About Fred
What 29 Years at a Daily Newspaper Taught Me About Small Business Advertising
I've spent more than 39 years working with small businesses, but the foundation of everything I know about marketing was built during the 29 great years I spent in advertising at The Record newspaper in New Jersey. I had the opportunity to work directly with hundreds of business owners, restaurants, retailers and top automotive dealers. My job wasn't simply to sell advertising space. My job was to help businesses figure out what they should say, how they should say it and how to make their ads stand out. That experience stayed with me through every change in marketing. And believe me, marketing has changed dramatically. But some things haven't changed at all.
The Business Owner Was Always the Starting Point
When I sat down with a business owner years ago, I couldn't simply hand them a template and say, "Here is your ad layout. I had to learn about their business. What did they sell? Who were their customers? What did they want to promote? What made them different from the business down the street? What was happening in their marketplace? What could we put in an advertisement that would make somebody stop, look and think:
"That's something I need."
Those questions are just as important today. The difference is that the advertising medium has changed.
Retail Advertising Taught Me the Importance of the Offer & Retailers taught me an important lesson:
People need a reason to act.
Simply telling someone that a business exists isn't necessarily enough. A retailer might have a sale. A furniture
store might promote a weekend event. A local business might introduce a new product or service. The advertising needed to communicate the opportunity quickly.
The headline mattered.
The offer mattered.
The timing mattered.
The presentation mattered.
And the call to action mattered.
Those fundamentals remain relevant whether the message appears in a newspaper, on a website, in a Google search, on Facebook or in a video.
The experience taught me to think about marketing from the customer's perspective. That's something I still do today. Then the Internet Changed Everything.
After 29 years, I watched the business world move increasingly toward the internet. Businesses needed websites. I began building websites and eventually spent 25 years working in website creation and digital marketing. But I didn't approach websites as someone who had only learned web design.
I approached them as someone who had already spent decades thinking about advertising.
That distinction is important. A website isn't simply a collection of pages. It is a marketing message.
The headline matters.
The offer matters.
The photographs matter.
The navigation matters.
The call to action matters.
The way a business differentiates itself matters.
Today There Are More Marketing Tools Than Ever A business today can use:
Google Business Profile. Social media. YouTube. Email marketing. Websites.
Online advertising. Video. Local SEO. Reviews. And now artificial intelligence.
The number of available tools is enormous. But having more tools doesn't automatically make someone a better marketer. In fact, it can create a new problem. Businesses can become so focused on producing marketing that
they forget to think about the marketing. That's an important distinction.
Creating Something Isn't the Same as Marketing
Today, almost anyone can create a graphic. Anyone can write a social media post. Anyone can generate an advertisement. Technology has made production easier. But before creating anything, I still want to ask the same questions I asked decades ago:
Who are we trying to reach?
What do we want them to know?
Why should they care?
Why should they choose this business?
What do we want them to do next?
Those questions haven't become obsolete.
They have become more important.
Why I Don't Automatically Recommend a New WebsiteThis is probably one of the biggest differences between me and a traditional website salesperson.
If a business already has a good website, I'm perfectly comfortable saying:
Keep it.
Let's work on the marketing around it.
Maybe the Google Business Profile needs attention.
Maybe the business isn't getting enough reviews.
Maybe social media has become inconsistent.
Maybe there are no videos.
Maybe the business isn't targeting local searches effectively.
Maybe there is no current promotion.
Maybe the website is good but the message isn't compelling.
A new website isn't always the answer.
Sometimes better marketing is.
What I've Learned After 39+ Years: The technology changes.
The advertising channels change. The way people consume information changes. But the fundamental challenge remains: Get someone's attention. Give them a reason to care. Build trust. Make it easy for them to respond.
That's what advertising taught me. That's what my great years at The Record taught me.
That's what building websites taught me. And that's what I bring to my work today.
From Advertising to Digital Marketing
My career has taken me from newspaper advertising to websites, social media, video, Google and today's digital marketing environment. I didn't abandon advertising when the internet arrived. I added another medium.
That's why I describe myself today as a: Small Business Marketing Consultant: I help business owners look at
the entire marketing picture. Not just their website. Not just their Facebook page. Not just Google. The entire picture. Because after more than 39 years, I know one thing for certain: Good marketing starts with understanding the business before deciding what to create.
