On Wednesday, April 28, 2010, The Annual Rural Maine Small Business Conference and Business To Business Show will be held in Dover-Foxcroft at the Penquis Higher Education Center located at 50 Mayo Street.

The purpose of the conference is to help foster the success of microenterprises and small businesses in the greater Piscataquis County area and all of rural Maine. The conference expects to attract over 100 micro & small business owners.

The conference will filled with many topic such as a presentation from Microsoft, Using Social Media and the Web in your business, Keynote Speaker David Lee of the HumanNature@Work, What’s In It For Me session, lunch, networking and Business to Business services and resources.

Making the Most of Social Media & The Web by Jenika Scott

Jenika manages Hall’s parent channel relationships, as well as assists with Hall’s inbound marketing efforts. www.hallme.com/blog/author/jenika/ Hall Web Services is a Maine owned web design, web development and internet marketing firm, providing business class web services to small and medium sized companies worldwide.

Keynote Speaker David Lee & “What’s In It For Me” Session

David is the founder of HumanNature@Work and is an internationally recognized authority on organizational and managerial practices that optimize performance. Some of the areas he will be covering: Get Great or Become Extinct, Why Good is No Longer Good Enough, In Today’s “Tell All” World, Creating the “Wow” Experience, If You Want Lot’s of Repeat Business and Free PR, Here’s What You Do plus take home tools to help your business. He will be offer a follow up tele-conference. FMI: www.humannatureatwork.com This training is part of the Maine Woods Tourism Training Initiative – a project supported by the Maine Woods Consortium with funding from the Betterment Fund and USDA Rural Development. To learn more, visit www.mainewoodsconsortium.org/mmh/programs/content/tourism-training.html.

Business 2 Business Show still has spaces open for business to business products, services and/or resources. For more information please visit the web site.

Penquis products display is open to any business taking part in the conference. For more information please visit the web site.

Remember to bring your business card for some great networking opportunities

The Rural Maine Small Business Conference’s sponsors and partners are Penquis, MaineStream Finance, Piscataquis County Economic Development Council, Penquis Higher Education Center, James Macomber’s Maine’s Best Web & Media Design & Green Web Hosting, Hall Web Services, Small Business Administration, Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce, Moosehead Lake Chamber of Commerce, Maine Woods Tourism Training Initiative, Maine Woods Consortium, Betterment Fund and USDA Rural Development

Scholarships are still available. To register go online at www.ruralmainebiz.org and click “Registration” then choose online or download the registration.

FMI:

www.ruralmainebiz.org

Contact persons: Sheree Brown or James Macomber

Phone: 564-7116 or 1-800-215-4942

Email: sabrown@penquis.org or jmacomber@penquis.org

PORTLAND, Maine – Promenade Media, a web marketing firm in Maine, has launched its brand new, WordPress-powered website. Promenade Media offers services in creating transparency, generating qualified leads, and spreading awareness and knowledge using social media marketing tools, online video production, and effective web copy. Promenade Media specializes in working with small businesses, non-profits, and musicians – helping them harness the power of enthusiasm on the web in order to raise their online profile and strengthen their brand identity.

“It can be very frustrating relying on another company – Google – for the success of an SEO campaign and, ultimately, the growth of a business,” says Owner and Chief Marketing Strategist, Josh Valentine. “We strive to motivate business owners, activists, and musicians to take control of their marketing efforts and focus more on social media optimization (SMO) – such as participation on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter, consistent blogging, or online video. SMO is becoming more and more important – until, of course, the next thing comes around.”

Promenade Media’s past projects include work with USM’s Muskie School of Public Service, Working Together: Expanding Maine’s Workforce, Maine Animal Coalition, and Maine Businesses for Sustainability. They have also done video campaigns for The Island, a side project of the popular national jam band, The Disco Biscuits. Currently in the works: a video campaign for New York jam band, God Street Wine, social media marketing for Maine Center on Deafness, and an interview series on social media for musicians with Tears For Fears co-founder and bassist, Curt Smith.

“One of our company goals is to differentiate ourselves in the crowded world of social media and internet marketing,” says Valentine. “We look to work closely with small business owners or marketing executives and coach them on growing their business using online tools; maintaining web presences for non-profits looking to promote a cause; or musicians interested in taking control of their career and promoting their art without an intrusive record company.”

Valentine goes on to explain that Promenade Media is a “green business, highly focused on social responsibility and sustainability. The expansion of non-profits and theses types of activities will only be a boon to Maine’s future economy.” He says, “non-profits must be as aggressive as small businesses when it comes to participating online. Social media is a new way of doing business and the transparency it creates is mostly a good thing.”

Promenade Media was founded in 2007 by Josh Valentine, Owner and Chief Marketing Strategist. Josh is also the President of the Maine Marketing Association (with his term beginning next month). Connect with Promenade Media on their website, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Portland, Maine – The Maine Marketing Association is pleased to announce it’s next Lunch & Learn. Bob Tiernan, President of Cameo Marketing, will be presenting “The Importance of Human Contact in a Digital Age” at the April event. The Lunch & Learn will be held on Wednesday, April 21 at TechMaine, 506 Main Street in Westbrook. The 80 minute presentation will begin promptly at 11:40 AM, with registration and networking beginning at 11:00. Lunch is included in the program fee.

About the seminar

Despite our love affair for all things technological, in a recent survey of top sales and marketing professionals, event marketing was voted the number one discipline for producing results. Bob Tiernan, President of Cameo Marketing, will explore the power of one-on-one event marketing and how it can help your organization build strong consumer relationships that result in the creation of brand evangelists and drive sales. You’ll leave with a greater appreciation for the importance of maintaining human connections, especially in today’s world, in which we as marketers have become increasingly dependent upon electronic and digital communications.

Topics include

• The definition of event marketing and its history as a relatively new marketing force.
• The seven key benefits of event marketing and how well-crafted brand experiences can connect your organization with its consumers.
• Why and how event marketing continues to deliver an exceptionally strong ROI.
• Real-world examples of how Cameo Marketing clients have benefited by strengthening their connections with customers through event marketing.

About Bob Tiernan

Cameo Marketing was founded in 1992 by Bob and his wife Bonnie, and represents the fulfillment of Bob’s dream to build a second career. A native New Englander, Bob spent much of his professional life in the broadcasting industry and held executive level positions at Selcom, Westinghouse Broadcasting and CRN International. Bob provides leadership and creativity in the design of Cameo projects – from concept to fabrication to execution

Networking and registration for the seminar, which is open to both MMA members and non-members, begins at 11:00 AM. The presentation starts promptly at 11:40 and ends at 1:00. The cost for lunch is included in the fee: $15 members, $35 non-members, $10 students. TechMaine members may also attend at the MMA member rate. To register for the Lunch & Learn, please click HERE.

The Maine Marketing Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing ongoing marketing-related education and support to its members and to the region’s business community. It is the first group of its kind in Maine, dedicated exclusively to marketing education. Membership is just $89 for a full year.