Save the Date: Merry Mingle

Triangle Merry Mingle

Triangle Merry Mingle – Save the date and buy your tickets for Tue., Dec. 2!

It’s the 5th Annual Merry Mingle, proudly (and jointly) hosted by AAF-RDU, AIGA Raleigh, Triangle AMA, TIMA, and Triangle UXPA and it’s your chance to network with members of the Triangle’s top advertising, marketing and communications organizations all at one time – while also contributing to a very worthy cause!

What? Festive hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, and a chance to mingle with your favorite industry professionals – plus some you’ve never met but will be glad you did! All held in Downtown Raleigh at The Stockroom.

Who benefits? The Merry Mingle 2014 benefits the Triangle Spokes Group, which has been pedaling joy to the Triangle since 2006 by giving away bikes to kids in need. We’re doing our best to help them reach this year’s goal of 500 bicycles—all brand new, and all guaranteed to bring ear-to-ear grins to faces throughout the area. To find out more about this fantastic non-profit, go to www.trianglespokesgroup.org.

Cost? RSVP early online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-5th-annual-merry-mingle-tickets-13536585291 and it’s just $20 for members of hosting organizations and $25 for non-members. At the door, it’s $35 for everyone.

Submit Your Social Media Engagement Questions Before #BizExpo14 on Thursday, May 1st

Raleigh Chamber 2014 Business Expo

Raleigh Chamber 2014 Business Expo

I’m excited to have been invited to lead one of the four need-to-know Show Day Social Media Seminars planned for the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce 2014 Business Expo coming up on Thursday, May 1, 2014 on behalf of my WRAL.com team!

The Expo itself takes place at the NC State Fairgrounds in the Jim Graham Building (free, ample parking!) from 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. The event is free for all to attend (but you can pre-register here), as well as the social media seminar sessions. Social media seminar sessions include: Where do I start?, ROI and Conversion, Engagement Strategy, and a panel on Success Stories. I’ll be leading the Engagement Strategy session that will cover topics such as:

Relearning how to talk with people (and not at them)
How conversation changes across platforms
How conversation is broadly evolving
Why people follow certain pages
What your audience expects

In addition to attending, I’m seeking your participation in one additional way – I’d love to know what questions you have that you’d like to have answered! Leave a comment here, email me, send me a tweet, or ask away on Facebook.

See you at #BizExpo14!

Cheers,
Lisa

Feeling Creative? Feeling Festive? Submit a Design for this Year’s Raleigh Christmas Parade!

The Greater Raleigh Merchants Association (GRMA) and Shop Local Raleigh (SLR) are looking for local artists to submit design ideas for the 67th Annual WRAL Raleigh Christmas parade. The WRAL Raleigh Christmas Parade Contest, sponsored by GRMA/SLR, will be accepting submissions from area artists from August 29, 2011 – September 26, 2011.

The winning design will receive $300 in cash, sponsored by Frameworks Gallery & Frame Design, Inc., member of SLR. The winning design will be used on the organization’s first official parade t-shirt, poster, and promotional items. The t-shirts will be worn by volunteers and sold to the public on the day of the parade held on Nov. 19 in downtown Raleigh.

“The Go Local message is a great unifying message for the Raleigh community and the new t-shirt will be a fun way to show your support,” says Emily Younger Wells, Board Member of GRMA/SLR.

Artists are asked to visit https://www.facebook.com/RaleighChristmasParade for rules and for submissions. The winning design will be selected by the GRMA parade committee.

For more information on the contest or to become a member of GRMA, log on to www.grma.org or contact Jennifer Bradshaw, GRMA Director at 919-755-9235 or info@grma.org.

About the Raleigh Christmas Parade
The Raleigh Christmas Parade will feature three giant helium balloons, approximately 35 floats, 20 marching bands and a number of other entertaining acts.

Drawing an estimated 60,000 spectators from across the state to downtown Raleigh and reaching more than 250,000 through television and live video streaming on WRAL.com, the parade is the largest single-day event in Raleigh each year. It is the largest parade between Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

About GRMA
The Greater Raleigh Merchants Association promotes the growth and sustainability of local businesses. For more information, visit www.grma.org.

For Wake County Businesses: A Chance to Honor Local First Responders

Thank you to Tina for sending this information to my attention!

Greater Raleigh Chamber Announces Friends of First Responders Program

Local Businesses Asked to Participate on Sept. 16

RALEIGH—On Sept. 16, the Greater Raleigh Chamber will honor first responders throughout Wake County by hosting the fourth annual First Responders Appreciation Breakfast.

With more than 2,000 first responders serving our community, it is impossible to recognize them all, so the Chamber is reaching out to you. We are asking local businesses to join us in thanking these men and women for the dedication, bravery, and commitment to our community that they show every day by participating as one of our “Friends of First Responders.”

