Today many small business owners spend a large amount of their yearly budget for paid advertising to get the word out about their company's products or services. But what many of these same small businesses fail to do is develop a monthly marketing plan that includes much more than just paid advertisements.

If you're a small business owner you probably spend most of your day running your business. You don't have time to develop monthly marketing materials, even though you know they can be a VERY important part of promoting your company and acquiring new customers or clients.

That's okay. You don't need to worry about finding the time for monthly marketing activities if you can simply hire someone to do that for you. Fortunately, there are many marketing companies available that would be glad to do so. Here are some tips for choosing the right company to develop your monthly marketing plan:

1. Look for a company that can devise a monthly marketing plan just for you. The plan that is developed should meet your company's specific needs and not overwork your advertising budget. In fact, the plan should be a big boon to your paid advertisements in newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, etc.

2. Expect some regular contact with the company that is providing your monthly marketing plan. The company you hire to do your marketing will need regular updates about you and your business in order to continue writing powerful marketing tools that will promote your company.

3. To save money, help the company providing your marketing plan by making sure they have quality digital photos of you, your products, and other aspects of your business (instead of paying the company to obtain these photos for you).

4. Find a company that spends time getting to know "the essence" of you and your business and what you want to convey to the world about your products and/or services. If you have a mission statement, make sure those designing your marketing plan know and understand this statement so they can incorporate it into monthly promotional materials.

5. Look for a company that regularly meets with you to evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing plan. It takes time for any kind of marketing plan to be effective, so don't expect instant results. Still, you'll want to spend time evaluating the effectiveness of the plan with the company that is providing it for you. Then you can revise or discontinue the plan if it doesn't seem to be working.

Take some time to compare the services and prices of various companies that can provide you with a monthly marketing plan. Then choose the company that seems to be the best "fit" for you. A good marketing plan should promote your business each and every month, and hiring someone to provide this for you can allow you to spend more of your time doing what you do best - running your company.

Suzanne Lieurance is a freelance writer, small business owner, and creator of The Lieurance Group which provides writing and marketing services for other small businesses. Visit http://www.lieurancegroupblogspot.com to find out more about her services. Read her daily food tips at http://www.threeangelsgourmet.blogspot.com or find out about her books and other writing at http://www.suzannelieurance.com