We've all been hit hard by the economy lately, but one organization that always tears at my heartstrings is that of the nonprofit organizations. During economic downturns they always seem to be the first to be hit; it's no different this time.

As with any organization it's important that nonprofit organization continue to market to draw in the donations and contributions that they need to sustain their foundations. It's important to use marketing methods that will be both efficient as well as low cost to meet the objectives that your organization has. If you pull your market efforts at this time, how will you make those who support your cause aware of the needs that you have? Marketing is essential in getting the word out.

Take this economic downturn as a time to get smart about your marketing, but don't give up on it. There are low-cost and no-cost ways that you can market that will help you get the word out there regarding your organization's need for donations and contributions. Take a few moments to review the eight ways that you as a nonprofit can market and then get creative on how you can use those ways in your organization; others can't contribute if they don't know.

Am I the only one who has noticed all the social media marketing experts that are appearing on a daily basis? It's almost as if that's become the job for those who have become unemployed, suddenly create a Twitter account and a Facebook account and you are now a social media marketing expert. It is very similar to when Frontpage came out and everyone became web designers.

Look, I'm all for free enterprise and entrepreneurship and creating your own empires. What I'm not for is small businesses being taken advantage of by those who claim to be experts, but have no clue of how to market a business using social media marketing methods. This is the reason I write articles that give businesses guidelines that they can go by when selecting marketing firms to outsource to. This week I focus on guidelines you can use when selecting a social media marketing expert or firm.

This all started at a business lunch last week. I was speaking with a business owner and he asked me "Laura, what if I want to outsource my social media marketing, I see the benefits, but I simply don't have the time. What should I look for?"

Great question, as I mentioned earlier in this post truth is in today's economy when people become unemployed they immediately entitle themselves as "social media experts." A social media expert is a person who does more than sit and eat Cheetos, while watching Jerry Springer and tweet all day.

There are many out there that claim to be social media experts, there are few out there that can prove they are worthy of this title, so let me see if I can help. Take a few moments and review the five guidelines that I provided to you regarding outsourcing your social media marketing. I think this will help you when it comes to outsourcing a social media marketing expert or firm and ensure that you are selecting someone who has the skills and experience to get you the results you desire.

If we've heard it once, we've heard it twice - due to the economy and loss of jobs more individuals are exploring the entreprenuer route and starting their own businesses; I for one think this is exciting. I do however see so many skilled and talented people start companies and start them off with the wrong company name.

How do you know if you have chosen the right company name? I've put together some guidelines on how to not only create a great business name, but how to also put the company name you've chosen to the test.

A company name is one of the core pieces of branding your company, so make sure you are getting off to a great start by take a few minutes to put your company name to the test.

How did you do? Need some help? If so, post your questions in the comments section and my readers and I will try to jump in and offer some guidance.

Stop making excuses on why you don't use Twitter. The most common mistake that I hear is that there just isn't enough time in the day to be on Twitter. I understand, but running two businesses not to mention the time I spend writing, I've found tools that help me use Twitter without taking up my entire day.

I'm going to share with you my selection of five time-saving tools that not only do I recommend but I use myself. I will show you how you can in fact use Twitter as one of your social media marketing tools without taking a large amount of time out of your days to be successful.

I will tell you there are hundreds of tools out there that you can use with Twitter, but these are the five tools that I personally use and feel help in my productivity with Twitter, with that being said feel free to share your favorite tools in the comment section. All you have to do to participate is just list the tool, what it does, why you love it and where we can find it.

Let's tweet, shall we. Come follow me by visiting my Twitter profile.