GROW News
April 7, 2010
The Power of Facebook
Help your fellow GROW members out by becoming a fan of their Facebook pages! By fanning other member's pages you can see what other small business owners are doing throughout the state and learn how you can work together to grow Nebraska's economy.
To make it easy to find member pages,
GROW Nebraska has linked to all of them on our Facebook page. To fan members' pages, click the link below, then on the left hand side of the page under fans you'll see "favorite pages". Click "see all" and fan the pages you have not fanned already. So far 131 members have pages!
If you need help creating a page, please contact Ashley Blickenstaff.
Fan Pages Now >>
E-mail Ashley Now >>
Are You Taking Advantage of the GROW Facebook Page?
Remember that you can post your upcoming events, information about your products, and promotions on the GROW Nebraska Facebook page! To do so, however, you first must become a fan. This is a great way to reach 3,386 people who are interested in Nebraska products and services.
Become a Fan Now >>
Marketing Workshop in McCook
Twitter Tense? Facebook Frets? Utterli Uneasy? Social Media Stressing You Out? We Can Help!
GROW Nebraska has teamed up with the University of Nebraska Extension Specialists to help you reduce your anxiety in keeping up with the social media marketing craze.
Social media marketing is essential to increasing brand awareness and expanding your online business presence. However, if you don’t understand how it works, thinking about posting tweets, updating your Facebook page and incorporating your blog into the media mix seems overwhelming.
Not only will we teach you how to save time by being more efficient when using social media, but we are bringing the "Get Social Sessions" to you. Spots are filling quickly! Price is $10/person. If you have questions, call us at 888.GROW.NEB or e-mail us at
info@grownebraska.org. If you are interested in attending one of these workshops, please sign up
HERE.
- May 4 - McCook - 9am - 12pm
Earth Day Promotion
Join GROW Nebraska as we celebrate Earth Day at the State Farm Campus in Lincoln on April 21, 2010 from 11:30am-1:00pm. You can do this prior to the pre-conference. This opportunity is limited to the first five that sign up. This is a promotional event. You will not be able to sell items but sampling is encouraged.
Sign up here to participate in this great event. If you have questions, please e-mail
info@grownebraska.org.
FREE Photo Days!
GROW Nebraska will be offering FREE photography at the Pre-Conference and Marke
Tech Conferences in April. This is a great time to get your items' photos taken for the
GROW eCommerce site. This service typically costs $15/photo, so this is a wonderful opportunity!
Please note: You MUST sign up to receive this free service.
If you are planning on attending either the Pre-Conference or MarkeTECH conference and would like photography taken, please sign up today so we can be prepared. Please note all photographs will be taken on a white background with no "props" and will be for individual products only; no group shots allowed. Limit 20 photos per member.
Remember, you MUST attend either of the conferences to qualify.
Sign Up Today
>>
GoodShop
GROW Nebraska recently signed up for program called
GoodShop.com. At GoodShop.com you can shop at more than 1,000 stores including Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Dell, Old Navy, Priceline.com, Toys-R-Us and more. ALSO, just by adding the search toolbar to your browser you can also donate ...money. From April 6 - April 9, they will donate $1 for every toolbar downloaded and then, every time you do a web search, a donation is made to GROW Nebraska.
MarketTech Conference
The GROW Nebraska Annual Meeting is now called the GROW Nebraska Conference. This year's conference will be held in Lincoln on April 22 from 8 am-5 pm.
The conference will also feature the annual product evaluation, a service business trade show, a wonderful meal and many great speakers.
Chris Russell, operations manager at Google, will be the keynote speaker. View the
speaker's profiles and the conference agenda
here.
Food and beverage members, if you are attending the conference, you are eligible to promote your food product by providing a snack during breaks at the conference.
E-mail us if you're interested.
Sign up for
here. If you have any questions, please contact us at 888.476.9632 or e-mail us at
info@grownebraska.org.
Pre-conference: For Members Only!
The 2010 Pre-Conference will feature GROW Member, Michele Johnson of Art Cottage Web Site Development and Michele M. Johnson Fine Art. Michele will be covering many aspects of successful web sites and will touch on how to incorporate social networking into your web site for a larger web presence.
After the presentation, GROW Staff and UNL Extension will also be available for one-on-one technical assistance in the areas of product description and pictures, social networking, and adding the affiliated program to your web site.
The pre-conference will be held April 21, from 2 pm – 5 pm at the Holiday Inn Express & Hotel Suites, Lincoln Airport. The pre-conference is for GROW Nebraska members only and has a limited space.
