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Category: local businesses

February 2, 2008

Marketing and PR Tips for Small and Medium Businesses

Filed under: local businesses — admin @ 3:47 pm

Janaury is starting out with a bang for us at CitiDexLI, Inc.  Interest in online advertising by Long Island businesses is certainly picking up.  Most of our customers are small businesses that serve customers in a sepcific set of neighboring towns or  across all of Long Island.  These types of businesses realize that advertising in a local online directory are cost effective way to reach customers when they search for local businesses. In this Long Island blog we will be shifting our focus a bit.  We have several bloggers now covering life on Long Island in ways that fit their particular blog.  We hope to add more Long Island bloggers each month.  So please contact us soon. 

Many small businesses would benefit from blogging.  Its a great way to actively engage potential customers and maintain a relationship with your current customers.   In this Long Island Blog, we’ll be shifting our focus to writing about practical online marketing tips and tools for small and meddium businesses (SMBs).

This month’s New York Enterprise Report has a great article by Mithcell E. Tobol, “How do I determine which marketing tols are right for my business?” , that helps you put the options for online advertising in the right context.

Mr. Tobol is president of Tobol Group, Inc., a marketing, advertising and public relations firm in Port Washington, NY.  He offers some great marketing principles and strategies that apply to any sized business. Tobol focuses his advice on practical tactical suggestions that are especially useful for medimum size firms and small businesses (SMBs). 
 
The first prinicple is: get to know your customers.  And just about any business talks that talk today.  The key to success is walking the walk along the path that Mr.Tobol suggests.

The second principle is: develop specific measurable goals for your business.  This second step is more difficult but it is actually the first step in walking the walk.

The next step is make a media list.  Focus on the specific media and marketing tools that best fit your target customers.  And then the hard part - set a reasonable budget that you can afford and a budget that is realistic for your specific business goals.  In future posts we will focus on how business blogs can be used as force multipliers.  They can magnify the effect of your advertising placed in print, radio, TV and other media.

Mr. Tobol suggests using multiple media for both major types of small business marketing goals: lead generation and brand awareness.  And he ends with a focus on timing.  Timing really is the key to any marketing campaign. 

When a small business takes control of its own online content development, either through website copywriting, search engine optimization techniques or blogging, it can maximize the effects of timing in any marketing campaign.  We will be exploring these issues in details in future posts.

If you want to get direct assistance from us please review our Long Island advertising soultions.  We know our limits and our target market - we focus on Long Island’s small businesses.  If you are a large company or medium enterprise we suggest you review our full page for one of the leading advertising and public relation firms on Long Island.

January 31, 2008

Award Winning Long Island Public Relations Leadership in Huntington

Filed under: local businesses, Long Island Issues — admin @ 4:14 pm

Back at the end of 2007 the Long Island Business News announced their list of Long Island influentials. The LIBN staff issued their annual presentation of Long Island’s most influential people in business, government, education, philanthropy and civic life. The people on the list may not have a formal role or position in a business organization or public institution but they are seen as the local movers and shakers.

Katherine Heaviside, President of Epoch 5 Public Relation, was recognized among the leading figures in media and public relations firms on Long Island.  The LIBN staff described her accomplishments through the company she keeps:

“Look at the client list of Huntington’s Epoch 5 Public Relations and it seems every single organization, either for-profit or not, is represented by the firm Katherine Heavisde founded. In 25 years, Heaviside has been in the hunt, bagging big game such as Brookhaven National Laboratory, Bethpage Federal Credit Union, King Kullen, Cablevision, HIP Health Plan of New York and too-many-to-list power packed law and accounting firms. “

Anyone who knows business here knows that Heaviside has guided and influenced the most prominent corporations and institutions on Long island.  LIBN  also praise her service to local nonprofits and community organizations.

Epoch 5 Public Relations, located in Huntington NY, is Long Island’s largest public relations firm.  They provide a full range of media relations and PR services.  Epoch 5 represents leading firms in health care, real estate, energy, media, education, nonprofits, and professional services.

December 7, 2007

Winter Wonderland starts tonight on Long Island

Filed under: local businesses, Community Events Long Island — admin @ 4:20 pm

Well its snowing lightly this afternoon and we  have had a bit of snow this past week.  Winter has come early to Long Island.  But tonight the winter wonderland comes to Long Island - the offical Winter Wonderland Holiday Light Show in Bayport NY.  It is at Camp Edy in Bayport NY.