Participation is easy—simply offer a discount or free item to any first responder in uniform or with identification on Sept. 16. For example: $1 off a meal, free sandwich, free soda, etc.—the discount is completely up to you. In return, we’ll recognize your business on the Chamber website—www.raleighchamber.org/firstresponders—and in radio and TV ads (pending).

Please join us in recognizing Wake County Emergency Medical Services, the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, the Raleigh-Wake County Emergency Communications Center, the City of Raleigh Fire Department, the City of Raleigh Police Department, the North Carolina Highway Patrol – Troop C, District III, and all first responders on Sept. 16. To sign up or find out more, call 919.664.7090 or email mkernan@raleighchamber.org.

About the Greater Raleigh Chamber
The Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce is the Triangle’s largest nonprofit business membership organization made up of more than 2,400 member firms representing two-thirds of the private sector employment in Wake County. The Chamber has represented the interests of the local business community since 1888.

For more information about this special event, contact Mary Kernan at the Raleigh Chamber (phone: 919.664.7090, email: mkernan@raleighchamber.org).

I’ve had the pleasure of working with many businesses who regularly provide discounts to identified or in-uniform service members and first responders. My advice to them when I received this information was to contact Mary and make sure that they provide her with the details of those existing offers so that they can be included in the information that the Chamber is going to publish online.

Cheers!
-Lisa

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas… in June!

Those who have worked in retail or holiday event planning know that the holiday season comes very early to those whose businesses peak in the winter months – and two very festive opportunities are already coming your way in the next few weeks. Details of the first, the 67th annual Raleigh Christmas Parade, are below. Details of opportunity number two should be available in just a few weeks, so look for a follow-up post soon!

Greater Raleigh Merchant’s Association Announces 2011 Raleigh Christmas Parade

The Greater Raleigh Merchants Association (GRMA) announces their 67th Annual Raleigh Christmas Parade to be held on November 19, 2011 at 9:30am in downtown Raleigh.

Applications are now being accepted for all parade entries. Registration will close on September 16, 2011. Visit https://grma.org/christmas-parade/parade_schedule.html for the full parade schedule. If your group is interested in having a float, classic car, helium balloon, walking group or other entry, please visit the Greater Raleigh Merchant’s Association website: https://grma.org/christmas-parade/application.html and submit an online application. No applications will be accepted after the September 16 deadline. Applications are chosen based on realtionship to theme, creativity, entertainment, and community appeal.

Sponsorship and volunteer opportunities are also available. If your company is interested in sponsorship opportunities, please contact the executive director of GRMA, Jennifer Bradshaw at 919-755-9235 or jennifer@grma.org. If you are interested in serving on the committee, please email info@grma.org to receive more information.

The Raleigh Christmas parade is the largest parade between Atlanta and Washington DC. Over 250,000 will watch the parade live from home and over 60,000 will attend the parade in person. The parade will last approximately 2.5 hours and will feature something for the whole family.

Looking forward to seeing you and yours participating in the planning and production of the 2011 Raleigh Christmas Parade… or at least participating as an entertained audience member!

Local Business Spotlight: Happy Anniversary, Lucky B’s!

Happy 6th Anniversary to co-founders Mike Lombardo and Bates Battaglia, and their whole team, at Downtown Raleigh’s classiest dive bar… Lucky B’s! Join in the celebrations just “Around the Corner” starting at 5pm today (Saturday, May 21, 2011).

There will be free food, live music from James Dunn (pictured at right), a Red Bull DJ, and great giveaways like Kenny Chesney concert tickets! Check out https://www.facebook.com/LuckyBsBar for more chances to win before you head out.

Thank you to Mike, Bates, Mr. B, Suz, and the rest of the gang at Lucky B’s for allowing Raleighwood Media Group + Raleighwood Event Group to be a part of your continued successes – best wishes for another six years in Downtown Raleigh… and many more to come after that!

Come Join Us Today at a Few Shop Local Raleigh Events!


This month marks the two year anniversary of the launch of Shop Local Raleigh by the Greater Raleigh Merchants Association – happy birthday, SLR! Join us in celebrating today with two great local events:

Networking Event at Joint Venture Jewelry in Cary
From 4:00pm until 6:00pm, come and enjoy networking, great discussion, and a beverage with other SLR members, volunteers, and local business owners. (Don’t forget those business cards!)

Anniversary Party at Natty Greene’s in Raleigh
Shop Local Raleigh turned “2” on April 15th and to celebrate, we have partnered with NCSU marketing students to plan an Anniversary Party at Natty Greene’s Brewing Co. On April 28th, starting at 7 pm, there will be giveaways, $3 pints of local beer and fun guaranteed for all.

