Let’s face it, there is marketing overload when it comes to researching social media.  I remember several months ago when I started looking into social media how confusing it was.  I would go in spurts – reading madly, searching for more info like crazy, book marking articles I got something out of, subscribing to RSS feeds – every day was information overload and it became more and more time consuming as I became more obsessed with learning the social media ropes.

 

Now it’s just about a year later and the conclusion I have come to regarding social media and small business is this:  It’s better to take a DYI (Do It Yourself) approach rather than try to incorporate everything everyone is saying about the social media experience.  As a small business, social media needs to be a big part of your marketing because there is no cost.  But, there’s simply way too much information out there – some of it is hype, some of it is great.  Regardless, it will all overwhelm you at some point.

 

Here is a 5 step plan that I recommend to get going with social media:

1.      Research beginner tips for social media marketing.  There’s plenty of tips out there, read as much as you can but at some point you need to move on to Tip #2.

2.      Start. Just jump in.  This is the hardest of the tips.  But you learn more once you have started.  You’ll find out via trial and error what works and what doesn’t for your business. 

3.      Connect with people by asking for help, input, ideas via your social media connections.  And don’t be afraid to share your ideas and give advice.  You will be surprised how much you have to say about things.

4.      Listen to what your followers/friends are saying.    They are your barometer.  They will let you know if what you are posting resonates with them.

5.      Fail/Succeed/Repeat all steps – This pattern doesn’t ever stop.  Social media changes just about daily, but you have to be part of the discussion in order to be part of the movement.

 

One other vital point to remember is that you must ALWAYS give value to those you interact with.  The goal is to connect with people, not blatant self-promotion.  There needs to be a good balance between what you are marketing/promoting and information that you are passing on to your audience that is useful and interesting.  Create content that is compelling and your audience will grow.  As always, if you have any questions or comments just email me at leslie@lakearrowhead.net . (Excerpt from Lake Arrowhead business journal http://www.lakearrowhead.net/)

keep up with what's happening in the lakearrowhead communities. http://ping.fm/2mpAH

 It seems like “niche” is the buzzword du jour for 2009, but for many in the marketing world, niche has been a word that has driven us for years. I’m sure you all think about your “market segment” as those two words have been used to death for the past couple of decades. Niche is really the same thing, just a bit more personal.The internet taught us all how to market to the masses.That is a great way to become “established” and get the word out about what you offer. BUT….in the long run, that can become very expensive. Niche marketing, on the other hand, can be very cost-effective. Niche marketing allows you to focus on just your type of customer and speak directly to those who want to hear from you – not the masses that are not interested. When you use a niche marketing philosophy, your marketing budget goes much further, allowing you to advertise and market with greater frequency and possibly in a wider variety of ways. Once you have established your own unique niche, then one way to grow your business is to take on another niche – as long as you never lose sight of what your niche is. Entrepreneur.com recently published their three rules for niche marketing and I think we should all take them to heart and try to apply them to our individual businesses.

1. Meet the unique needs of your niche. The benefits you promise must have special appeal to your niche. Identify the needs of your niche and let them know how you can help make their lives easier. By using you – what’s in it for them? Try to look for ways to tailor your business to help them. What do you have that is unique to your niche?

 

2. Say the right thing via the right medium. It’s important to speak the language of your niche. You are the expert here and you need to be able to communicate using your market’s "hot buttons.” It’s imperative that you understand your members' key issues and how they prefer to communicate with businesses like yours. Are your customers primarily off the hill? If so, then social media is a great way to talk to them. If they are local, then ask them how they like to be communicated to –you might be surprised that they prefer computer messages over direct mail or some other medium – you need to ask and then communicate with them the way they would like to be communicated with.

3.Always test-market. Before moving ahead, look at and assess your competitors in your niche. You then need to determine how you will position against them. Review your competitors' ads, brochures and Web sites – look at what they are doing and highlight what makes you stand apart from them.

Finally, one last item on niche marketing that is very important and truly pertains to social media – Alienate those who are not in your niche. I know that sounds harsh, but in this age of Twitter and Facebook, you need to get rid of those who do not fit in your niche. Recently I experimented with a free service on Twitter that promised me new followers each and every day. Well, it really worked and I was bombarded with new followers. However; these new people had nothing to do with marketing or public relations and all they did was take up my time as I read what they had to say and it was totally irrelevant to me. Good lesson learned there – I wiped out the majority of those followers and solely stick to those who I can learn from, interact with and have common ideals.

Towards the end of each year, we love to research what the projected marketing trends will be for the upcoming year.  This year we even put together a presentation for the community to discuss these trends.  You never know if the trends will truly pan out, but for 2009 we can say that they are a perfect fit for the Lake Arrowhead Communities.