The event features a 3-D light show with a mile long trail in the woods.  There are themed attractions, holiday lighting, and a gift shop.  There is a $12 fee per car to enter.  The event runs daily from 5 PM to 9 PM.  The event starts tonight and ends on December 23rd.

August 10, 2007

NYC & counties coordinating contractor enforcement

Filed under: local businesses, Long Island Homes — admin @ 9:45 am

There will be a new effort by New York City and neighboring county governments to crackdown on illegal home improvement contracting.  A joint press release was issued yesterday: NY OFFICIALS ANNOUNCE RESULTS OF COORDINATED ENFORCEMENT TARGETING UNLICENSED HOME IMPROVEMENT CONTRACTORS.

Unlicensed home improvement contractors often do not perform quality work or follow required standards.  In the end this may cause consumers grief and result in higher costs and even put some homeowners at risk.  Home improvement contractors that do not comply with the law will face larger fines, vehicle seizures and other penalties. 
In addition the NYC DCA has been combatting deceptive advertising in the home improvement industry and related illegal loan offers in the advrtisements.

New York City DCA Commissioner Jonathan Mintz, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, Nassau County Office of Consumer Affairs Commissioner Roger Bogsted, and Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas J. Spota made the announcement together.  Representatives from the Westchester County Department of Consumer Protection were also present at the press conference.

We have a number of categories related to Long Island home improvement services in our online bsuiness listings.  The listings include Nassau County and Suffolk County.  The categories include:

If you have any concerns about these contractors please let us know immeiately.  We will be including  a new service where our website directory visitors can review individual business.  Look for this new feature in the coming months.

The press release described above also provided information on points of contact to check on whether a home improvement contractor is licensed.  You can also file a complaint on these government agency websites:

July 6, 2007

Thinking outside the box, Long Island 3.0 problem solving

Filed under: local businesses, Long Island Issues — admin @ 1:31 pm

It is inspiring to discover the Long Island Idea Factory a local Long Island blog that asks the big questions and offers a unique blend of critical analysis and commentary.  The common theme that unites many of the individual posts is simple enough: adapt the latest web information technology and social media to help solve Long Island’s regional problems.  Of course, the devil is in the details and as people in technology would say - in the implementation.  The first step though is bringing some of these Internet technolgy tools to the attention of Long Island’s business leaders, nonprofit leaders, community organizers, and cconcerned citizens.  There is increasing recognition that persistent problems like affordable housing and the so-called “brain drain” (the migration of young adults from Long Island to other states) must be solved on a regional basis. It will be interesting to see how the Long Island Idea Factory can help organizations and communties move forward toward common solutions.

March 26, 2007

Sales of new homes still slow

Filed under: local businesses, Long Island Homes — admin @ 5:10 pm

Last month’s sales data for new homes in th US provide continued cause for concern.  All four regions of the country report sharply slower sales of new homes compared to February of last year according to the Federal Census Bureau report.

There are additional concerns about the drag of the housing market on the overall economy this year.  CNNMoney.com coverage on this story today highlighted the role of problems in the subprime mortgage sector.  There appears to be concern among members of the home builders national trade association about the changes in the mortgage market cutting into sales.  For more details read the full story: “New home sales: Slowest in 6 years

Recent Associated Press stories on the Long Island Business News (today and last Friday) present a mixed picture for the northeast. 

More sales in February A quote from the AP story:
“The National Association of Realtors reported Friday that sales of existing homes rose by 3.9 percent last month, pushed higher by a sharp increase in sales activity in the Northeast. “  This sounds encouraging but in light of the story today about slowing sales of new homes “New home sales slump” paints a different picture.

Taken together people looking to buy a home on Long Island or sell their current home would be wise to check various news sources frequently over the coming months.  The effect of trouble in the mortgage market will likely affect different types of homes in very different ways.  We will continue to point you to stories that provide better local coverage of the housing market on Long Island in this blog.

You can find listings for Long Island realtors and real esate agencies in an easy to look up “yellow-ages style” format by tonwhsips:

Our page on Long Island mortgage brokers covers a good deal of useful background information on obtaining a mortage.

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