Marketing and advertising has never been easier for small businesses in Chicago, or in other parts of the world for that matter.
When the economy is tough, you can lean on your marketing agency to help your small business, or you can try to make some marketing decisions on your own and become your own marketing […]

Talk to your marketing agency about how you can make your Chicago business website become more visible. There are two ways that you can improve your website visibility.
1. Have your marketing agency create a blog (web log) for your company to let people know about your products or services. Once your blog is online, you […]

Ask your marketing agency these 5 questions before you give them your small business marketing business.

If we come on board, where do we fit in your client roster in order of billing?
How do you measure your clients success?
Do you have integrated marketing experience? for whom? and what were the results?
Can I speak get a referral […]

Chicago is a competitive market for small and medium size businesses. Selecting the right sized marketing agency that understands your business can give you an advantage over your competitors. Here are 10 marketing tips guaranteed to make this year’s marketing plan a success.

Create a marketing budget that you can afford. If you’re only allowing a […]

Many small businesses in Chicago are blogging to get business. Chicago-based marketing agencies like Big Black Pencil are helping their clients grow with user-generated content.
It supercharges your website with viral marketing shared through the use of networking through
a variety of blended medias.
Your Chicago small business blog can contribute by sharing content through […]

Speed up sales when your small business sales are slow. Make your Chicago-based small business more profitable by communicating with your past customers. Turn to the customers that trust you most. Here are 3 easy ways.

Create special offers or incentives for bulk or repeat purchases for past customers only in a letter or post card.
Pick […]

Start your new year off right with a FREE web site analysis. Big Black Pencil will analyze your small business website for FREE. Don’t have a website yet? Contact us to discuss your new website. To review some of our work, check out suzyshacklechick.com, rcleadears.com or modernkidstuff.com. Start your New Year’s marketing plan today!

Some small businesses have a slow period during the holidays and I don’t understand why.
Spending online from November 1 through December 12, 2006 reached $17.56 billion, up from $14.13 billion 2005.
That means that online traffic is high and customers are in a buying position. It’s a perfect time to invest in an online strategic marketing […]

If someone handed you one of these a dark room, you would know exactly what it is. No it’s not the beginning of a dirty joke. I is the story on one of the strongest brands in the world.
Introduced in 1886, Coca-Cola has been marketing their product right for over 100 years.
From the signature shape […]