Sign up now to register!
Rooms are available for the discounted rate under GROW Nebraska. Call 402-464-0588 to reserve a hotel room.
GROW Food Members: Important Network Meeting
GROW Food Members:
GROW Nebraska is going to host a network meeting for Nebraska food businesses. The purpose of the meeting to discuss marketing needs of businesses and how we can better work together. If possible, please bring something everyone can taste that contains your product so everyone can try your product – remember word of mouth is still the best form of advertising.
- When: Thursday, April 29
- Where: Conestoga Mall Grand Island Social Room
- Time: 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Please respond by or before April 15 by
clicking here.
*Please note if you are unable to attend this network meeting, please plan to attend the GROW Nebraska MarkeTECH Conference on April 22. During the conference a network meeting is also going to be held for industry specific products.
Click here to sign up.
State Capitol Open House
We are proud to announce that Senator Harms' office has generously agreed to host another open house for GROW Nebraska on April 12, 2010 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. The purpose of the open house will be to display and sample the wonderful products that are available in our state. We would like to have 20-25 members present to sample and showcase their products. This event will take place at the State Capital in room 1023. This is a wonderful opportunity to promote your product line to state senators, staff and other key personnel.
This event will be similar to last year. You will be able to sell your items that day. GROW Nebraska will be the cashier and will take 25% of the retail price.
Please click here to be included in this fantastic opportunity.
If you have questions, please contact us at
info@grownebraska.org or call 1.888.GROW.NEB.
Quick GROW Loans
Good news, the interest rate for the Quick GROW Express Loan remains at 5.25%! If you are interested in this loan opportunity, please contact us at
info@grownebraska.org.
Google AdWords Pilot Project
GROW Nebraska is starting a pilot project for Google AdWords in conjunction with GROW Member eGrowth Marketing. This project will allow members to access Google AdWords for FREE. If you sign up, we will help to promote your product using our Google AdWords account to try and increase sales on our eCommerce site.
To participate, you must have your items on the GROW eCommerce site at
shopgrownebraska.org. To find out if your product is available on our site,
click here and to see if your business is listed. Please remember that to have items on our eCommerce site you must have them available in the Kearney retail location.
If you are interested, please
sign up today. If your items are not available on the eCommerce site, you will be required to submit photos and descriptions for your product. Members will be limited to 5 products each to open the opportunity up to as many members as possible. If you have any questions about this service, please e-mail us at
info@grownebraska.org.
Sign Up Now >>
New Members
Kearney Chamber of Commerce - Kearney, NE
The Kearney Chamber’s mission is to promote the success and profitability of members through involvement, education, advocacy and marketing of the Kearney Area business community.
Member News
D. Jean Smith will be signing her new book,
Wolf's Rest & Other Tales of Southwest Nebraska, at A to Z Books, 507 North Jeffers in North Platte from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 17, 2010. Be sure to stop by and say hi!
Join Glenn and Margie Trembley, Owners of Springfield ArtWorks Gallery & Studio For Garden Gate, an artist showcase and sale.This is a garden event showcasing local artist work. The event is going on April 23, 10am-6pm, April 24, 10 am-6pm, and April 25, Noon-4pm at Springfield ArtWorks, 183 Main Street, Springfield, NE.
Ricky and Lucy's Greenhouse recently launched a new web site. You can view it and purchase online
here!
Sales and Marketing Seminar
On Tuesday, May 4th, the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur Task Force & Central Community College-Columbus R.E.A.P. (Rural Enterprise Assistance Program), and Nebraska Business Coaching, LLC will be hosting Sally Cohen, CEO/President of eGrowth Marketing on the CCC Campus for a strategic sales and marketing event. Sally is a Senior Sales Executive and expert in internet sales tools to change sales models and create lead generation.
The schedule for the day includes:
- 9-10:30 a.m. – Educational session with Sally
- 10:30-10:34 a.m. – Break
- 10:45 – 12:00 p.m. – Educational Session with Sally and Q&A
- 12-1:00 p.m. – Networking lunch on the CCC Campus
- 1-2 p.m – ‘Hands-On’ with Sally in a computer lab
- 2-4 p.m. – Q & A and continued hands-on in the computer lab
We are excited to bring such a high-level entrepreneur to Columbus and to have her share her knowledge with anyone who might benefit. Space is limited! For more information or to sign-up to attend contact Cori at 402-276-4509.
