Category: Community Engagement

The Fourth Annual BASC 2022 is one for the Record Books

Posted on | by Post and Courier Staff
The largest event of its kind in the state, BASC 2022 welcomed a record number of participants to scenic McCormick County, SC

Since its inaugural ride in 2019, Bicycle Across South Carolina (BASC) has invited participants of all ages and abilities to discover the natural beauty of communities across the Palmetto State while connecting with one another. The annual event, hosted by the Post and Courier, consists of a multi-day bicycle ride, plus camping and nightly entertainment and activities, with the goal of bringing together a community of like-minded enthusiasts.

… And BASC 2022 did not disappoint!


Spotlight on McCormick County

From October 13-16, 400 participants from 18 states and Europe descended to the pines and hill country of Sumter National Forest in McCormick County, South Carolina. From the base camp, located at the South Carolina Governor’s School for Agriculture at John de la Howe (JDLH), participants experienced an adventure of a lifetime, exploring up to 150 miles of beautiful, vast landscapes during one-to-three-day rides. In the evenings, family members, friends, and partners joined riders at the base camp, relaxing around the fire pits and enjoying live music, food, and drinks.

Every year, BASC chooses a different ride location, often highlighting “hidden gems” that may be new to some South Carolinians and out-of-staters. This year, $50,000 was awarded to the event from the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism (SCPRT) Undiscovered SC grant program, in support of driving tourism to underrepresented areas.

Several local and national businesses and organizations partnered with the McCormick County Chamber of Commerce and McCormick County Economic Development to make this year’s event possible.


Focus on the Future

The popularity of BASC has the Post and Courier team excited for the future. Chief Opportunity and Marketing Officer Chris Zoeller said riders return year after year and bring more friends and family.

“BASC is unique not only for the full-service experience, but the riders coming together as a community for their common passion of cycling and adventure,” Zoeller said. “Our riders love to see new parts of our beautiful state. And beyond riding, they love sharing their ride with others over a beer, at a campsite, and with local entertainment. They’re like a second family.”

“I’ve become so attached to this event over the past few years and even more so to the tight-knit community surrounding it,” said BASC Director Alison Warburton. “We’re currently working on a long-term plan for BASC, as gravel and off-road rides are becoming more popular in recent years. We’re definitely on the right path and I’m looking forward to BASC 2023!” 

For more information about advertising and sponsorship opportunities, visit our BASC event page.

10 Reasons to Start Planning Your 2021 Event Sponsorship

Posted on | by Peyton Riddle

2021 is on the horizon and there is no better time than now to make sponsorship plans. COVID-19 has affected the event landscape in a major way. Events are changing, and so should the way sponsorships are planned and executed.

Every business in the market wants to create an image of success and authority. But it’s not very easy when you are competing with the large, already established, companies. Through event sponsorship you can leverage the power of credibility.

If you are thinking of stretching your marketing budget, here are 10 reasons why you should sponsor an event.

Brand Visibility

Sponsoring an event brings your business in the limelight. The event you sponsor puts your business in front of a global audience and gets you a lot of mention in the social media and press. The bigger the event, the bigger the reach.

And in an era of virtual and online-hosted events, reach is actually increasing. More people are open to the idea of attending an event from the comfort of their couch. You don’t have to rely on only reaching the people who enjoy public outings. Under COVID lockdown measures, both audiences are engaging in virtual events.

Lead Generation

With event sponsorship you reach a huge population at one place. You get to meet your target audience and approach them all under one roof. The event organizers also provide a list of attendees which you can use for email marketing.

Business Relationships

Event sponsorship is an opportunity to meet non-competitive companies from your industry and in your area. Sponsorship is a way to collaborate, rather than compete. You can learn more about other businesses that share your target audience and likely hold the same values, which could help plan future partnerships.

Increase Sales of Products

With event sponsorship you get to increase your sales. You can put your products in the hands of your target audience and let them experience it. You can also pass on some free samples which will lead to increase in sales. In the virtual space, you can give product or service demonstrations. You can even have an easy way for the viewers to click through and sign up to learn more, opt in to email messaging or just make a purchase!

Show Social Responsibility

Event sponsorship is a way to show that your business supports a cause or mission about which your customers are passionate about. It helps you to build an image in the society and connect with customers on an emotional front.

