Jim Blasingame is the founder of Small Business Advocate whose mission is helping your small business. I’ve been a member of his Brain Trust for several years now on the generous referral of Barbara Weltman. This morning Jim and I talked on his blog radio program about self-promotion, especially these days. You can listen to that interview by clicking Interview with Jim Blasingame.

I love the saying “If you don’t toot your own horn, there’s no music” which underscores the necessity of all entrepreneurs to be sure your audience keeps you top-of-mind. Whether you create your own marketing program that mixes networking, news releases, social media, newsletters and direct mail or rely on a service to help you with this important business strategy, this vital communications effort cannot be overlooked.

This season my focus in my business is promoting the new edition of my book Soul Proprietor. Here’s a bullet-pointed list of the actions that I’m taking in order to get the word out and stay top-of-mind:

• Newly re-published edition offered in May 2010
• Recorded and edited audio version of Soul Proprietor – available soon on iTunes
• Created a community of reader – Soul Proprietor Book Club (Please join; it’s free!)
• Offering a free tele-seminar (10/5) to Soul Proprietor community
• Offering a special event discussion-over-dinner for members only (11/30 in Norwalk)
• Offering a members only Mastermind Group (via phone starting in January 2011)

As I wrote in my blog last week and mentioned to Jim on the interview this morning, Jacqueline Susann drove all over the country visiting bookstores and radio stations on behalf of her book Valley of the Dolls. My effort gives you a 2010 strategy by an author who prefers to use technology to drive sales.

I’d also like to hear what you’re doing on a daily, weekly and monthly basis to entice customers to your business. It’s always about taking action and seeing what the response is.