What’s a Super Bowl ad going for this year?

Try a cool $3 million for 30 seconds.

In this economy, even the biggest of the big traditional advertisers are having a hard time justifying that kind of dough.

GM? No thanks.

FedEx? We’ll get back to you.

So why is this relevant to the average small business? Because this is a great opportunity for all of us to be reevaluating where we’re spending our money and where we can get the most bang for our buck.

It doesn’t take a lot of money to build a significant presence for your brand online. It only takes an investment in your time. It’s your choice: keep paying out the nose for increasingly overpriced ads in traditional media outlets, or commit to finding ways to scale back those expenses and supplement them with communication tools (like LinkedIn, Twitter, Yelp, or a blog) that let you share your expertise and connect with customers for little or no cost.

Which way is it going to be for you?

As for the Big Game, I’m sure we’ll all still be entertained. There’s always Budweiser, and word is that E*Trade will be back with their talking baby. Hopefully it’s a good game.