Enhance Content & Social Media Marketing

Sponsoring an event gives you a lot of content for ramping up your strategies. Events can put your brand name in every possible social media platform including the event’s official website boosting your reach on social media.

Improve Your Company’s Image

When your business sponsors a big event with a wide enough base, the public perception of your business is as big as the host of the event. People see you as big professional and reputable business.

Learn More About Your Target Audience

Event sponsorships are an opportunity to meet your target audience, though not always in person. Virtual events will continue to be popular even after we start returning to in-person gatherings. But both types of events allow you to interact with your audience.

As a sponsor, you can work with the event host to hold an interactive Q&A segment as a part of a virtual event. Get the audience engaged and learn what they’re interested in, and ideally tie it back to what your business does.

Sponsorships are Affordable

Radio, television and print ads continue to work well and even work together. However, these take a great deal of your time and could potentially be out of your budget. Event sponsorships save you the time and money of having to target an audience. Let the audience choose to come to you through the event.

Get a Strong ROI

All in all, event sponsorships get you a solid return on investment. You get to approach your target audience, increase your sales and you get a list of leads to follow up with afterwards.

Event sponsorship is a deal with a lot of benefits. So start planning how this could fit into your 2021 budget now, before sponsorship slots fill up. Events often live or die based on sponsors, so showing that you have interest and can help support live and local events can help everyone involved.

Better 4 Business: Facebook or Instagram

Posted on | by Post and Courier Staff

Social media has become a dominating platform with 3.2 billion users worldwide. Facebook and Instagram making up a large portion of that use, especially when it comes to business and social media marketing.

While the excitement of using social media to gain more business is intriguing more than ever, you may not need to utilize both social media platforms to see immense success.

The decision and comparison can be overwhelming. We have taken the top attributes of each and broken them down for you to decide which is Better 4 Your Business.

Facebook 4 Business

Facebook, being the matriarch of social media, has many attributes that it brings to the business table.

Industries like alcohol, Food & Beverage, sports teams, hotels, and non-profits being the breadwinner of engagement. So, businesses do well.

For starters, a wider audience. Facebook has 1.6 Billion users, while Instagram has about 112.5 million. This audience is heavily diverse but has an older audience. What those numbers tell us is that Facebook has more opportunity for more people to see your content, paid or organic.

What those numbers also tell us is that while there is a high potential for more people to see your content, they most likely will not see or engage with it. Facebook has a significantly low engagement rate of only 0.09%.

This is why targeting ads is so important. And Facebook does this factor in a great way.

The implementation of an interactive carousel ad. This ad format has shown great success for a B2B audience. This leads to retargeting.

Retargeting tracks when prospects visit your site and then display a relevant ad to that user when they are on the platform.

Using a look-a-like audience to target the ideal audience is also a feature that Facebook does well. You can specifically target individuals with a specific demographic, interest, etc. This helps to strategically pinpoint an audience rather than hoping your ad reaches who you want it to reach.

In addition, retargeting via Facebook not only gains a more specified audience but plays well in SEO tactics.

“Facebook retargeting, in cohesion with SEO tactics, places an undisputed level of efficiency. Rather than targeting a new demographic of customers, using the pixel you are targeting users who have shown the initial interest based on SEO.” Seo Marketer

Another point worth mentioning is that Facebook’s online shopping presence is top-notch. Facebook Marketplace is a mogul in social media shopping.

Outside of shopping, Facebook’s business pages are highly reputable. In fact, having a Facebook Business Page unlocks several benefits for your business in the long run.

Insert Instagram.

Instagram 4 Business

Instagram has captured social media like its iconic logo. So much so, that other social media platforms actually use its design as a model, Facebook included.

Instagram is the trendier of the comparative duo. The demographics reflect this. Instagram tends to attract the younger audience, millennials more specifically.

What is most intriguing about the fact that a young audience drives Instagram stats, is that users report that they follow at least one business religiously.

Another thing to note? One-third of Instagram users have made an online purchase within the Instagram app. Sixty-percent of users uses Instagram to seek out new products, or have discovered new products using the app. This is why the influencer industry is booming!

