What Can NC Offer Than Tax Incentives?

I loved reading this article in TBJ today about how EUE/Screen Gems’s lengthiest NC veteran, Bill Vassar, believes the film industry is here to stay, regardless of the expiration of tax incentives at the close of 2014.

TBJ: EUE/Screen Gems exec: Here’s why North Carolina’s film community will live – incentive or no incentive

According to 18-year Screen Gems veteran Vassar, the operation is thriving, adding additional stages and facilities, including on-set Wi-Fi access that Marvel called “the best Internet set up they’d ever worked with” while filming “Iron Man,” Vassar says.

It’s just my opinion, but I would think that quality Wi-Fi would be a standard on movie sets in California, so I was impressed to read that Marvel noted the Wilmington studio offered the “the best [they’d ever] worked with”.

North Carolina is undoubtedly a tech-leader, and with the promise of high-bandwidth fiber internet connections becoming a norm in the next 5-10 years, I believe that efficient access to internet is just one of the many amenities our businesses can offer.

Thinking about the last time I was left without internet when traveling, especially in the form of wi-fi, it’s certainly a high-demand, and greatly appreciated, value-add for me. It certainly doesn’t replace millions of dollars in tax benefits, but the quality of work-place experience is a great experience driver.

Email Never Went Anywhere

It seems like at least once a week I read a really well-written and well-thought-out article or blog post about how “email/email marketing is back” or that suddenly interest is surging in the “what once was old” medium of communication. I’m here to reassure everyone that not only is email not dead – it also never went anywhere.

Sure, social media has been the darling of all online marketing communications for the last seven years or so, but I personally cannot remember a single instance where I’ve seen the use of Facebook or Twitter alone out-perform the use of an integrated marketing communications (IMC) campaign that included email. As any marketing professional will tell you, it’s highly unlikely that anything you produce will ever go “viral” and even when things go viral, they’re still often shared via the original social media channel: email.

As Facebook continues to limit what shows up in users’ feeds, the ability to actually communicate directly to users who have expressed an interest in our products and services without fear of a filter will continue to prevail. Who wants to spend their hard-earned time and investment to build an audience they aren’t guaranteed of being able to communicate with?

While the currently under-25 crowd may not be strong users of email, I believe that trend changes as they become career professionals, where the modern workplace still depends heavily on the use of email as the primary form of communication.

I’m proud to say that consistent, well-branded email marketing has always been a staple product and service provided by Raleighwood Media Group to our clients. It has a high ROI and is very trackable when it comes to finding out what’s working and what’s not in regards to subject lines, content, list segmentation, and other variables.

For your reading pleasure and if you’re so inclined, here are some of the articles I’ve read about email (and the “return” of email) lately… and often replied with the simple statement, “duh”.
The NY Times – For Email Newsletters, a Death Greatly Exaggerated
BiZReport.com – Email newsletters top news source for business executives
EmailOnAcid.com – Is Responsive Design Really Effective?

I would love to hear your thoughts on where you’re getting the most bang for your buck when it comes to online marketing efforts in the comments below.

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.

Fairway Adds First Digital Billboard Just North of Raleigh

I just finished reading an interesting press release on dBusinessNews (Triangle) – The Triangle Region Receives its First Digital Billboard. This is something that I might need to make a drive out to Wake Forest to see!

The most compelling sales features of a digital billboard like this is that advertisers can change up their promotional offerings in a digital format, instead of waiting weeks or even months to change the billboard display. Restaurants can now target breakfast consumers in the early morning hours and run lunch-time, dinner, or late-night advertisements at relevant times of day, too.

Non-Profits Take Note!
“As a good corporate citizen, Fairway is utilizing its digital capabilities to help promote local non-profits by providing no cost advertising on the new digital display. Some of the public service announcements will benefit the following non-profits: The Salvation Army, N.C. GreenPower, Franklin County Humane Society and Meals on Wheels of Wake County.”

I checked out Fairway’s website and didn’t immediately notice any calls to join its non-profit program or to submit your organization for consideration, but it would only take a few minutes to email the organization or give them a call to inquire.

I’m sure the display won’t show video or other types of truly attention-commanding media, as driver safety is likely a major consideration when getting local approval for a billboard display of this nature, but simply having a different advertisement displayed each time a driver passes (or showing 3 or 4 while the driver is stopped at a red light), means lots of promotional opportunity within one finite amount of space.

I do have to wonder why Fairway chose to place their first billboard of this kind outside of Raleigh in a more suburban/rural location, but my first suspicion is that it may have to do with local zoning.

Have you seen the new billboard yet? Tell me about it in the comments!

PS – Merry belated Christmas! I hope the holiday weekend was good to you all! Tank and Delta are sitting home now in front of the window watching the snow from this past weekend’s North Carolina blizzard fall from the trees.

Cheers,
Lisa

Geekin’ Out: Kodak ESP 9 All-In-One Printer

How many girls do you know who would be thrilled to get a wireless printer for Christmas and a Dyson vacuum for their birthday? Probably not many… but I sure am one of them! Let’s talk about the first part of that equation: the printer. To be specific, the Kodak ESP 9 All-In-One Printer.

Last Christmas my parents gave me and my sister new printers (and recycled our old ones at the store, yay!). While most “kids” may not be crazy about getting a ridiculously practical gift for the holidays, I loved it. As a still-getting-on-my-feet-small business owner, I rarely spend the money to buy things I’d really like to have (or, ahem, even need sometimes)… and this was something I had wanted for quite some time: the ability to print from anywhere in the house – not just the home office!

The wireless printing is by far my favorite feature, but the copier feature is also SUPER easy to use, and I love all of the settings that make saving ink a breeze (ie: print in draft, black and white only, etc. – but that’s sort of a given with most modern printers). I’ve had this printer for almost a year and am just now having to buy replacement ink for the first time. Which, by the way, is not nearly as budget-busting as it used to be. One of the biggest benefits of a Kodak printer is the relatively low cost of ink, when compared to others. Prices range from just $10.00 for black ink to $28.00 for the combo pack.

I have not even gotten halfway into what this printer can do, because it just works. And that’s all I need it to do. I had a P-S-C (printer-scanner-copier) prior to this, but definitely not one that was wireless or that could scan a stack of papers from a top tray. This printer retails for $249.99. You can buy it online or in stores, if I remember correctly (but I didn’t see any Kodak ink at OfficeMax tonight… so I may have to order that online).

If you are so inclined, I would really appreciate if you would purchase any Kodak needs (the above recommended printer, said needed ink, etc.) through my affiliate link here:
Save $ with KODAK All-in-One Printers available at the KODAK Store, which simply means nothing more than if you purchase based on this blog post, Kodak will send me a 3-4% commission. They have not contacted me or compensated me for this post in any other sort of way. The opinions expressed here were alllll my own!

And in the interest of a totally fair review, I’ll go ahead and list the only flaw I’ve found so far with the printer. Occasionally, I’ll have to physically press the power button on the printer face to cycle the power on or off when my computer doesn’t want to talk to it via the wireless right off the bat. This could be due to my computer or wireless network, however, so i don’t want to entirely lay the blame on the printer here!

Any questions? Any other products/categories you readers would like me to review next?

Happy Printing!
-Lisa