Chambers workshop focuses on marketing

About 50 small businesses owners gathered at Roslyn’s Hilton Garden Inn on Jan. 21 to learn about digital marketing with Lori Berger, of Richner Communications. Joseph D’Alessandro/Herald

Nassau County small businesses gathered to learn about cutting-edge digital marketing strategies from Richner Communications’ Lori Berger at the Hilton Garden Inn, in Roslyn, on Jan. 21.

The Nassau Council of Chambers of Commerce organized a series of workshops to help local businesses thrive in 2025, sharing information about computer systems, financial planning and communications and marketing. Berger was a presenter for two marketing classes: one in Malverne, on Jan. 14, and the class a week later in Roslyn.

“I’m so passionate about helping people and small businesses with marketing,” Berger said. “We’re a community newspaper company. That’s what we do.”

Her presentation walked attendees through four core aspects of marketing: offline, social media, E-commerce and websites.

The marketing presentation was for businesses in Zone 1, north of Route 25, and it was attended by about 50 small business leaders from throughout the zone. The workshop was made possible by a Nassau County Technical Services grant, which is designed to help the local economy by offering guidance to small businesses free of charge.

Ira Reiter is a co-owner of the Barking Biscuit with his wife, Hillary, and president of the Merrick Chamber of Commerce. Their business took off five years ago, around the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Social media proved to be a vital tool that helped their to succeed.

Richner Communications offered complimentary one-on-one meetings for all attending businesses to review their search engine optimization and social media presence — a service Reiter intends to follow up on.

“We are looking forward to it — were just hoping that we can absorb everything,” Reiter said. “So much, and so much fantastic information that came out of last night, and it will help us with our online presence.”

The workshop encouraged Reiter to use Geo-Fencing, a technique to target advertisements to potential customers in a specific area.

Janna Rodriguez, founder of the Innovative Daycare Corp., in Freeport, has been helping children learn and grow for 12 years. “We’ve created a strong support system between the families, the community, the educators and the other organizations that we partner with,” she said.

The NCCC provides a service that makes entrepreneurship much more accessible in Nassau County, Rodriguez said. “The reason that I was interested in marketing is because small businesses, such as myself, find it very difficult to be able to hire a marketing consultant, especially when you’re first starting up,” she said.

In the workshop she discovered that her business comes up on the front page of search engines, and she was advised her to plan more content for Facebook and Instagram.

This was the first time the NCCC has offered classes at no cost, according to Russel Green, a board member of the council and president of the Syosset and Woodbury Chambers of Commerce.

A Chamber “allows other businesses and individuals in the community to know who you are and when you’re starting,” Green said. “We’ll support you, hopefully, for many, many years.”

To learn more about the NCCC and future events, visit ncchambers.org.