February 16, 2011

Business Cards from Fleamasters in Fort Myers

Fleamasters offers a unique shopping experience in Southwest Florida. The vendors featured below were visited on a pleasantly cool Sunday in February.

Here is a sample of businesses that call the Flea Mall home:

(download)

Vendors

AAA Watch Service (watch, clock and jewelry repair)

All About Bicycles (bike, sales, service, parts, accessories)

Bali Boutique (sunglasses, readers, Pali sandals)

Cats Meow Jewelers (cubic zirconia, jewelry)

Country Kisses (hand made soybean candles, primitive home decor and more)

Decorators Den (original metal wall sculptures, wine decor, collectable fairies and tassel dolls)

Eyerman and Associates (professional, Realtor)

F.R. Carpet & Rugs (carpet sales, installation, binding, fringing, custom rugs, area rugs)

Frames and More (laser engraving)

Golf World (golfing, practice ranges, discount shops)

Green Acres Bird House (specializing in handfed birds, cages, toys, food, supplies)

Janets Jewels (14 Karat gold, diamonds, designer pieces)

JD Shoes (shoes, sandals, orthodics)

Marthas Luggage and Giftware (inspired handbags)

Music 1 Stop (audio books on CD, buy, sell, trade, CD's and disc gear, 50's music)

Natural Sun (all natural suntanning lotion)

Ocean Breeze Wine Shop (specialty wine, gifts and accessories)

Pedros Fine Jewelry (expert repairs, cash for jewelry)

Pepe Le Pew Perfumes (fragrances, colognes)

Remax Realty Group III (Realtors)

Sharons Sunglasses and Readers (latest styles, competitive prices)

S. S. Rainbow (Hawaiian apparel)

Stellas Cell Stuff (mobile phone, iPhone, iTouch, Bluetooth accessories)

The Hat Shop (Western, golf, fishing, hats, casual clothing, area rugs, carpet runners)

The Jewelry Man Can (one-of-a-kind pieces, custom designs, stone setting, watch batteries, ring sizing, repairs while you wait)

Time On My Hands (keep music in your life)

Vickis Avon and Gifts (Avon, cosmetics, gifts)

Winks Natural Goods (Smoke Fine Foods)

March 17, 2010

Business After Hours at Nirvana in Fort Myers

WHO: The Hispanic Chamber and American Business Networking

WHAT: Business After Hours - Fort Myers

WHERE: Nirvana Restaurant at 9101 College Pkwy, Fort Myers, FL 33919

WHEN: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 ~ 5:30pm to 8:00pm

HOW: "The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the American Business Networking invite you to join them at their monthly event. Don't miss this fun event and a great opportunity to make new contacts!"

via The Hispanic Chamber of Southwest Florida newsletter

Notes: "Our organization is SW Florida's finest. We do not require that you belong to any particular affiliation or possess any previous memberships to join our organization."

March 15, 2010

Ribbon Cutting for Naples Only Green Conscious Certified Salon

WHO: Andrea's Organic Hair Studio

WHAT: Ribbon Cutting

WHERE: 6714 Lone Oak Blvd., Naples, FL 34135

WHEN: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 ~ 5:00pm to 7:00pm

HOW: Great food!! Great networking!! Teaching clients new ways to incorporate healthier choices into their daily routines. We strive to research and offer you best, the safest and highest quality in products that is available.

via The Hispanic Chamber of Southwest Florida newsletter

Notes: "A range of natural and organic hair and skin treatments, Whole health guidance and nutrition coaching with lots of books to borrow, Ammonia free color, Luxurious shampoo and soothing scalp massage with every cut! Hair and skin care: Only the best organic brands that have been research like all the products we carry."

September 20, 2009

A Double-D Grand Opening to Delight Attendees

Text:

GRAND OPENING - OCTOBER 1, 2009

You Are Cordially Invited to the Grand Opening of a Unique Fashion Boutique

Designer Deight - European Fashion for Women & Men, never before seen. is coming to Bell Tower Shops

4:00 P.M. Ribbon Cutting by: SOUTHWEST FLORIDA HISPANIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

5:00 P.M. Ribbon Cutting by: GREATER FORT MYERS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

6:00 P.M. Ribbon Cutting by: Tammy Hall, Lee County Commissioner Randy Henderson, Fort Myers City Councilman

GRAND OPENING SPECIALS - CELEBRATION

Complimentary Hors D'oeuvres & Fine European Wine
Exciting Door Prizes
Special store discounts all day

We invite you to come and celebrate with us,

Karin and Peter...

~~~

Source:

~~~

Local Twestival Event Poster (2009)

Text:

www.TwestivalSWFL.com

How Small Businesses are Using Content Marketing and Social Media to Attract Customers

The [Social Media Club of Southwest Florida’s] marketing panel discussion to be held on September 22, 2009 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM.

