Master of trends

Businesses struggling with the downturn in the economy often need new ways to market their products and services. And a Naperville resident and business owner stands ready to help. Meet Pat Price.

Price, 54, is the owner and CEO of The Price Group and knows that small businesses need fast results.

"One of the advantages of working with smaller companies is that it doesn't take long to find out if your marketing strategies or ideas are effective," she said. "Either the phone starts ringing or you're hearing from clients through the Internet clicks or you're not."

Born and raised in upstate New York, Price earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California, followed by an MBA from Northwestern University. She went on to join AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1978, and stayed with the company and its various monikers until early retirement from Lucent in 2001. She launched the Price Group in 2002, and it has become her "retirement" job.

"Having worked with large multinationals, my passion shifted to working with smaller businesses, and these companies become part of the family," she said. "The Price Group is based on a unique business model that uses subcontracted businesses."

The company's slogan says it all: smart marketing for small business.

"Through negotiated price points, we are able to pull together teams of freelancers on a project-by-project basis, as needed," she said. "I'm able to keep costs down, and therefore, offer an affordable option for small businesses."

Price said the economic slump has actually proven to be a boon for her business, because more of the smaller companies have discovered an increased need in marketing.

One of her clients, Bob Nyman, vice president of Darien-based Multi-Printing Solutions, said Price "has steered the company in a more contemporary direction."

"I really admire Pat, and she has exposed us to the social media sites in terms of marketing our paper products and together with her subcontractors, she has really brought us up to speed on things like that," Nyman said. "She really has a lot of good ideas and has an incredibly positive attitude. No matter how bad things may get in business, she never finds bad things contagious."

Price said her business offers virtually any service "from soup to nuts" in terms of marketing services, which include Web or graphic design, online Internet options or regular print material.

The future of the company, she says, will be driven by working to remain as current as possible with the latest technologies and trends. Today's marketplace requires that all involved "continue to reinvent themselves."

"We have to continue to evaluate the social media and monitor platforms as well as current trends," she said. "The market, at times, changes that fast, and by having a small company and a cluster of 10 subcontractors I use regularly, we can move fast as well."

Price and her husband, Don, have two adult children, including a daughter Angie, who lives in Atlanta, and a son Dan who still lives in Naperville. Like many who live and work here, Price finds her home "a wonderful place to live" and says that having her business in Naperville "adds credibility."

"I've lived here since 1978, and this is home," Price said. "My friends and family are here. There's a great business base in the area and just having Naperville as a part of my mailing address adds to my business."

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