Our Company
Evanston Bike Race Speeds into Town July 19th
Thursday, June 25th, 2009Pro cycling with a full-on family festival fills Downtown Evanston, Illinois, as it hosts the NorthShore University HealthSystem Grand Prix (the bike race formerly known as the “ENH Grand Prix of Cycling”). Mark your calendars for Sunday, July 19, 2009. A circuit through the main streets of town will be closed to cars as elite [...]
BirthLink.com Welcomes New Arrival
Saturday, April 18th, 2009Redesigning the web site for Chicago’s premier birth and wellness resource provider, BirthLink.com, actually took…wait for it… nine months. Grotto partnered with founder Jo Anne Lindberg to rethink how the site was structured and design a robust new portal with easy access to the provider directory and birthing and health info, as well as Jo [...]
Sometimes You Just Need to Ask for Help
Monday, April 13th, 2009By nature, small business owners have a real DIY attitude. You have to when you wear that many hats: ceo, marketing director, receptionist, coffee maker/fetcher/cleaner-upper. It’s a great, and probably necessary trait. But successful entrepreneurs also need to know when they need help.
Maybe it is high time you hired an intern for some marketing assistance [...]
For Small Biz: Marketing Seminar is Exactly Your Size
Thursday, March 5th, 2009Have you ever hesitated before trashing yet another unsolicited email about improving your marketing efforts? Wondering if this one is the one that might really work? Honestly, most of those direct mail tactics are aimed at getting cash away from the desperate. And while many more business owners may be edging toward that scary edge [...]
Grotto Communications Celebrates 10 Years!
Thursday, February 12th, 2009Jim and I are delighted to commemorate 10 years of providing our brand of marketing communications services to SMBs (small- to medium-sized businesses). The path has been sometimes up and sometimes down (and sometimes it was hard to tell which was which!). But reaching this milestone is a testament to the success of our methods [...]
Gearing Up for the Evanston Bike Race
Thursday, June 26th, 2008Downtown Evanston, Illinois, will once again host the Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Grand Prix of Cycling. Yea! Mark your calendars for Sunday, July 20, 2008: The main streets of our town will be closed to car traffic as elite amateur and super pro cyclists zip around the course at 30+ mph.
Last week, the Grotto team worked [...]
Farewell to the Best Dog
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008Jim and I admit that the furry creatures who live with us have important positions here at Grotto with benefits paid out in premium chow, ample playtime and generous petting sessions. Our lovely dog Dennis went above and beyond the call of duty, often meeting with clients for business or socializing. He was that rare combination of sweetness [...]
Jim Marsh Appointed as Evanston Chamber President
Thursday, April 17th, 2008Jim will begin his year as President of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors at tonight’s 88th Annual Meeting and Gala. See his opening remarks at his new blog about the experience, Now Boarding.
Grotto Communications Web Site Gets Some Polish
Thursday, April 17th, 2008At last. Been working on a pretty makeover over at the Grotto web site for some time now. Despite just being primarily a color and style (as in spiffy CSS style for nifty web presentation) updates, I’m always surprised at how tricky it is to find time to implement marketing tasks for one’s one business. Worth sticking it out and pushing [...]
We’re Back
Monday, April 7th, 2008After a hiatus for techno adjustments, the Grotto Blog returns with a new look and all those nifty log-like features to track it good and proper.