“Your project will be done ahead of schedule.” “We can put you on the first page on Google.” “We understand your target audience.” Promises are great but when you receive the price Quote,
you don’t want to be surprised and disappointed.
It is not always your marketing agency’s fault. Big Black Pencil is a Chicago [...]

Your customers are your lifeblood. A happy customer is a repeat customer.  Are you taking the time to listen to what they say? Barriers to listening can be a lack of focus or as I like to call multitasking.
I am also sometimes guilty of reading emails while listening to phone messages or worse yet, during [...]

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 [...]

 
You have 30 seconds to grab your customer’s attention online. Your website need to get down to business.
Successful small and medium sized businesses in Chicago know that an outdated website can be worse than no website at all.
Big Black Pencil Marketing can review your website and help you find your unique attribute and help you [...]

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!

Make 2008 a better year for your Chicago business. Get a FREE website review from a small business marketing agency in Chicago. USA Today says, Nearly $670 in online sales were recorded on December 12th, 2007. Follow these 10 resolutions and your business will be on the way to more website traffic and [...]

This year, don’t fall into small business marketing hibernation!
As seasons change, sometimes your business marketing requirements change.
The beauty of being a small business in Chicago is, that customers use seasonal triggers to start new purchase decisions.
Russo’s Pools and Spas does great business in the early spring thru late summer with their swimming pool and spa [...]

I used to work in a big Promotion agency in Chicago. The VP of marketing had a drawer filled with every greeting card imaginable. He probably went to Hallmark and picked a few cards from any scenario you could think of.
If it was somebody’s birthday or somebody got sick or promoted, he was ready [...]