Excerpt from newsletter:

Keynote speaker for the evening ... [is with] Content Marketing Strategies and its parent corporation, Voyager Media, Inc.

The meeting will be held at the new Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport at Town Center.

FM Holiday Inn

[Source : http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hotel/fmyar/transportation]

August 26, 2009

Why Not Use Social Media?

"Why not use social media" was the general sentiment of the six panelists of the Social Media Club's discussion yesterday evening. The idea of using Facebook and Twitter for marketing contrasts with the tone of the questions that arose from the audience during the brief question and answer session afterwards. The panelists responded to questions regarding the profitiblity of using new mediums over traditional media like radio, print and television. Marketing-minded members of the audience referred to ROI or Return on Investment:

The percentage of profit that results in a marketing or advertising campaign. Naturally, advertisers want the amount of money made to exceed the money spent.

[Source: http://www.small-business-software.net/ppc-definitions.htm]

Because participating in social media (often in real time) is time intensive, It makes sense that a business operator would want to measure an increase in revenue stemming from such activity. The 'real time' nature of the technology in question was readily apparent as members of the audience (present and online) chimed in via Twitter with their replies that displayed almost immediately on a large projection screen at stage front.

August 25, 2009

Traditional Media Panel Discussion for SWFL Users

Excerpt from site:

The [Social Media Club of Southwest Florida’s] traditional media panel discussion to be held on August 25th from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The meeting will be held at the new Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport at Town Center.

FM Holiday Inn

[Source : http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hotel/fmyar/transportation]

August 21, 2009

Glass Windows Installer Gets Groovy Makeover

Here is the before and after shot (after on top):

A New Look for Bahama Glass

As you can see, every part of the Bahama Glass beach front theme was upgraded. The design team at Get Groovy! updated the font, color scheme and palm tree graphic. Not only does the makeover update the look and feel of the Bahama Glass business card; the pronouced waves (lightly mirrored in the background) seem to convey a sense of a storm a-brewin'. This is quite appropriate considering that Bahama Glass installs high quality PGT windows and doors and hurricane shutters.

It is also worth mentioning that the reverse side of the newly minted logo and business card design is just as "high impact" in terms of imagery and visibility.

August 14, 2009

Visualizing Business Networking Activity in SW Florida

A Connected Outlook Without Outlook

Attend any one of the numerous business networking group events in our local area and you can walk away with a dozen or more business cards and other marketing materials. After a week or so, the question quickly arises as what to do with all this information.

If you're a Windows user with a card scanner, you could import the resulting OCR'd data into Outlook's contact manager. However, if you don't have it installed on the portable computing device of your choosing then you might consider integrating your list of contacts with Gmail. Outlook does not do web mail nearly as well even when Exchange server is present, anyway.

In a perfect world you could rest assured that everyone would have a Facebook and/or Twitter account and subsequently add/follow you on a whim. You could spam update and message anybody on a per-invitation basis. Phone numbers and website URL's that are not stored on a mobile device could just as easily be looked up on a user's profile page. Although I don't think we're there yet. I can tell you that the likes (no pun intended) of the emergent social media gurus in our service-based economy will make this a reality in the not so distant future.

But what about the here and now?

Should I sit idly by, my card collection would grow beyond usability in just a few months. There are too many names to remember and companies to track. When all is said and done, the Rolodex was always best viewed from a desktop environment--literally.

If the exchanging of business cards (on paper stock) is a mere formality that will eventually fade into the shadows of time as we come to take connecting with others electronically for granted, then why bother? What if the the cards themselves, with all the artwork and graphic design that went into creating them in the first place, is a source of vital information that often goes unnoticed.

If a picture is truly worth a thousand words, then what's missing from this picture?

The Shingles Scene

From what I gather in the blogosphere, sites like DirectoryOfCapeCoral.com and 239Tweets.com have implemented blogging software complete with custom plugins to manage their directory listings.

One only need to subscribe to Kenneth Udut on FriendFeed.com to see how the periodic (vs. categorical) nature of a web log can transform a standard (read: static) directory list into an RSS-powered, data-streaming juggernaut.

In turn, if you consider that most image galleries now have RSS capability, why not treat the business card as its very own article and post accordingly?

The search bar in the upper lefthand corner of the gallery works and is a good way to help identify desirable keywords for a particular industry. Weighing in at around 70 listings at post time (not counting the ones I've misplaced), here is what I have so far:

A new kind of visual business directory; fully searchable, focusing on the artwork and imagery of a business' primary networking tool ... the business card.

SWFL Mobile for Business

Southwest Florida Business Networks, Market Trends and Press Releases in a Mobile Format