Conveniently located next to the Blue Ridge Parkway and just 8 miles from Waynesville, North Carolina stands the quaint and majestic 100-year-old Balsam Mountain Inn. Sporting 50 bead board rooms complete with claw foot tubs and a decidedly mountain cottage-style feel, reservations include breakfast and as much rocking in the rocking chair as you desire. Dinner is also available onsite if you choose not to venture out. If you do, the Frogs Leap Public House is an excellent choice. Of course, there is plenty of access to hiking, kayaking, and exploring Smoky National Park.
I have officially started a new position as director of account management in the marketing and communications department at the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
I will primarily be serving the Global Commerce teams as they generate economic development throughout the state. They are an active group composed of 5 main teams:
Aerospace, Defense and Advanced Manufacturing
Logistics, Energy, Agribusiness and Food Processing
Corporate Solutions
Health Sciences and Advanced Technologies
Existing Industry and Regional Recruitment
International Investments
In addition, ten international offices actively represent and promote the state to key decision makers in their regions.
In 2011, the International Trade Team assisted 265 trade deals in at least 37 countries; meanwhile, the Global Commerce team members supported 158 missions and trade shows.
The Georgia Department of Economic Development also operates its Tourism Division as well as Film, Music & Digital Entertainment.
Another key business team is the Georgia Centers of Innovation. Focused on six industry clusters and located throughout the state, the Centers assist and partner with Georgia companies to help them accelerate growth and provide industry-specific knowledge, connections and innovative business solutions.
For example, Bioscience:
There is a lot going on here in the state of Georgia. Stay tuned!
Case Studies are probably not the first thing you want to cozy up next to the fire with – and some can make your eyes bleed – but they are effective tools for communicating what you actually do for clients. Get beyond the marketing spin and there is some quality content there.
This year I included a rather bold but hopefully doable strategic initiative which is to produce 1 case study per month. It is now March and so far I have 3 in the bag. Hopefully I can keep it up.
One just completed this week was in conjunction with Savvis, the industry leader in cloud computing. Based in Atlanta, my company uses their infrastructure to manage thousands of media and newspaper properties in North America.
As I state in the case study,
“The media industry has undergone a tremendous revolution in how content is consumed,” said Robert Payne, director of marketing for SAXOTECH. “Our cloud solutions have helped the media leaders compete and get to where they are today.”
Here are a couple of others:
The E. W. Scripps Company is a diverse media concern with interests in newspaper publishing, broadcast television stations and syndication. Scripps operates daily and community newspapers in 13 markets, and 19 broadcast TV stations. Scripps also operates Scripps Howard News Service and United Media, the worldwide syndication home of Dilbert, Marmaduke and 150 other features and characters.
The Daily Herald, a Paddock Publication, is the third largest newspaper in Illinois. With more than 1,300 square miles of coverage, including 100 communities and 21 advertising and content editioning zones, the Daily Herald is one of the most complex newspapers in the industry and sets the standard for localized and personalized print and online news and information.
Honored by Editor & Publisher magazine for 10 Newspapers That Do It Right, The Daily Herald was singled out for its organizational changes… to efficiently coordinate and disseminate newsroom content in print and digitally.
Just returned from San Antonio, Texas where I organized a special event for more than 400 publishers and media executives at the Sunset Station.
Logistics from:
Event Location
Transportation
Catering
Specialty Drinks
Country Band
Mariachi Band
Flamenco Dancers
Booth
Banners
Posters
Flyers
Email Marketing
Social Marketing
Videography
Photography
Presentations
…were all a part of the event marketing and management process.
After last year’s event I had some high expectations to meet, but I think everyone had a great time. What’s more, it served as a great branding and marketing vehicle.
As one individual stated to me after my follow-up email marketing message:
“I’ve never seen a more compelling followup to a convention by an exhibitor, even though I’ve been in the trade press for more than 30 years. Bravo.“
Produced a new video recently. I know it is a little corporate but that is how it needed to roll. When I was writing the script, the main challenge was condensing 18 years of company history in to roughly 3 minutes. Of course, I got lost in Neo Sounds trying to find the right mood. There are folks out there who can appreciate what I am saying.
The intersection of business and lifestyle. Robert Payne | Seattle, Washington
