According to Twitter, there are 400 million Tweets a day and 200 million active users. But to those not utilizing it, the question is often how or why would it help a business. As Twitter continues to be a main platform for social media, the objective of today’s blog is to educate you about some of the compelling small business uses of Twitter. To get started with an account, I would recommend spending some time on Twitter’s support page to learn how to use it and the important terms and policies...

As I think any small business owner will agree with – the customer is the most important component of any small business. Without loyal customers or clients or patients, no company can maintain a long-term successful business. But what makes successful businesses stand apart from the rest? How can you make sure your business is set up to win customers and keep them?

1. Evaluate Your Business

The first thing any business should do is evaluate what it is like to be a customer of your business. Do...

We’re very excited to have officially hit the one year mark with the Berry Blog. The blog was launched in April 2012 as a resource for small businesses to learn more about advertising. We know that the number of marketing options, ranging from print solutions such as Yellow Pages advertising to digital solutions including SEM and SEO, can be overwhelming. We hope that the Berry Blog has become a trusted resource to help you stay up-to-date on how to most effectively promote your business. In...

We’ve come to expect that just as soon as we get used to Facebook’s newest features and layout that there will be changes coming. This has been a busy year so far for Facebook as they’ve announced several changes that are in the works. We want to make sure you stay in the loop, so here’s a summary of the changes and what they mean for your small business marketing plans.

News Feed Gets a Makeover

Facebook’s biggest announcement this month was the new look for its news feed that it plans to begin...

There is no more enduring or powerful source of new business than referral. Let me say it again. As a business you simply cannot have a more motivated prospect arrive at your doorstep than someone sent there by a raving fan. Business people know this, but it’s surprising how inconsistently they act in deliberate ways to nurture and develop referrals. I’ll get to the basic things all businesses should do to promote referrals in a bit. With all this talk about reviews though, it probably makes...

Bee, bee bumble bee, I see something you don’t see and the image is ... all about your business. 

In today’s culture consumers expect visual communication and therefore small- and medium-sized businesses must follow suit. With the announcement last week of the release of the new look for Facebook Timeline, users will have the option to filter and see only photos from friends and pages they like. Visual marketing is more important now than ever before.

Wikipedia refers to the concept of “visual...

As social beings, we like to talk. As a small business owner, you would like to stay in business, and to do so, you'll need to make our chatty nature work to your advantage. You want your customers talking for you, and one of the best places to do that is on the internet. Below are some ways you can get people talking.

What's Your Story? - People love a good story, and you should be telling yours. You probably won't get much traction from telling people how you started your business, as...

It has become popular to refer to the Yellow Pages as a relic of the past, but do you know the facts? In this three part series we’ll de-bunk three commons myths about the Yellow Pages.

Myth #1 – Consumers Only Use the Internet to Find Local Businesses

Myth #2  – Only “Older People” use the Yellow Pages

Myth #3 – Yellow Pages Advertising Won’t Make Your Phone Ring

Given the common misconception that very few people use the Yellow Pages, it’s easy to understand why a small business owner might...

It has become popular to refer to the Yellow Pages as a relic of the past, but do you know the facts? In this three part series we’ll de-bunk three commons myths about the Yellow Pages.

Myth #1 – Consumers Only Use the Internet to Find Local Businesses

Times have certainly changed since the first Yellow Pages directory was printed in the late 1800s. For many years phone books were the only available source for finding local business information. In the last decade the search engines, social...

While many SMB owners watched the Super Bowl and ate their share of the billion plus wings consumed annually, they probably did not spend millions trying to wow people with advertising. However, beyond the talking babies, car and beer commercials, are concepts from Super Bowl ads that a business could use year-round without paying $3.8M for 30 seconds. There are three that stuck out to me this year.

1. Resonate with Audience

​For Super Bowl viewers more interested in the ads than the game, no one...

As you entered the new year you probably put together a marketing and advertising plan for your business based on what you've had success with in the past. You may have even decided that this was the year to mix things up a little bit and test out some new ways to promote your products and services. As you thought about your advertising plans did you ever wonder what other small businesses were planning to do with their advertising budgets this year? 

While every business is unique it can be...

By now you’ve probably heard of the hottest new social media network – Pinterest. Pinterest showed up in a big way in 2012 when it made the comScore list of the top 50 websites with 25.3 million unique visitors.

In case you aren’t familiar with Pinterest, the site is essentially one big online cork board. It allows users to “pin” images that they find online, which then link back to the original website. Pins are really just visual bookmarks, which are organized by “pinboards” that typically have...

By Shayla Rammel

Do you want 2013 to be a breakout year for your business? If so, you need to get a jump start on the New Year, so our holiday gift to you is some hot Internet Marketing tips to get your new year started with a bang.  

Growing a small business takes time. It’s not an overnight success. It takes a long-term, comprehensive marketing approach to build your leads, your sales, and ultimately, your bottom line.

Most small business can’t afford a highly specialized marketing staff to run...

It has been a busy year at Berry as we focused on becoming a one-stop provider of digital advertising solutions. Our Berry Blog launched this year as a means to share our knowledge on small business marketing. In case you missed them, here are our top posts of 2012.

1. The Power of Pinterest Part I: Have You Gotten Hooked Yet? and The Power of Pinterest Part II: Drive Leads to Your Business

Pinterest has exploded this year and the interest in it is evident by the views of our blog posts. Did you...

Besides money, time is the resource that we never seem to have enough of. Just like the saying, "time is money." As a small business owner, you understand this better than anyone! You are working 24/7 to build a business to support you and your family - you buy the toilet paper for the restrooms, you hire the receptionist, you pay the bills, you meet with customers and in your free time you eat. You need to figure out how to get more done in less time (and preferably for less money). 

And I...

What’s your company’s brand? Have you ever really thought about that?

Branding is an essential element of your business

Did you know that everything you do as a business represents your brand?

At all times you are either building or deteriorating your brand in the marketplace.

A little over a week ago I had an opportunity to attend a business owner’s conference that had a couple of incredible business and entrepreneurship speakers. One of them in particular resonated with me because she delivered a...

As a new parent, I remember going around my house putting covers on outlets and nifty fasteners on cabinet doors. Some even suggest kneeling down to get the perspective little ones exploring the house to see what dangers are only seen from the view of a baby. When you think about it, putting yourself on a different eye level can reveal a host of surprises beyond exposed electrical outlets, sharp objects, and loose change in the couch. 

Business owners and managers are pulled in several...

In my 11 years in advertising I have never met a small business owner that has had enough time or resources to dedicate to online marketing. Most agree that marketing in this day and age can be complex and time consuming for small businesses so anything that simplifies the approach is embraced with open arms (and sometimes a hug).   

In 2012 you have to choose from an overwhelming number of options from traditional media like television, radio and yellow pages to online media like SEM, online...

I know when I am on the fence about a product and doing research on it, one of the first things I do is look for customer reviews to see what experiences actual users have had with the product. I am less concerned with "bells and whistles" than the answer to my critical question - "Would you buy it again?" Someone might like that something is the perfect color, or has variable adjustments, or fits a need at that moment, but the real bottom line for me is whether or not they would make the...