 

 

First, we literally dove in to social marketing and has it ever worked for us!  During the last economic downturn, our small, unincorporated resort community did not have the means (funding) to compete with other areas due to the cost of print media.  We had to rely on press releases and free publicity just to scrape by.  This time around we have completely embraced social marketing and we have been able to thrive in this tough economic climate in part to our strong social marketing presence and the viral marketing we receive from those who visit and enjoy our communities.

 

 

The customer voice has been a tremendous boon for us – the “buzz” created on especially Twitter regarding what is going on at Lake Arrowhead has made our summer season very strong.

 

 

The “staycation” philosophy has also benefited us greatly.  Being located in the heart of Southern California, an easy drive from just about anywhere, tourism has flourished – overnight stays could be a bit higher, but day trippers have nearly maxed us out on the weekends.  We are living proof that people are staying closer to home and looking for value-driven (whether it be price or experience driven) excursions.

 

 

We have started to dabble in microsites.  We have posted a couple regarding past events.  The traffic to these sites has been very good and we will continue with this endeavor.

 

 

What we still need to do in 2009 is really get into video blogging.  That is not too far away for us – it just comes down to our time and having enough to time to get started.  It is our next priority though.

 

 

Also, our next big project is to jump into multicultural marketing.  For us this means begin to get our message out to the Hispanic market.  We are having our home page translated into Spanish as we write this and are looking at radio and print promotion to jump start this very valuable market segment.

 

 

So in terms of price, value and ROI, we can say that so far this year the 2009 trend model fits us perfectly.

A few days ago someone said to me “The only time Lake Arrowhead receives publicity is when we have a fire.”  Well, I had to laugh a little at that one.  That statement is a classic case of “just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it never happens.”

 

Once I explained how we run our public relations campaigns and discussed the breadth and scope of our marketing efforts, this person made a comment about how we don’t let people know about the publicity the Lake Arrowhead Communities is receiving.

 

We try to keep everyone posted about our efforts via this column in the Business Journal.  We have been doing this for years. I know each of you misses an occasional marketing column, so here is a brief recap of the publicity we have received over the past 9 months or so ~

 

            On a National level:

 

Last summer’s American Idol partnership brought us tremendous exposure world-wide via press releases, blogs and social media venues.  While there were a lot of “pros and cons” regarding our partnership with one of the world’s most recognizable brands, it brought world-wide attention to Lake Arrowhead, CA.

 

Last August, Frommer’s Budget Travel wrote a national story regarding Affordable American Lake Towns and Lake Arrowhead was one of the lake towns featured.  We worked extensively with Frommer’s to provide them with a variety of insights regarding the area.  They then chose what they wanted to highlight from what we gave them.  This story was picked up by MSNBC and Yahoo and ran on the front page of both of these international websites.  Millions, both across the United States and world-wide, had exposure to the story that we helped generate.

 

In late fall, the Boston Globe newspaper, a New York Times publication featured the Lake Arrowhead Communities in their travel section.  Again, we spent many hours with the writer to ensure the story reflected the essence of the area.  The Boston Globe’s circulation is 500,000 and then the story stayed on their website, www.boston.com for several weeks and can be found in their archives.

 

We also partnered with the County of San Bernardino Economic Development Agency last Labor Day weekend at the Auto Club Speedway during the August NASCAR event which drew people from across the country.   

 

We have an on-going partnership with the California Travel and Tourism Commission to be part of the annual California Visitor Guide which is mailed out to over 1 million requests for information regarding vacationing in California.

 

On a State level:

 

Another on-going partnership is with the Inland Empire Tourism Council.  Using our partnership with them we stretch our marketing dollars by sending our information to travel trade shows such as the LA Times Travel Show, (this year we also hit the World Travel Mart in London, England to get our info to the European traveler) and the Southern California Media event for all So. Cal. media in Los Angeles. 

 

We partnered with the Inland Empire Film Commission to bring 20 film, television and commercial location managers to the Lake Arrowhead Communities for 2 nights and 3 days in the fall to scout for potential filming locations.  We “wined and dined” them and made sure their itinerary included all of our communities and a variety of potential locations for film, television and commercial production.

 

On a Regional level:

 

We send out press releases regularly to our very extensive media list regarding the major events that happen in the Lake Arrowhead Communities.  Most Southern California papers list our events in their calendar sections, many publish our releases and include a photo if they have room, many radio and television stations give us mentions for free – bottom line is our So. Cal. media is very receptive to what we send them due to the long, strong relationship we have built with them over the years.

 

We work with independent/freelance writers each and every month and are continuously supplying entities with photos and stories regarding our communities as well as hosting and entertaining them while they are in our communities.

 

Social Marketing:

 

Over the five day Memorial Day weekend, it is worthwhile to note we  had over 11,100 people read about visitors coming to Lake Arrowhead.  The Summer Concert Series has been a big draw for Twitterers and those using Facebook, but so has the 25^th Annual Antique and Classic Wooden Boat Show, the beautiful weather we had in May and our weekly Wednesday Weekend Update that we tweet out every Wednesday to get people ready for the weekend.

