Newton Businesses Thrive With Help From Local Woman’s Marketing Firm

NEWTON, MA – Auburndale resident Lauren Berman was working for the city helping revitalize their farmer’s markets when the pandemic hit, and local businesses in Newton, and around the world, shuttered.

She faced a huge conundrum: how would she make sure the small businesses she loved and had formed relationships with would stay afloat and continue to thrive through a pandemic?

“All of the small businesses that I had cultivated over the years, the growers and farmers, were still growing and farming but the markets were closed and there was no distribution,” Berman said. “So I initially put up the site just to connect to the community with the local small businesses who needed the sales but they were closed.”

With a background in marketing and sales from years working at IBM and other large companies, Berman knew she had the expertise to help small businesses in Newton not only survive the pandemic, but thrive.

Berman began All Over Newton in 2020 by reaching out to local businesses and offering to post about them on the website without charge to create awareness and exposure for businesses Newton community members might not know about.

“A lot of these places don't have online sites,” Berman said, “so if people can't go in and they have no presence online, they can't sell.”

Berman then began hosting virtual sales on Facebook Live, where owners would walk through their stores and go through what they had available.

“Store sales were increasing and the community was happy to support the small businesses once they knew about them, and once they knew what they had to offer,” Berman said.

The website has now grown into a small marketing firm, where Berman offers a subscription package to businesses for $12 a month to receive her marketing services.

Three years later, the website continues to connect independent Newton businesses with the community and provides contact-free and online shopping.

Linda de Valpine, owner of home and gift shop Greentail Table, said Berman has been “terrific” at helping her small business reach more Newtonians.

Despite being in Newton for eight years, de Valpine said with Berman’s help promoting the business on her website, she has reached people who live in Newton and didn't know they existed prior.

“I think it's very effective,” de Valpine said.

Francesco Lacovitti, owner of Market Tiamo, an Italian grocery store in Newton Centre, said with Lauren’s help, he was able to bring members of the Italian community to his store from a nearby village in Newton.

“I know that the Italian community is big in Nonantum,” Lacovitti said. “So thanks to the posts, a lot of Italian people from Nonantum came to the store.”

Chris Osborn, owner of catering company Better Life Food, was hit extremely hard by the pandemic.

“We lost all of our business,” Osborn said.

Osborn said he had to learn to pivot quickly to keep his business afloat, and with Berman’s help, he was able to create new ways to keep his business afloat, like hosting a regular pop up tent selling pies.

When his promotion term was up, Berman did a small social media campaign about the catering company.

“Within five minutes of her campaign coming out we got an order,” Osborn said.

“Lauren helping to promote us on All Over Newton kept us alive,” he added.

For Mother’s Day on Sunday, Berman reached out to local businesses about their holiday offerings and put together a Mother’s Day landing page on her site.

“If you spend locally, you can get some really cool products and services, and then also support the different members of our community,” Berman said.