Perhaps the best part of advertising with Instagram is that about 72% of marketers are currently making use of it.
Instagram also shines in social media for the median 1.22 percent engagement rate it carries. The lowest engagement industry is retail which is .67 percent.

That’s nearly 7 times higher than Facebook’s median engagement rate. In fact, this is 5 times higher than the highest engaged industry on Facebook.

Now, to be fair, again – Instagram does have a significantly lower amount of users than Facebook.

One thing Instagram undoubtedly does well at is the Instagram shop capability. Similar to Facebook’s carousel feature of showcasing products or a list of services in a way that does not feel like you are being sold to, this does exactly that.

Instagram also uses the same targeting, retargeting, and look-a-like audience models as Facebook. Actually, Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012. So, while they are two different companies, the puls side is that they both use Facebook Business Manager to post ads.

Then, the most obvious difference between Facebook and Instagram is that Instagram is more visibly pleasing. For most ads that you are served within the app, you do not even realize that you are viewing an ad. The flawless advertising makes Instagram a successful platform in this sense.

Best 4 Business

So, who reigns champ? Let’s review.

Facebook has 1.6 billion users compared to Instagram’s 11.2 million users. However, Instagram’s median engagement rate is nearly 7 times higher than Facebook’s. While this may attribute to more users causing the engagement rate to water down, breaking down the engagement rate per industry returns the same results.

Instagram is also geared towards a younger audience, but an audience that yearns to shop. Facebook also has a great Facebook shopping capability, the site shows great plays in carousel advertisements.

Additionally, having a Facebook Business page may hold a greater weight than not having one. Facebook Business is a noteworthy complement to your website and business.

Also mentioned above the fact that Facebook owns Instagram. So, regardless of which you prefer, both have the same advertising tools out of Facebook Business Manager. You won’t be jipped of that aspect if you choose exclusively Instagram.

Honestly, the two things the decision boils down to are what you want your content to be and who your audience is. Are you looking for more pictures or videos? Younger or older audience? Broad or specific audience? Breaking those down will help you to decide which is better 4 your business.

Another truth?

Having one over another will not hurt your business. Having both definitely will not hurt your business. What will hurt your business is not accurately strategizing your content and advertising on these platforms.

What could be Better 4 Business is partnering with The Post and Courier.

Highlights: Steeplechase of Charleston 2020

Posted on | by Post and Courier Staff

November 15, 2020, starts with sunshine and smog rolling over the hills of the Stono Ferry Racetrack. Clouds pushing through bringing soft rain throughout the morning as people trickle into place. The skies open up and give way to miraculous sunshine just in time for the races, leading to a gorgeous fall day at Steeplechase of Charleston.

With amazing sponsors and numerous tailgaters, Steeplechase of Charleston 2020 is one for the books.

The opening ceremonies kick off with a high note as Grammy award-winning artists Quiana Parler and Charlton Singleton from Ranky Tanky perform the National Anthem for Steeplechase of Charleston. All of which stream internationally on the National Steeplechase Association (NSA), Blood Horse, and Horse and Country TV! Click here to watch! 

As the riders begin to take off, Opening Ceremonies sponsor Hopkins Law Firm gave the first “Riders Up!” followed by Mark Peper of Peper Law Firm who also gave a “Riders Up!”

A Crowning Achievement!

Steeplechase of Charleston became the qualifier of NSA’s trainer and jockey of the year Hall of Fame

trainer,  Jonathan Sheppard, and jockey, Gerard Galligan, who both left with winnings from 4 out of 5 of the races, a total of $50,000 in purse money. Read more about the winners here.

Another big winner? James Schelb winning the first-place raffle prize, a trip to Haig Point on Daufuskie Island! Charlie Black coming in second-place winning the raffle prize of a unique equestrian bottle of Blanton’s Bourbon. The raffle overall raising $2,100 for Hollings Cancer Center. Fun for a good cause!

Vendor Village

Between the races, guests enjoy the opportunity to explore the vendor village. Whether it was holiday shopping for designer boots at Charleston Shoe Co., handmade jewelry from Georgia Jewels, or boutique handbags from Darling Clutch Co., the most extravagant gifts were found!

Then, come time for a recharge, guests stop for a snack at Flight food truck or nitro cold brew from Pourly Grounded Coffee.

