Business Planner as a step-by-step guide to getting going.

National Foundation for Credit Counseling is a nonprofit with helpful tools at DebtAdvice.org.

Commentary by Emilia DiMenco, Executive Vice President, Business Banking, Harris Bank