Design & Promote and TradeTec Skyline Celebrate AABE Award Win

CHICAGO, IL —At the recent recognition event for the winners of the Annual Award for Business Excellence (AABE) competition sponsored by the Daily Herald Business Ledger, winning inbound marketing firm Design & Promote was high-fived by client, mentor and former employer, Ken Buckman of TradeTec Skyline, who shared the stage as a winner himself.

Bruce Jones, CEO of Design & Promote, accepted his award in the small company category with a very brief “thank you” to the sponsors of the Daily Herald. Soon after, Ken Buckman accepted an AABE for his own company, TradeTec Skyline, also in the small business category. In his acceptance speech, Buckman joked that he would use the remaining time from Jones’ brief speech to accept his award. Instead, he praised Jones’ past efforts as the past director of TradeTec’s IT department. Starting in 2007, with the help of Jones’ search engine optimization efforts along with other marketing strategies the amount of leads generated for the company skyrocketed. Buckman went on to commend Jones on his start up and seven years of success with Design & Promote. Neither of the two friends knew the other was vying for the AABE award until the results were announced.

“Ken was my boss and mentor at TradeTec Skyline for nine years and encouraged me to take my search engine optimization techniques to other Skyline offices,” said Jones. “My success there helped me ultimately launch Design & Promote. It was awesome to be on the same stage, accepting the same award seven years after leaving TradeTec to start my own business.”

The AABEs recognize business achievement, growth, and community involvement. Design & Promote and TradeTec Skyline were both honored this year in the Small Company (1-50 employees) category.

“Design & Promote’s success is equated to the inbound marketing theory of only marketing to people who seek your products or services,” said Jones. “Our motto is that it is our business to get your business noticed. Now, it’s kind of cool to be in the spotlight ourselves.”