A popular destination throughout the day: LuXe Mobile Cigar Lounge.  Guests found an immersive cigar experience and a moment to take in all of Steeplechase.

Enjoyed By All!

Even Southern Charm star Madison LeCroy and The Righteous Gemstones actor Danny McBride are spotted taking in all the excitement of Steeplechase 2020!

The volunteers and Steeplechase team pulled off a wonderful, safe event.

Thank You!

A huge thank you to all the vendors for providing both their time and their resources to enhance the Steeplechase experience. The day would not have been the same without these amazing businesses and organizations! View the full list of vendors and sponsors here.

 

Digital Marketing

What is Digital Marketing?

Posted on | by Post and Courier Staff

What is ‘Digital Marketing’? 

If you’re a business owner, you hear this a lot.  In short, digital marketing is the term for your company’s online marketing efforts.

Tools To Use 

Google search, social media, email, online advertising, and your website are all examples of tools you can use to enhance your company’s digital presence. 

Do I Have to Pay For All of Those?

While social media, email marketing, and your website are not technically paid advertising. Each avenue contributes to the overall online presence of your business. 

When people naturally come across your social media posts, for example, the sharing of that content helps reach an even larger audience without any cost to you!

Is Social Media and a Website Digital Marketing?

It is important to have a website and social media profiles to be an information location for potential and continuing customers.

A great example of digital marketing is having a review section on both your website and social media for customers to tell others how great your business is. 

A website is also key to having your company on the digital map. 

By having a well-put-together website, your business will be found easily by potential customers via Google search. It is also a place for online ads to be linked to when seen by potential customers in other areas of the internet.

How Does My Investment Help Me With Future Marketing? 

Another reason to invest in digital marketing is that it is the easiest way to reach your target audience: online. 

This will allow you to see real-time, measurable results from your marketing efforts. You can adjust as you need to, and using that data to create future advertising. 

Using your website and social media, you can funnel money into your marketing to best reach your target audience. 

Paid digital marketing efforts include displays and banners, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and boosted social media posts and Facebook Ads. 

 

Find out how you can apply digital marketing to your business with the Post and Courier here!

How to Promote your Award-Winning Success

Posted on | by Peyton Riddle

Charleston’s Choice is the community-based award that customers use to show love and support for their favorite local businesses.

The Charleston community nominates and votes for the top businesses in a variety of categories. Then, business owners highlight their honors and give their businesses the extra boost that awards can provide.

Here in Charleston, customers are always on the lookout for Charleston’s Choice honors, as it shows a business is the best of the best. And this goes for all types of awards any business might be recognized for. Let your community know you’ve been recognized through these branding and promotional strategies.

Are you a business owner that has been nominated? This is how you can boost your honor!

Brag in your email marketing

You’ll want to make sure that you’re bragging about your award everywhere you can. Emails are a great place for that. You can make specialized emails focused on your award. Or simply add in the honors to your existing communications.

If you have a regular newsletter, dedicate a special edition to announcing the honors. Make an event out of it and catch subscribers’ attention by detailing how and why you won.

What makes your customer relations the best in the business? Why is your business the top tourist hotspot? Awards carry prestige by nature. But customers want to know just why you’re the best.

This is also a good place to start incorporating the award logo into your branding. This would be temporary and wouldn’t be applicable in all branding locations, so there’s no need to rework your logo. So find the best way to pair your logo with the award branding and place that naturally in your emails. Have employees update their signatures to include that your business is an award winner.

Show off the award with pride

Take advantage of this time to promote your award in the digital and physical space. SEM campaigns can show web searchers that you are a business worth looking into. And traditional web page ads catch the attention of audiences in your area, if you are employing geomarketing capabilities.

Businesses with a customer-facing storefront will have an easy time showing off their award. On-location signage promotes your success to all potential customers or clients. 

But businesses located within a large office complex in their own suite don’t have the opportunity to flaunt as much. Local billboards are a good substitute and open you up for even greater reach.

If physical ads by the side of the highway aren’t your thing, you should at least be showing off your victory on your website and social media pages. Update your website’s hero image and fancy up your homepage for a few weeks to celebrate. Maybe even run a contest to show you want to celebrate with your customers, not just tell them how great you are.

