Small business marketing has found a marriage with daily deals over the last couple of years, but many cases seem to need to be managed better. Steve Robinson, a marketer based in the Chicagoland area, said on MSNBC that daily deals can offer the promise of new customers, but can also be more costly than profitable in certain instances.

"While the concept of daily deals maximized through social media awareness is brilliant, its execution is flawed," Robinson said. "One of the biggest obstacles daily deals create for small business owners in and around Chicago is an inability to engage new customers and foster longer-term customer relationships. Without access and permission to contact the customer, there’s very little opportunity to follow up and continue the dialog unless you rethink the way the campaigns are run."

Robinson suggests businesses encourage customers to share the coupon on social media websites, customize the offer for different customers, create exclusive deals for getting new customers in the door and be sure to follow up with people after they have used the coupon.

Intuit said small business marketing professionals should think of ways to build a relationship with new customers such as having extra incentives for a return visit. Businesses should also be sure to give good service at all times so as to give a memorable positive impression to new customers.

Many businesses agree that social media can enhance a small business marketing campaign, but some are uncertain as how to calculate the tool's return on investment. Angela Hausman, a professor at Howard University, writers on Business 2 Community that this does not mean that social media doesn't have value.

"Of course, I’ve long argued that directly measuring ROI is nonsense because social media is designed to create brand awareness, positive sentiment, and brand loyalty rather than sales," shes said. "Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t impute ROI from social media metrics by regressing metrics against sales and prove to yourself the value of social media. This makes evaluating the impact of social media on ROI more accurate than traditional advertising where you simply ask customers where they saw your ad."

Hausman was putting together recommendations for businesses after looking at the recently released Social Media Marketing Industry report sponsored by Social Media Examiner. According to the report, 83 percent of marketers said social media is important to their boss.

There are some tools that can be useful for social media in a small business setting, Hausman said, such as adding a blog to a website and posting business-relevant videos to YouTube.

Website and email design is a big key for small business marketing, but entrepreneur Ilya Pozin writes on Forbes that if the web design is off, there is potential to lose customers, money and more. He said businesses should look to avoid mistakes, including rushing to make a decision before understanding the target market.

"Instead of focusing on getting your website done as soon as possible, you must first research your target audience in your specific market. Then, design your website around your research," he said. "For instance, if your target market is older, perhaps the font size should be larger. Or if your product is geared towards a younger demographic, then you need to think about catering your site to be smartphone compatible."

Other mistakes to avoid include making a design that is too flashy or busy, never giving a clear call to action, paying too little or too much for the website – which will either inflate or deflate the return on investment – and not keeping content up to date. All of these can severely harm a business' online presence.

Mashable called out another mistake in a story last year, saying that many small business marketing websites have poor navigation. If customers and potential clients can't get around on the website, they are less likely to make a purchase.

As Google unveiled its social media platform's brand pages, many small business marketing professionals have started to use the website and see what they can do with it. Erica Swallow writes on Mashable that there are positives and negatives to small businesses using Google+.

She said said some of the positives of Google's social media product are that businesses can get a search engine boost from the website, connect with early adopters and see what is trending with them, and segment their audience. As far as negatives go, she said there still are not many people on there, as Facebook and Twitter continue to have a strong foothold in the social media market. Even so, many businesses have liked what they have seen on Google+.

“We currently use Google+ for exploratory purposes," Netronic managing director Martin Karlowitsch said. "It is still a niche platform, but quickly growing and with a platform giant behind it. Knowing the impact that Google has on the way people find relevant information on the web, Google+ soon can become significant by combining social and search"

Using marketing software may still be more effective on Facebook, according to ZDNet, which reported that Facebook is still an advertising and marketing powerhouse, beating Google in display advertising.

E-marketing on social media websites can come in handy for sharing content with and following those who are interested in a business, but Matt Rosoff of Business Insider writes that businesses could find it handy to use Facebook as their customer service line.

One company Rosoff pointed out is Zedesk, which is using Facebook for its help desk product. User comments on Facebook can flow directly into the customers help desk system, which will allow the company to easily and quickly respond to people before anything blows up.

"Communicating with customers via social media has created a fundamental shift in customer service," said Mikkel Svane, Zendesk's CEO. "Studies have shown that even the biggest companies have an ad hoc approach to social media, resulting in unhappy customers. By having Facebook posts flow right into a company's help desk software, support teams can engage immediately, helping to ensure greater customer satisfaction."

Other companies, including Spotify and the Wall Street Journal, are using Facebook as a way to stay in contract with customers. Integrating the popular social media website with other forms of small business marketing could be a great way to attract more subscribers.

Small business marketing professionals need to catch the attention of holiday shoppers as efficiently and effectively as possible if they want to see sales gains during the new few weeks. Scott Steinberg, a small business expert and creator of the Business Expert's Guidebook series writes on Mashable that these sales and marketing professionals should use technology to get ahead.

Steinberg said one of the first places marketers should focus is social media because it's an inexpensive way to reach a large audience. When using a social media program, he said to remember that people need to be drawn in with interesting content or good offers. Steinberg also suggests using mobile and location-based marketing, discounts and deals via email and custom content that will encourage people to shop with a business in the future.

Marketers should also create campaigns around QR codes, which can serve as a quick, easy and tech-friendly way to share information with consumers.

"Add them to signs, print ads, business cards and brochures, and customers can quickly grab coupons, download menus on-demand or even see how your prices compare to rivals'," he said.

CNN said sales and marketing professionals using technology shouldn't be afraid to ask for help when getting started in a new technology or platform. Bob Gaines, a security expert with All Covered, said consultants or providers can help fill in the blanks for what people may not know about technology they are using.

With many shoppers looking to wait in the wings and shop toward the end of the holiday season, small business email marketing executives should make sure they offer deals near the end of the holidays to attract these last-minute shoppers. A survey by PriceGrabber shows that 41 percent of consumers will shop between December 21 and 24 for their holiday gifts.

"After observing the increase in activity and sales of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping season this year, we expect to see a significant percentage of consumers seeking to prompt retailers to offer additional savings throughout December," said Graham Jones, general manager of PriceGrabber. "Savvy shoppers saw retailers rolling out discounts as early as the week before Thanksgiving this year, and they are staying on top of last-minute incentives that are certainly on the horizon in the coming weeks."

Consumers who plan to complete their shopping at the last minute said there were a number of reasons for doing so. Forty-three percent said they can find the best discounts during this time, while another 43 percent said they are too busy to shop earlier. About 26 percent said they have just been procrastinating.

For last-minute sales and marketing techniques, MarketingProfs said small businesses should make gift suggestions, focus on emailing efforts to bring back repeat business, and keep customers informed of deals on a consistent basis.