To add to the festivities, we have shared some fun statistics regarding small businesses, public relations, and the return on investment of email marketing, for SLR to use at these events. Along with those “trivia facts”, we’ve also included a special offer for event attendees – so be sure to check out what’s “in store” and “on tap” at these great events tonight. We’ll be back with those special offers here later on the blog, but we didn’t want to spoil the fun by giving them away in advance!

Cheers!

Missed the February Social Media Seminar?

Did you miss the February 2nd Shop Local Raleigh social media seminar? We certainly missed you, but I’ve provided the information shared in that event below so that you can study up on social media and how it positively impact your marketing plans.

Presentation Files:

https://raleighwoodmedia.com/files/slr_marketing_seminar_2011_02_02.ppt (PowerPoint Format)
https://raleighwoodmedia.com/files/slr_marketing_seminar_2011_02_02.pdf (PDF Format)

My friend Greg – facilitator, educator, rhythmatist, Trained HealthRHYTHMS Facilitator, and founder of Shop Local Raleigh member business Drum for Change – asked if I could share these resources with him for an upcoming industry conference. I told him that “I am an open book” and would be happy to share this information as a resource for him and his group and also provided the following “talking points” (below) from the presentation (which I went back and added after the presentation, because if you’ve ever attended an event with me, you know I’m an “off-the-cuff” girl and like to let the audience and their questions about a topic steer our conversation). I thought it would be helpful to share here on the Raleighwood blog, too – for everyone’s benefit!

Talking Points:

Slide 3 – The AMA (American Marketing Association) board is comprised of working marketing professionals, so I feel this definition more accurately describes the business of marketing than the typical dictionary definition.

Slide 5 – As overused as the phrase “social media is a two-way conversation” is, it’s true! Businesses that only promote their businesses, but don’t take the opportunity to engage with their audience, are not going to benefit from the time and effort required to nurture this form of communication.

Slide 6 – BIG takeaway: DO NOT MAKE A PERSONAL PROFILE FOR YOUR BUSINESS. Make a PAGE. There is a difference. Signup at facebook.com/pages. Have a personal profile so you can understand how it works from the personal user perspective, but create a page for your business/brand/organization. A vanity URL is a short, personalized URL like https://www.facebook.com/raleighwood – this is the same as telling people what your website address is exactly so they can come right to you instead of telling them to “google you”, where your competitors could snatch up their attention, instead.

Slide 8 – Remember that twitter is a unique network in itself. You don’t want to have to Twitter profile for your brand and only populate it through your facebook activity. You won’t get very many followers if you’re not offering unique information to that audience separately. You’ll also be “blind” to the responses you get on Twitter if you never actually use twitter to engage your audience there, as well. (IE: They’re not going to go to your facebook page to leave you a comment, they’re going to do it on twitter and you will likely miss it.)

Slides 10 and 11 – I LOVE iContact.com for an email service provider. They are local to Durham, NC – as is Bronto.com. MailChimp.com is free as long as your list is under 1,000 subscribers.

Slide 12 – AllFacebook.com and Mashable.com are two nice resources for staying up to date on social media happenings and changes. They can be overwhelming due to the frequency of their content and updates, so I just check in once a month or so 🙂

Have any questions about this event? Feel free to ask! I hope to see you at the next Shop Local Raleigh seminar and will be sure to post details here when that event is confirmed!

Cheers,
Lisa

Join Me Tomorrow at Shop Local Raleigh’s First Seminar of the Year!

Join me tomorrow morning to kick-start your Spring marketing goals and hear from other local business owners and seasoned veterans who are using social media to support their marketing plans. The event, Free Social Media Seminar – Marketing for your Business: Facebook, Twitter, is the first for 2011 in a series of quarterly education events hosted by Shop Local Raleigh (part of the Greater Raleigh Merchants Association). ALL SLR & GRMA Members are invited.

We’ll talk about the idea of push versus pull marketing and some effective uses of social media for your business.

The free seminar will help you to understand:

Marketing and why it’s important for your business
Social Media 101
Email Marketing, Blogging & website and how they integrate
Top 10 Tips for Social Media Marketing 2011
Question/Answer panel including local business owners and veteran marketing professionals that use social media

And the best part? You’ll be able to hear me speak! (Just kidding about that being the best part. ;-)) Please do think well wishes for me though as today I’m fighting a nasty winter cold. Have no fear, I’ll be presenting tomorrow. Just please forgive if I sound a little raspy!

The event is from 9-11am on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 1 Maiden Lane – just off of Hillsborough Street.

RSVP to info@shoplocalraleigh.org today! Not a member, yet? That’s ok – come as our guest! But please still email to RSVP so we can have an accurate head count.