New Website Portfolio Showcases Clients in Nashville and Beyond

The last couple of years have been a great opportunity for the Brady Mills Graphics team to work with all types of clients. In order to better showcase our work with these great businesses, we’ve redesigned our portfolio. With the newly formatted portfolio, users can search by client as well as by industry or services provided by BMG.  Check out our clients – corporate and not-so-corporate – from Nashville as well as across the country.

The newly designed portfolio can be found at: http://www.bradymills.com/portfolio.php or you can sneak a  little peek below!

Brady Mills Graphics Portfolio

If You’re Not Online, Small Businesses Are Missing Out on Local Customers

MarketingCharts.com posted a great article about a survey done by Webvisible and Nielsen regarding how consumers look for local businesses online.  The survey uncovered some insightful information about how small business owners are missing out on customers who may be just around the corner – but can’t find the business because they’re not online.

With 82% of respondents citing search engines as one of their main resources of information, the unfortunate news is that  “39% report frequently not being able to locate a particular known business.”  That means these people who may be searching for your business are stumbling on information about other businesses – likely your competitors.

There are simple ways to make a business more prominent online.  Take advantage of the free search services like Yahoo! Local or Google Local Business Center to post free local business listings.  Also check out how your business is listed with YellowPages.com or SuperPages.com.  Yelp.com has some great resources for business owners to manage their reputations on Yelp and with CitySearch.com, business owners can create profiles that help bolster their presence on the site.

These are just a few free resources that every business owner should take note of.  If you’ve got questions about other ways to bolster your online presence, check out our online marketing services at Brady Mills Graphics and give us a call or drop us a line!

battling bunker mentality in a rocky economy

The economy’s trajectory has been far from smooth over these last few months. Shaky confidence in the future is causing many businesses to scale back on marketing budgets, which while it may ease the immediate cash flow concerns of some in management, developing too much of a bunker mentality will make it difficult to bounce back once things get rolling again. Take a minute to review Scott Shane’s post about Four Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make in a Recession. It’s good food for economically-weary thought.

do small businesses really need websites?

Sometimes we’re asked about the need of a site for some of our smallest clients, especially ones who don’t see e-commerce in their future.  Many of our clients are small businesses owners.  These are some of our favorite web design projects because creating a site for a small business can make a tremendous impact on the dynamics of their business.

Perhaps even more than established corporations, small businesses need a quality website.  Corporations have a distinct advantage over their smaller competitors – chiefly established reputations.  The Internet acts as a balancing force, though.  A well-designed site that is both visually appealing and packed with useful content can level a the playing field between small businesses and their corporate competitors.

Even if your small business doesn’t sell Internet-ready products or services, a site is critical.  With so many people heading online to comparison shop before heading out to the store, a good website can “prove” the validity of your small business.  The public needs to see that while your business may be rooted in bricks and mortar, your business is geared to even meet the cyber needs of its customers.  Even if your offices hours are from 10 – 2, a website gives your customers 24/7 access to your business.  Google has a number of Local Search features that feed users information about your business.  If you don’t have a site presence or haven’t registered your business with Google, you’re missing out on customers who are searching for your services.