Social media updates Park Ridge marketing exec’s status to ‘Big Shot’

Kymberlee Kaye Raya is the "chief imagination officer" for Big Shot Marketing in Park Ridge, a company she launched 15 years ago. | Jennifer Johnson~Sun-Times Media grid: business tease photo

Updated: December 30, 2012 6:06AM

PARK RIDGE — Kymberlee Kaye Raya is stunned by just how much business is booming at her Park Ridge company, Big Shot Marketing.

“I moved in here two, three months ago and now we have to go. We need more space,” Raya said, indicating her tiny office at 1480 Renaissance Drive. “It’s freaking me out.”

Big Shot Marketing, which operated out of Raya’s Park Ridge basement for 15 years, has grown from 15 clients to about 45 within a relatively short period. The growth has been so significant that Raya will be relocating her headquarters to a larger space in the office building she now occupies and giving much of the work she once performed herself to members of her small staff.

But Raya’s goal is for her clients to never notice the difference.

“Now it’s just making sure that whatever anyone does in our tiny company, it still has that Kym brand and flavor,” she explained. “That’s why people hire me and keep me. I go out of my way for them.”

Raya attributes her blossoming success in large part to using social media to help her clients boost their business and the public’s interest in them. Big Shot Marketing can set up social media pages and accounts “branded” to the company; manage the accounts, analyze viewer data and think up ways to draw more viewers; or simply train a company in how to use social networks. The top social media sites on which Raya believes her clients should have exposure are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest.

Having a Facebook page for one’s business, for example, puts that business in front of people everyday as status updates, photos and other postings appear on users’ walls, Raya explained. This is much different than a postcard or an advertisement which might get get a glance and then discarded, Raya pointed out.

“We stay in front of them everyday. We’re posting or we’re Tweeting,” she said. “We’re staying top-of-mind for our clients.”

Exposure on social media sites also leads to sharing and spreading information about a business by word-of-mouth, Raya believes.

Big Shot Marketing also provides website development, creating sites that have the right content to draw in audiences via search engines like Google. Other services offered include public relations, helping a company create a brand for itself, e-mail marketing, graphic design and, as the company calls it, “in-your-face guerrilla word of mouth.”

Raya also speaks to companies and organizations about marketing and social media promotion.

Big Shot Marketing is different than other marketing firms, Raya believes, because she tries to think about the next step for her clients.

“We’re always thinking ahead,” Raya said. “I’m going to continually think forward for my clients to bring them the next thing or the next creative idea.”

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