Other benefits of winning awards

If you haven’t gotten your business entered into awards, consider the added benefits outside of attracting new business. The prestige of being an award-winning organization affects all aspects of business.

Awards can bring growth to your business internally as well. It’s not always about showing off the award to the public. Current staff will be able to take pride in the work they do and the company they belong to. It’s an opportunity for a great boost in company morale. So even just putting up the award logo around the office can have great effects.

The celebration events for the awards themselves can also be a great opportunity for employees of winning businesses. Award parties can be a place to network with other winning businesses and build new business relationships.

Our Charleston’s Choice celebration brings together local businesses and gives them a chance to show the community why they were selected for the top honors. Restaurants and beverage companies can share their award-winning creations with attendees.

There is always value in building your face-to-face engagement with your community. Event sponsorships can enable you to directly reach your community and professional peers. It is a great way to build your brand image.

Signs, advertisements and published announcements are the wide-reaching way to show off your accomplishment. But, an event sponsorship gives you a more intimate way to connect with potential customers or partners.

Finally, it should go without saying that a little time to unwind does wonders for everyone.

 

Adapting your Content into Social Media Stories

Posted on | by Peyton Riddle

The more I talk to my peers about how they interact with social media, the more I become convinced “Story-style” content is currently the top dog. Even in the age of TikTok, Instagram remains the most valuable platform for businesses. And in 2020, it looks like most Instagram users enjoy opening the app, watching all of the stories at the top, and then closing the app.

So what are the best ways to focus your businesses’ social media efforts into stories, rather than traditional posts?

Go Interactive

Find ways to engage your audience with your products or content. Getting your audience’s feedback on your business or things you post is great. 

Polls are a great way to use stories to engage followers

People like interactive content such as polls. This type of post can work for your business in two ways. Outside of the natural benefit of getting customer feedback on one product vs another, it can also serve to make your audience feel invested in the outcome.

For example, if you’re a cake shop, you can post a simple poll asking “Do you prefer a full cake or just cupcakes?” This not only allows you to prioritize the winning product, but it also gets your customers emotionally attached to their side. It can be fun to pick a side on inconsequential arguments like that. It would be similar to the pineapple on pizza debate. It’s not about driving people against each other, but rather about creating a silly identity around a poll choice.

Follow the trends

Adding personality to businesses’ social media accounts has been a strong trend recently

Identify the content you’re already producing to market yourself that aligns with current social media trends. This can include looking back at past social media posts you’ve made, or old blog content you created.

If the trend of the month is, say, spotlighting employees, dig up old content you created like this. Popular among social media users is the “x years ago today” type of content. Obviously this requires the old post to actually fall on the date you want to share it. But you can keep an eye out for these types of re-shares being presented by the social media app. Snapchat is great at this, making it quite easy to see that an old post went up exactly 3 years ago, and allows you to share this post’s anniversary.

This allows you to have an everlasting well of content to fill your account with. You can even plan for a couple days a week to reuse old content, giving you more time to come up with new ideas, and possibly even lead the next big trend!

Be Consistent

Having a story posted every day is crucial in the current social media landscape. You want to be the business that people talk about as having a great social media presence. Consistency is the key to making audiences feel like they are always up-to-date on your activity. 

Being a more personal marketing tool, social media should be used to humanize your brand. Even if you don’t have a dedicated social media marketing employee, find someone that can bring that life to your account. There is likely someone at your business that enjoys sharing a large chunk of their life on social media. This is the person to put in charge of your daily posts.

When it comes to instagram story-type of posts, this person can share something as simple as walking into the building every day. Or as we all find new ways to conduct socially-distant business, you can share that process on your account. Let this person share stories about their at-home setup. Let them show off behind-the-scenes clips of virtual meeting calls.

In the end, giving your users a reason to tap on your icon every day when they come to instagram, facebook, snapchat, or whatever the next big platform may be, is crucial. This is the gateway to getting your followers to engage with your more traditional social media posts. Getting users invested through daily social stories is the path getting more likes on your posts than ever before. 

