The news is unavoidable – tens of thousands of folks are being laid off, the economy is in deep recession, and there is no hope of anything changing soon.

If you run a small business (I’ll define that as less than 250 or so employees, though a classic “small business” averages more like 1-25 employees), what is to be done?

Start with getting smart. There’s a lot of great advice over on the Amex Open Forum blog http://www.openforum.com (a FM project), and more is added each week. But this site is about marketing, and it’s marketing I want to talk about.

The first rule of marketing in a conversational environment is having something to say. If you’re going to place banners or text ads on blogs and social media sites (like those FM represents), you have to first get to know them. Read them a bit, pick up their vibe. Boing Boing’s voice is quite distinct from that of Mashable, even if they have a similar audience. Same is true for Ree of Confessions of a Pioneer Woman and Heather of Dooce.

Once you’ve grokked the sites you might want to try out, it’s time to try out your own voice. Most folks try to sound “official” or “like a big brand” in their advertising. My advice: Run away from that approach. You run a small business! It’s YOURS. You should be true to your own voice, your own business, your own special value. Have you ever found yourself talking excitedly about your business to a group of friends at a BBQ or cocktail party? Whatever you said then, capture it….and then say it in your ad – in a way that connects your passion to the passion shared by the site’s community.

Ads from unique small businesses make a conversational site feel more like a true community. When you advertise on an FM site, you’re supporting that community. Acknowledge the community in your ads, and the community will acknowledge you right back – with sales.