New Mexico

Heidi’s Raspberry Farm is a success story that begins in the family kitchen. Heidi Eleftheriou grew succulent, organic raspberries on the family farm in Corrales, New Mexico. She enjoyed making her own jams, with toddler son Dimitri on hand to help her stir the pots. In 2001, she began selling raspberry jam, fresh raspberries, and cut flowers at area farmers’ markets. Word of mouth spread and business took off. In 2003, she launched a website, using Google Ads to attract shoppers searching for local organic products. Since then, she’s hired staff and expanded into an Albuquerque production facility, distributing to restaurants, B&Bs, specialty shops, and grocery stores in the Southwest and as far east as Washington, D.C. Now grown, Dimitri assists his mother in running the company. “Love is put into every single jar,” says Heidi.

In March 2020, the pandemic disrupted business. Heidi had to suspend the farm’s popular U-Pick events, where people come from miles around to pick their own raspberries. In-store tastings were halted and restaurant sales dropped, but Heidi’s e-commerce website kept business going strong. “It was like boom!” she says. “People who didn’t want to shop in stores started buying more from us online.” Once state restrictions eased, the farm reopened with COVID-19 safety measures in place and lockdown-weary people flocked to the farm. “The first day of reopening, we had about 180 cars waiting outside our gate,” Dimitri says. Heidi’s Business Profile on Google helps people find directions to the rural farm. “It’s wonderful to see our customers, as they’re the ones who’ve lifted us up through all this,” she says. The company supports a number of charities, including local food banks. In 2021, Heidi plans to expand her Google Ads campaigns to increase brand awareness nationally. “We’re still a small company, and you can taste that in the product,” Dimitri says. “We offer comfort food and nostalgia. People need that right now.”

When Sydney Alfonso spent a semester studying abroad in Istanbul, she worked with a woman’s cooperative that helped local artisans sell their handmade jewelry. When the program ended, Sydney returned to her home state of New Mexico with a desire to help empower indigenous women. “The situation here was similar to my experience in Turkey. There were women struggling on Native American reservations but who were capable of making these beautiful things,” she said. In 2014, Sydney launched Etkie, an ethical, for-profit company that gives Native American women a platform to earn living wages and provide for their families. “There’s a lot of trauma — historical and cultural — in these communities,” Sydney said. Etkie, which means “impact” in Turkish, offers handcrafted jewelry that blends traditional craftsmanship with modern design. “I was a super-green entrepreneur when I started this, but that was also a blessing in disguise because I had to figure everything out myself,” said Sydney.

Etkie began as a B2B wholesale business and has since expanded to online sales. “Five years ago, there weren’t as many successful direct-to-consumer companies,” said Sydney. “By building our wholesale side, we’ve had more of a profit margin to invest in digital, and we’re just starting on that journey.” In an effort to ramp up Etkie’s direct-to-consumer efforts, Sydney started running different ads on YouTube and Google Search to better understand her customers. “Google helps us look at who is interested in buying our products,” Sydney said. “By being able to see what resonates on a large scale, it’s easier to home in on what messaging is working and what is getting clicks.”

Available in seven countries around the globe, Etkie produces about 5,000 bracelets per year. Since 2017, the company has grown 30% year over year. Sydney also cites a 10% increase in sales coming from digital, thanks to her advertising efforts with Google. As Etkie continues to grow, Sydney remains true to the inspiration that launched Etkie — helping women support themselves and celebrating their creativity. “Our business encourages people to pay for craftsmanship and acknowledge our artisans,” she said. “We’ve fostered a group of consumers who really care about where they buy their products and the actual impact it has on the community.”

Dreamstyle Remodeling began offering remodeling services in 1989, installing window, bath, kitchen, and other fixtures from major U.S. manufacturers. The business grew steadily from their original base in Albuquerque to multiple locations across the Southwest, including Santa Fe, Tucson, Phoenix, Prescott Valley, Boise, and San Diego. For years, their primary customers were baby boomers, but Founder and CEO Larry Chavez realized that if he wanted to continue growing the business, he would need to start connecting with a younger generation of customers entering the home-buying and remodeling markets. He hired Dawn Dewey as marketing director in 2013. From that point, “we really got heavily into digital,” Dawn says.

Today, over 25 percent of Dreamstyle’s revenue is generated through the Internet. They use AdWords, Google’s advertising program, to market their services to customers across the U.S., and they’re seeing handsome returns. “It costs us about $100 on AdWords to earn $1,000,” Larry remarks. Google Analytics helps to see which advertising campaigns are working, what content is engaging, and if they need to alter their marketing. Google My Business listings allow them to take customers on a 360-degree virtual tour of their showrooms. G Suite tools like Calendar, Docs, and Drive keep their internal operations running smoothly. And YouTube provides a platform for sharing testimonials from satisfied customers. All this successful digital branding, Larry says, “is not only good for selling products, it’s good for recruiting people, which of course is our top priority.”

Since shifting to digital, Dreamstyle has added 250 employees to keep pace with their growth. In their 28 years of business, they’ve served 60,000 customers, and a quarter of them are from the past four years alone. “Google gave us the tools to make our marketing stronger and more sophisticated, which accelerated our growth,” Dawn says. They are growing 34 percent annually and expect to hit $100 million in sales this year. With plans to open two additional locations, they have their sights set on reaching $250 million by 2020 and hiring another 500 people in the process. “We think it's possible,” Larry assures. “And the web and Google tools are going to be critical to that growth."

Lindsey Stanek’s husband, Jim, came home with injuries from his third tour in Iraq. Like so many combat veterans, he suffered from a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While in treatment, Jim was comforted by therapy dogs. But a trained service dog costs $10,000 to $60,000. The former soldier felt alone until he found Sarge—a shelter dog he trained as his service dog. His life was transformed and he saw an opportunity. He and Lindsey wanted to help other veterans while giving shelter dogs a purpose. The couple founded Paws and Stripes in 2010. Their mission: rescue and train shelter dogs as service dogs for wounded military veterans in New Mexico.

From the start, Google has helped them build their brand and operate the organization. Most of the traffic to their site comes from Google Search. Their Google My Business listing displays their hours, directions, and reviews. They use social media, including YouTube, to engage veterans in discussion and share resources. Google Apps for Work, including Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs, help volunteers coordinate efforts. Veterans don't pay a dime to enroll in the service, which is supported by grants and donations, so the website is mobile-optimized to make it as easy as possible for site visitors to make donations from any device.

Paws and Stripes now has 14 employees. They’ve been featured in Time magazine and were the subject of an A&E reality TV series, Dogs of War. Google tools have helped increase their visibility in the U.S. and internationally, which is helping Paws and Stripes raise awareness about PTSD and the value of enlisting shelter dogs to be trained to assist veterans. They’ve accomplished their original mission, but their success in New Mexico now has them considering expanding to other states. “We want to increase our impact in more veterans' lives,” Lindsey says. “That's what we are about."