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While the economy might be showing signs of returning life, those signs are still few and far between. Most small businesses are still suffering the lingering effects of the recession. However, your small business does not need to suffer from a lack of profits. You’ll find quite a few key strategies to help you increase profits in your small business, no matter what products you sell or services you offer. What are these strategies?

Define Products and Add-ons – Whether you sell tennis shoes or artwork, you’ll need to define your products first. Once you have defined your most profitable products and those most likely to become profitable, you’ll need to take it a step further. You should define what add-on items can be offered to help increase the average price of each sale. To use the shoe store analogy, you could sell shoe polish, shoe cleaner, spare shoelaces, shoehorns and shoetrees. Each of these offers your customers added value, but can dramatically kick up the average sale in your store.

Consider Free Giveaways – Many businesses entice new customers through their doors with the promise of something free. However, this often turns out to be something of relatively little value to the consumer. That said, since the customer entered the store, the company considers this a successful promotion. Your small business should not operate in this fashion. In order to increase the profits in your small business, define giveaway items that have value to your customers, which perhaps relate to the products you sell or somehow fill a need in your customers’ lives. This will help ensure that your customers are able to perceive greater value with your offerings.

Give Out Free Information – No matter what your area of expertise, you are an expert in something. Your business is founded on this expertise. By writing out a pamphlet, booklet or brochure, outlining the answer to a pressing problem or concern in your area of expertise, you highlight the fact that you are an expert. When you give away this information at no charge, you add even more value for your customers. You can even give this information away free of charge on your website, through article directories and more. Of course, giving it away in your store location is also an excellent option. By ensuring that your customers see you as the “expert with the answers,” you ensure their continued patronage.

Darryl Mobley is CEO of the Association of Small Business Marketers and he is devoted to creating financial freedom for entrepreneurs and small businesses through the power of marketing. Darryl invites you to get the FREE Report that will increase the sales and profits of your small business, “6 Ways to Double (or Triple!) Your Sales… and Beat Competition” at http://4.TASBM.com.