Eric joined NextStep Marketing in April 2011 to fulfill his passion for helping people turn their dreams into realities as a marketing coach and consultant. After hearing Paul Davis give the “7 Steps” presentation at a monthly meeting for SCORE volunteers in Charlotte, he pursued Paul to partner with him at NextStep. Eric has lived in the Charlotte area for the past seven years with his wife, Shari, and their two sons.

CANDIDATE PAT MCCRORY SPEAKING AT UNITED WE SERVE BENEFIT

Gala to benefit Operation Purple and launch Charlotte based SFTV

Author, journalist and, now tv channel owner, Susan Flowers, PhD, is officially launching SFTV at the United We Serve Black Tie Reception to benefit Operation Purple. Operation Purple, which sends children of military families to summer camp, is a charity organized by the National Military Family Association. Mary Lynn Stevens from the Board of Governors for the association will be in attendance on behalf of Operation Purple. Gubernatorial Candidate Pat McCrory, a longtime supporter of programs benefitting children, will be the guest speaker. Ken Lemon of WSOC TV will emcee the event. We Serve will take place April 1^st, 6:00 pm, at the Harvey B. Gantt Center on S. Tryon St. in Charlotte. Also speaking: Niki Kapoor, NIKA formalwear owner and designer who has dressed several Hollywood celebrities; Patrick Cannon, Mayor Pro-Tem and City Councilman; Radio personality Cheryl “Chirl Girl” Patterson of WBAV 101.9, and, Oronde McClean Mecklenburg County Commissioner-at-Large candidate.

According to Dr. Flowers . “The SFTV Network is not only giving North Carolina an international media presence this April by staking its claim here in Charlotte, we are giving back to the community from day one by supporting NC’s hardest working military families with the Operation Purple Benefit Gala.” The mission of the Operation Purple program is to empower military children and their families to develop and maintain healthy and connected relationships, in spite of the current military environment. This is accomplished through a variety of means, including the healing and holistic aspect of the natural world. The program is joint or “purple”— and open to children and families of active duty, National Guard or Reserve service members from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, or the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Marketing for the event provided by NextStep Marketing.

 United We Serve & SFTV Launch to Benefit Operation Purple

Harvey B. Gantt Center

551 S. Tryon St, Charlotte NC

Sunday, April 1, 2012    Time: 6 – 10 PM

6 PM VIP Cocktail Mixer

8 PM Gubernatorial Candidate Pat McCrory – Opening Address

Emcee Ken Lemon of WSOC-TV

Ticket Sales: $75 per person

To Purchase Tickets Click Here

Discovering your Ideal Target Market by using the Charlotte Business Journal

Join Cameron Hunter Audience Development Executive and Paul Davis CEO of NextStep Marketing for a content packed seminar on how to find your perfect audience by using the “Strategy before Tactic” philosophy and the ultimate local prospecting resource the Charlotte Business Journal.

Learn how to identify your best customers and then use the information of the Charlotte Business Journal to establish and strengthen those relationships.

For more info, contact Cameron Hunter at 704-973-1143 or chunter@bizjournals.com

SmartGuy.com is a business directory, business network, optimized web page, social network and referral management system all rolled into one. It’s easy to locate a local business or service provider to assist you with your home, auto, medical, professional or other needs. Each service provider has submitted information on their company and service, accessible 24/7. Customers can also browse actual reviews written by local neighbors who have used them, and most offer a discount for mentioning you found them at SmartGuy.com.

SmartGuy.com only allows 3 professionals per category per zip code. With 43,000 zip codes and 400 categories of professionals, that is about 50 million businesses SmartGuy.com can help.

“SmartGuy.com will change the way people do business,” says Jordan Wexler, CEO of SmartGuy.com. “Referrals and past customers often account for 70-80% of a company’s transactions. But there has never been a way to easily generate, secure and manage these relationships.”

SmartGuy.com allows business and service professionals a FREE tool to:

• Help get their business ranked on the first page of major search engines within 30 days;
• Have an optimized web presence;
• Be included in a exclusive localized business directory, not lost in a phone book;
• Get connected to hundreds of businesses in a local business network;
• Access a member-only social network with blogs, posts, discussion, forums and more
• Manage, send and receive referrals via a patent-pending referral management system.

“Effectively turning the economy around is going to require more than just printing massive amounts of money. You must assist small businesses by connecting them together. SmartGuy.com gives them the free tools they need to easily refer each other in an effective, yet easy to use, fun way,” continues Wexler.

Jordan Wexler is CEO of SmartGuy.com, and has been pioneering lead generation strategies for the past 20 years. 

For more information: 

http://www.charlottebusinessnetworking.com/

http://www.raleighbusinessnetworking.com/

http://www.greenvillebusinessnetworking.com/

• Hello WordPress! An absolute beginners workshop – Russell Fair
• Monetizing your WordPress blog – Syed Balkhi
• How to Craft Blog Posts that Build Audiences, Traffic and Your Business – John Saddington
• Expanding Your Online Presence with WordPress Multi-site – David Carroll and Adam Weart
• CSS Survival Guide – John Sexton
• And more…

Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress and Jane Wells, WordPress User-Interface Lead joined in the fun and spoke at the opening session on Saturday morning February 4^th. Frank Neimier and Jan Stittleburg took photos and they are outstanding!  Check them out on the WordCamp Flickr Group – Click Here.  For more information on WordCamp 2012 Click Here.