Fred Di Tecco
201-741-5654
I've spent more than 39 years working with small businesses, but the foundation of everything I know about marketing was built during the 29 great years I spent in advertising at The Record newspaper in New Jersey. I had the opportunity to work directly with hundreds of business owners, restaurants, retailers and top automotive dealers. My job wasn't simply to sell advertising space. My job was to help businesses figure out what they should say, how they should say it and how to make their ads stand out. That experience stayed with me through every change in marketing. And believe me, marketing has changed dramatically. But some things haven't changed at all.
The Business Owner Was Always the Starting Point
When I sat down with a business owner years ago, I couldn't simply hand them a template and say, "Here is your ad layout. I had to learn about their business. What did they sell? Who were their customers? What did they want to promote? What made them different from the business down the street? What was happening in their marketplace? What could we put in an advertisement that would make somebody stop, look and think:
"That's something I need."
Those questions are just as important today. The difference is that the advertising medium has changed.
Retail Advertising Taught Me the Importance of the Offer & Retailers taught me an important lesson:
People need a reason to act.
Simply telling someone that a business exists isn't necessarily enough. A retailer might have a sale. A furniture
store might promote a weekend event. A local business might introduce a new product or service. The advertising needed to communicate the opportunity quickly.
The headline mattered.
The offer mattered.
The timing mattered.
The presentation mattered.
And the call to action mattered.
Those fundamentals remain relevant whether the message appears in a newspaper, on a website, in a Google search, on Facebook or in a video.
The experience taught me to think about marketing from the customer's perspective. That's something I still do today. Then the Internet Changed Everything.
After 29 years, I watched the business world move increasingly toward the internet. Businesses needed websites. I began building websites and eventually spent 25 years working in website creation and digital marketing. But I didn't approach websites as someone who had only learned web design.
I approached them as someone who had already spent decades thinking about advertising.
That distinction is important. A website isn't simply a collection of pages. It is a marketing message.
The headline matters.
The offer matters.
The photographs matter.
The navigation matters.
The call to action matters.
The way a business differentiates itself matters.
Today There Are More Marketing Tools Than Ever A business today can use:
Google Business Profile. Social media. YouTube. Email marketing. Websites.
Online advertising. Video. Local SEO. Reviews. And now artificial intelligence.
The number of available tools is enormous. But having more tools doesn't automatically make someone a better marketer. In fact, it can create a new problem. Businesses can become so focused on producing marketing that
they forget to think about the marketing. That's an important distinction.
Creating Something Isn't the Same as Marketing
Today, almost anyone can create a graphic. Anyone can write a social media post. Anyone can generate an advertisement. Technology has made production easier. But before creating anything, I still want to ask the same questions I asked decades ago:
Who are we trying to reach?
What do we want them to know?
Why should they care?
Why should they choose this business?
What do we want them to do next?
Those questions haven't become obsolete.
They have become more important.
Why I Don't Automatically Recommend a New WebsiteThis is probably one of the biggest differences between me and a traditional website salesperson.
If a business already has a good website, I'm perfectly comfortable saying:
Keep it.
Let's work on the marketing around it.
Maybe the Google Business Profile needs attention.
Maybe the business isn't getting enough reviews.
Maybe social media has become inconsistent.
Maybe there are no videos.
Maybe the business isn't targeting local searches effectively.
Maybe there is no current promotion.
Maybe the website is good but the message isn't compelling.
A new website isn't always the answer.
Sometimes better marketing is.
What I've Learned After 39+ Years: The technology changes.
The advertising channels change. The way people consume information changes. But the fundamental challenge remains: Get someone's attention. Give them a reason to care. Build trust. Make it easy for them to respond.
That's what advertising taught me. That's what my great years at The Record taught me.
That's what building websites taught me. And that's what I bring to my work today.
From Advertising to Digital Marketing
My career has taken me from newspaper advertising to websites, social media, video, Google and today's digital marketing environment. I didn't abandon advertising when the internet arrived. I added another medium.
That's why I describe myself today as a: Small Business Marketing Consultant: I help business owners look at
the entire marketing picture. Not just their website. Not just their Facebook page. Not just Google. The entire picture. Because after more than 39 years, I know one thing for certain: Good marketing starts with understanding the business before deciding what to create.
Fred Di Tecco
201-741-5654