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 http://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 http://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 12AllFacebook.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 ๐Ÿ™‚

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 itโ€™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.

How are YOU Capitalizing on the Latest Sports Marketing Trends?

Fantasy football is one of my current favorites because the people who are into it… are REALLY into it! Some play in several leagues, some just play in one hardcore league with a lot of cash in the pot for the season winner.

Here lies a great opportunity for restaurants, bars, and even retailers to cash in on this consumer trend for several reasons.

1 – If you’re a restaurant or a bar that caters to sports fans, you’re a great option for a host venue!
No messy cleanup, no need to worry about bringing a cooler of having enough space in the host’s fridge… a restaurant or bar makes it a no-brainer for draft party attendees to show up, have fun, and then head home. This option requires the least effort on the part of the attendee or fantasy league commissioner. When you’re marketing primarily to men… this is a major selling point, in my humble opinion.

2 – If you’re a restaurant or a bar that offers carryout or catering orders for draft party favorites like wings, bar-b-q, etc., you’re a great option for party attendees who don’t cook!
Not all leagues are going to opt for the option to host their party at your bar or restaurant… and that’s ok, just make sure they still have the opportunity to spend money with you! My other half’s league had their party in our home last night and of the 10+ attendees, only three of us (that I was aware of) cooked their offerings at home prior to the party. (Truth be told, even though I did cook most of what we offered at home, I did send Nick out to our neighborhood Smithfield’s Chicken ‘N Bar-B-Q(R) for bar-b-q, sweet tea, and hush-puppies… “because it’s just not a tailgate without the bar-b-q”!)

3 – If you’re a retailer – what draft party supplies can you carry or special order for your customers leading up to the big event?
Nick ordered his team’s draft board and supplies (stickers, rosters, etc.) online, but I’m sure I could have convinced him to Shop Local had someone been touting their merchandise offerings for draft party must-haves to local leagues. But alas, I’m not aware of any local retailers targeting this niche market.

4 – Work the concept for a different market!
When my gal pal Denise and I were hanging out yesterday, she mentioned that a local radio show host (Kentucky Kristin on G105) had been talking on-air about the Emmy’s Draft Party that she and her girlfriends had recently had a lot of fun participating in. The girls created their event around pairing Hollywood’s hottest with designers they were likely to be wearing. During the red carpet premiere, attendees scored points for correctly pairing Emmy attendee with the correct designer they were wearing! How fun? If you’re a bar or trendy restaurant, this sounds like a great opportunity to upsell girly cocktails, show the celebrity-studded event on your televisions, and attract vendors and sponsors wanting to target this in-demand niche with great giveaways, swag bags, and more.

So, how are you planning to capitalize on this sports marketing trend next year?

Can’t wait ’til next year? Target teams who have already drafted (pre-season games end this week) to come in and see how their teams shape up on a weekly basis in your bar or restaurant! The good news is that you haven’t completely missed your opportunity as this is an on-going promotion that gets more exciting by the week for fantasy league faithfuls.

You can read more about how national chains like Buffalo Wild Wings (and local restaurants like Garner’s Cleveland Draft House) are putting this trend to work for their businesses from the News & Observer online at http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/09/04/663556/chains-score-with-fantasy-football.html.