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Successful small and medium sized businesses in Chicago know that an outdated website can be worse than no website at all.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 […]

You are in good company … Ford Motor Company, Dell Computers and Bank of America are all losing market share to competitors. Yahoo is losing market share to Google in search advertising.
There are as many reasons that small businesses lose market share.

Did a new business just like yours move into the neighborhood?
Are you priced competitively […]

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 […]