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As a small business owner myself, I often dream of the millions of marketing dollars companies like Apple, Google and Microsoft have to play with. Just thinking about full page ads in the top business magazines and websites makes me giddy. Oh, reality hits hard sometimes.

Well, we can dream, or we can get serious. There have been some unbelievable changes taking place that actually give smaller companies an advantage over their larger competition. How can that be, you say?

The recent changes in technology have enabled small businesses to market their products and services as well as, or better, than a large, well-funded business.

Technological changes are increasing at an ever faster rate than ever before. Small businesses can adapt to these changes to communicate more effectively with their target customers. Small businesses are almost always more flexible and can make faster decisions. Larger businesses, through multi-leveled bureaucracy and committed budgets, have a much more difficult time changing communication initiatives, even if the signs are there for change.

In addition, the cost of technology has plummeted. Apple alumnus and serial entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki recently proved it. In an August 2007 interview for NPR’s TechNation, he described how unbelievable changes in the price and usability of online technology had enabled him to launch a website for less than $13,000. Just a few years before, according to Kawasaki, it would’ve taken $500,000 and months of work, and a big team to get the site up and running.

Small businesses, through a bit of savvy online initiative, can create content that rivals the big boys, all at a cost that any company can afford.

What Should You Do?

To compete with large-scale budgets:

1 - Start a Blog - There is no better way to consistently get valuable content out to customers as easily than through a blog. Look to wordpress or Typepad for starter accounts. Both can be integrated within your current websites.

2 - If you’ve started a blog (or once you do)…get active in the community. Find the top 20 blog sites in your industry or local area and start commenting. Every time you comment, a link is created back to your site. This generates traffic to your site, builds on your Google Page Rank, and increases your reputation in the community.

3 - Create a regular opt-in communication piece. For many, this will be an eNewsletter, where you can highlight content from around the web and your own original content that is relevant to your customers.

4 - Develop your keyword list. I always recommend spending about 5 hours with a search engine optimization (SEO) expert to help you define your keywords.

5 - Utilize NEWS releases - Send them not to get coverage, but to expand your link building and web presence. Make sure the releases focus on the customer, not how great you are. Services like PRWeb are great.

With a focus on the customer, and a belief that creating great valuable and relevant content for customers will ultimately drive revenues for your company, any company, large or small, will succeed.

It’s never been better to be a small business. Perhaps, as Seth Godin positions, small is the new big.

Joe Pulizzi, one of the leading experts in content marketing, is founder and chief content officer for Junta42, a content marketing and custom publishing resource for marketing professionals. Catch more of Joe at his blog.