 

Also, a large travel site just tweeted out their Travel Top 10 Best California Destinations and Lake Arrowhead made that Top 10 list.

 

So, while the fires of 2003 and 2007 helped garner us more publicity than we ever really wanted, they also helped make the country aware of the Lake Arrowhead Communities and have helped us in the long run with our marketing strategy and success.

The Cumberland Times-News of West Virginia reports that nationally it has been determined that of every $100 in spending with a locally-owned business, $68 stays in the local economy.  Wow, that’s some statistic isn’t it?

 

Right now of course everyone is watching their pocketbooks.  But a recent survey conducted by the Lake Arrowhead Communities Chamber of Commerce did note that while you might find things cheaper “down the hill,” it costs all of us on average $33 to make the round trip down to the valley below.  So it’s worth considering what exactly we are saving in the long run.

 

We were around for the original “Shop on Top” program in the early 90’s and its subsequent resurgence in the late 90’s.  There were some very “pro” Shop on Top people and then there was a large, vocal group who made it clear that they thought our program was strictly hype.

 

Well, what was true then still holds true today.  Local businesses generally use local services. Going one step further, another national study states that money spent locally circulates an average of seven times.

 

We are living in a time of “what’s in it for me” and how do I save more money.  Well, we argue that even if (and that’s a big if) considering what it costs to travel “down the hill,”  we can all save a few dollars what’s in it for us is the opportunity to have stores locally that can supply us with our daily needs and wants.  If we don’t support our local merchants then jobs go away, our neighbors lose employment, we lose our neighbors as they have to move to find new jobs, our schools lose more enrollment, we won’t be able to support local fundraising causes and the trickle down effect would be awful.

 

Most Chambers have some sort of Shop Locally program.  We will be kicking off a new Think Mountain First program over the next few weeks.  We have a group of citizens who have been working tirelessly in coming up with an awareness program to help all of us to keep our dollars on the mountain.

 

So while we understand we all have to just get off the mountain from time to time, all of us at the Lake Arrowhead Communities Chamber of Commerce support our locally owned businesses and we hope you do to!

 

 

 

There is no doubt that tourism is a major global economic force.  In the United States, approximately $740 billion are spent each year in tourism from both domestic and international travelers.

 

In most resort communities, tourism is the “lifeblood” of economic development and when the economy takes a downturn, tourism is the one economic development entity that can carry a resort community through the tough times.

 

The Lake Arrowhead Communities are set up perfectly to make the most of the tourist dollar.  It is a fact that retail, restaurants and quality events are what tourists are looking for.  Those things, coupled with the “staycation” philosophy for 2009 makes our communities a very desirable tourist destination.

 

There is great value (both monetarily and for quality of life issues) for taking a vacation to our area.  To that end, the Lake Arrowhead Communities Chamber of Commerce is focusing their marketing dollars on promoting the ease of a visit here.  Through traditional means, print and radio media, as well as through new social marketing channels, the Chamber is getting the word out that the Lake Arrowhead Communities are exactly what Southern California tourists are looking for this year – a place to reconnect with their family and friends and a place to appreciate the surroundings and enjoy some very relaxing days.

 

If the Lake Arrowhead Film Festival is any barometer, we saw at the beginning of the month how popular Lake Arrowhead is and how hungry tourists are for quality events.  While we have something for every pocketbook, regardless of how much a tourist spends our area holds a wonderful “perceived” value simply for the great “quality” time our visitors find here.

 

The San Bernardino Economic Development Agency works closely with the Lake Arrowhead Communities Chamber of Commerce to help promote our area via their agency.  It is a wonderful partnership and helps to further our Chamber’s economic development strategy.

 

For an upcoming calendar of events visit http://tinyurl.com/cwb6kc

Are you promoting events via social marketing venues?  We just gave it our first try and here is what we learned….

 The Goal:   

To simply extend the reach of our 10^th Annual Film Festival.

What we did:

We had a group of people involved to send Tweets and to post on Facebook

We set up a special hash tag for posting on Twitter.

We encouraged attendees during the 4 day event to post.

 What we learned:

It’s difficult as social marketing “newbies” to find time and remember to do the posting.

Those who are involved in social marketing embraced what we were doing.

The majority of people attending had no clue regarding social marketing and we got lots of interesting comments regarding our efforts.

 Our overall assessment:

Did we accomplish our goal?  Yes, we think so to a certain extent.  Our local community certainly embraced our social marketing activity.  We have more documentation of the event than we have ever had before.  Tons of pictures, video, quotes and a few new followers. 

So, for the first time out, YES, social marketing worked for us.  Do we have a lot to learn?  YES we certainly do.  Will we continue down this social marketing path – a big YES to that!

 We would love to hear from anyone/any Chamber/any organization that is in the same boat as us.  We would love to compare thoughts and ideas at any time.