To learn more please visit www.charlotteventurechallenge.com

Important Date: Applications Due: February 29 2012

If you have any questions please contact Devin Collins at devin.collins@uncc.edu or 704 -250 – 5753.

The core philosophy of “Strategy before Tactics” enables businesses to focus their marketing efforts into an effective process. Treating marketing as a process provides far more predictable consistent results versus treating marketing as one-time events or randomly trying the new tactic of the week. The Group Catalyst takes small business owners through ten online modules which include a comprehensive resource library of videos, documents and links to other online sources. Each live Catalyst session will be facilitated by Davis and Taylor, experts in small business marketing to help each participant be accountable and accomplish the necessary tasks to establish the Duct Tape Marketing system as a process into their business operations.

Group participants will get expert assistance to install a predictable, repeatable system of marketing into their business saving both time and money and the satisfaction of creating a strategic marketing plan. Small business owners frustrated with their current marketing efforts can register for the free Discovery call by visiting www.buildastrategy.com.

About Paul Davis and Rosie Taylor:

Paul Davis, MBA has a professional background in sales and marketing spanning 30 years. His credentials include an MBA with a focus in Marketing and he is an Authorized Duct Tape Marketing Consultant. Davis operates Next Step Marketing (www.nx-step.com) in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Rosie Taylor has a professional background in public affairs and internet technology covering the last twenty years. Her credentials include a BS in Business and Information Systems, a Certificate in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts and she is also an Authorized Duct Tape Marketing Consultant. Taylor operates Rosiemedia (www.rosiemedia.com) in Davie, Florida.

Both consultants offer unique perspectives on marketing based on the core principles of the Duct Tape Marketing giving their clients a wide-ranging consulting experience.

Buzz or Bust: How to Write a Press Release

My mother always told me that “you only get one chance to make a good first impression”. Nowhere is that more true than in business. As a marketing consulting firm, we frequently review websites and marketing collateral. One of things we constantly hear about is how difficult it is to write; everything from “there’s no time” to “no one will want to read anything I have to write”. As a result, materials get cranked out with a “well, here it is” and a hope for the best. However, when you are looking to create a little buzz for your business, one of the worst things you can do is send out a press release that is poorly thought out and written or filled with misspellings and grammatical errors. You will create buzz but, not the type that you are hoping for. The following article is very helpful in explaining how to write a press release.  The content and grammar are still a burden you must bear on your own but, at least this gives you the format. If you’re stuck for content or help proofing your work… I might know someone who can help.

How to Write a Press Release    By Tim Donnelly |  @timdonnelly

Craft a news-worthy release that will pique reporters’ interest – and stay far away from the recycle bin.

Take it from those of us who know: An easy way to ruin your relationship with the news media is to send a bad press release. 

Newsroom fax machines and reporters’ inboxes are flooded on a daily basis with press releases from companies, government agencies, non-profit groups, and even average citizens trying to get their neighborhood plight noticed. If you send in a press release that’s riddled with grammatical errors, buried in a convoluted e-mail, or completely irrelevant to the reporter’s coverage area, you might as well be tossing your press release down a sewer drain. If you deluge a news organization with unprofessional or uninteresting releases, your chances of ever getting favorable news coverage are zero-to-slim. 

But when done correctly, a good press release will grab a reporter’s attention and force their curiosity to want to learn more about your announcement. 

“I want to be a trusted resource for that media so I’m trying to give the journalist all the information when they need it so they don’t have to go anywhere else,” says Gillian Pommerehn, director of public relations for Crosby Marketing, which is based in Annapolis, Maryland, and whose clients include the U.S. Department of Agriculture and DuPont. 

The trick, professionals say, is knowing how to format a good release, where to send it, and what information to include. The release is the face of your company that you’re sending out into the world, so it’s not a task to be taken lightly. Don’t forget: With most press releases now available online through wire services or your company’s website, customers or clients may also be reading them, not just reporters. 

“Really good, clean, crisp, grammatically correct writing is so important in creating a positive impression of your company,” says Lauren Selikoff, chief marketing officer for Allison & Partners, which works with Samsung and Michelin and is based in San Francisco. “This is not a task to turn over to the intern.” 

Here’s some tips to help you craft your message. 
 
Mind the Message

One thing comes to the mind of any good journalist when they receive a press release: Why would I care? The “news” in your news release has to be obvious, or else your notice will be on a fast route to the recycle bin.  The first step is figuring out exactly what message you are trying to get across, and how it qualifies as news.

“The hardest thing for people who are new to PR to grasp is you really have to take your ego out of it when it comes to finding something the press is going to write about,” Selikoff says. “What’s newsworthy to a publication’s readers is often completely different than what you are trying to get across.” 

That means your release needs a good headline. That can be something saying how your new product is going to make life easier, or how it relates to a news event. Your headline should be an attention-grabber, so reporters can see right away how the announcement affects their audience. 
 
Dig Deeper: The Art of the Press Release