Having access to capital and funding is paramount to the lifeblood and success of any small business owner’s survival. With it, the sky’s the limit for putting in place all those great growth plans. Without it, your engine chokes from running out of gasoline. Sometimes, it’s that simple.

More importantly, you may need access to capital and funding for some neat marketing plans you have for your small business. You may want to develop a blog, Web site, landing page, or even an email campaign to tie everything together. In any case, although it’s possible to successfully develop and implement a solid and effective marketing plan on a shoestring budget, you still need to have access to some form of funding.

To say we are in a credit crunch would be the understatement of the century. So here’s some good news for you. We are finally seeing some signs that the $700 billion bailout plan is trickling down to banks that are planning on lending to businesses just like you.

As of the beginning of December, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) had received more than 1,200 applications from small regional and community banks wanting a piece of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). What this means is that the Bailout money is going to more than just Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan.

So keep making plans to do all kinds of marketing and PR. And keep trying to get those funds since the big Bailout money is on its way. Have you had a difficult time getting access to capital? Leave us a comment and tell all about it.