Holtsville's Own Online Marketing Muscle

Before Dean Mercado became the president of Online Marketing Muscle, a firm based in Holtsville, he learned how to take a company apart and put it back together better than when you found it. 

"I worked in corporate America for about 15 years, building business divisions that made money, and on computer technology, marketing and sales," said Mercado, 42, who grew up in Brentwood. "What I ended up doing was, after a while, I kind of put all of those together and many years ago came into Internet marketing." 

He and his wife Andrea tend to work primarily with small businesses that are service based such as landscaping companies, home improvement contractors, financial advisors, attorneys and real estate agencies.

"I Really enjoy doing this," said Mercado, who lives in Holtsville with his wife and two children, and studied computer science and total quality management at Dowling. "It's something I can do for myself and my family, as opposed to making corporate America so much money which is what I did for a long time. We know what small businesses deal with everyday—because we live it."

Online Marketing Muscle has been in place since 2004. Most small businesses fail within the first five years.

"So, the fact that we made it past is usually a sign that we're pretty healthy," Mercado said.

While the company works nationally, most of their clients are right here on Long Island.

"It's fabulous—it's been the best thing that ever happened to us," Mercado said of working with his wife, who was able to quit a Manhattan law firm three years ago to devote herself full-time to their shared dream. 

The Mercado's step into companies and help them figure out where they really are right now and where they want to be in a year.  Then they work side-by-side with them to figure out how to achieve their set business goals.

"It's fabulous being able to help—especially other Long Islanders actually make a great living for themselves and their families," he said. "We're very family-oriented, so we tend to deal a lot with husband and wife teams who own their own companies.  We resonate very well with them, because that's what we are."

The recent downturn in the economy has sent Mercado's company on an upswing.

"Sometimes it takes people to wait until they are in too big of a rut before they decide, 'you know what it's ok to get some help.'"

The Mercado's run programs for every budget ranging from free all the way up to thousands of dollars.  When it comes to larger investments Mercado said, "We're helping them earn 10 times that."

Some future plans for the local business include publishing books, speaking on a much larger scale across the country, a lot more seminars and video work.

The spirited entrepreneur holds as his main objective educating small businesses on how to, "use this crazy thing called the internet to actually get business as opposed to chasing after business all the time."  Mercado inspires small business owners to, "Become the rock star in your own backyard."

"I don't believe in the recession," he said. "I think a lot of it is just self-perpetuating. You're the creator [of your own reality], so you've got to get out there and make it happen, and if something's not working change it; don't blame somebody else or something else.  We never want to give our power away, and when you blame the economy that's exactly what you're doing." 

Don't give away your power to an external source, but don't be afraid to ask for a little help either.