 

If you’re looking for help getting your social media story presence off the ground, contact us today!
Charleston's Choice 2019_2

How sponsorships and event partnerships benefit businesses in quarantine

Posted on | by Peyton Riddle

How sponsorships and event partnerships benefit businesses in quarantine

Sponsorships are a key pillar in any businesses’ ability to reach new audiences. In a world under quarantine, it can be tough to find relevant events and other sponsorship opportunities. But as the world figures out how to operate under social distancing rules, certain events are finding ways to thrive. 

It's important to consider the benefits that sponsorships can bring your business. Because as with all advertising right now, when the competition is low, it's a great time to put yourself out in front of audiences. So here are some of the top reasons you should sponsor events right now.

Build Consumer Confidence

Any customer that’s willing to attend an event right now likely has trust in the hosting company. Aligning your brand with a company that already has high customer confidence will also help build confidence in your brand. The public perception of your brand will be just as large as that of the event host.

There has been a misconception lately that sponsorships can only build consumer confidence if they are for charitable causes. While customers do value seeing brands align with charities right now, that doesn’t mean that traditional sponsorships are any less valuable for your brand.

Generate Leads

The potential for return on investment with event sponsorships is high. People are there to experience the event and will naturally learn about the sponsoring brands while they are there. Customers are more open to discovering new products and services. 

You have your audience’s attention much more than when they can ignore your ad at home or in a print product. These are all people that you need to follow up with after. Build a solid post-event marketing plan around the leads that you capture. Make sure your sponsorship artwork, video, booth, etc. has a solid way of either capturing contact info or driving people to your website.

Be sure to look at the ROI on your sponsorship and use that info to consider future sponsorships and where to invest your money. Getting in front of the right audience in the right way is something that comes with practice.

Reach your target audience

One of the more valuable reasons to sponsor an event is that you can reach a highly-specific audience.

Claire Linney

"For example, our Bicycle Across South Carolina event has an audience of people who are generally active, interested in outdoors and a healthy lifestyle," event sales manager Claire Linney notes.

"This audience matches well with a business like a chiropractic center who wants to reach active people in the community. We can create custom sponsorships that allow the client to connect with attendees one-on-one to build new relationships and generate new leads. In this example, the chiropractor can connect with “active lifestyle” potential patients.

Gather audience insights

Events are a great place to gather valuable information on your potential client base. You get to see what the spenders in your community value and how they like to engage with brands. Demographic data and audience preferences can help you build nurture campaigns. You can learn how and when to talk to your audience in the way they prefer.

Work with the event host to make a plan for capturing that data. Show that you have an active and growing interest in their audience. This will make future partnerships with the host business easier and more beneficial to both parties.

Our annual Family Expo attracts thousands of parents, and a previous financial firm sponsor saw strong return on their investment. "The in-person data collection allows them to have the contact information of these event attendees to re-connect with a follow-up about their services specific to families," Claire said.

"Because the consumer has already met the financial group in person, they are warmed up and familiar with the business, and more likely to respond. "

Increase Visibility

The bigger the event, the better the visibility you’ll get. As the world continues to open up and allow people to gather (at a safe distance), people will be hungry to attend events. Look at your opportunities throughout the end of this year and beyond.

Post and courier drive-in movie night

Your sponsorship plan doesn’t have to be focused on the present. Although there are unique events that are benefitting from the need to socially distance ourselves. Drive-in movies have made a resurgence, and are a great chance to advertise in a theater-like experience.

Build Partnerships

Event sponsorships are a good way to meet non-competitive companies in your area. Always be on the lookout for new partnership opportunities.

Look at the ways that audiences benefit from learning about all of the brands that are sponsoring the event. Maybe there are creative ways to partner with another brand that drives audiences to each business. 

Competition is low

As mentioned before, the world is in a unique place in which many businesses aren’t comfortable or able to spend dollars on sponsorships. Unfortunately, these businesses will continue to struggle when the COVID-19 crisis fades away, as they won’t have set themselves up for future success. History shows this has been the case whenever businesses stop advertising during a crisis, and eventually fall behind their competition.

Social media opportunities

Being a part of an upcoming event opens many doors on social media platforms that are great for capturing attention. There are tons of unique ways to promote your participation. 

And using the native tools that platforms like Facebook have for events allows you to become a full part of the event’s promotion. Facebook allows event pages or promoted posts to tag a partner business. Whether you are the venue hosting the event or just a paid sponsor, you can appear as an official partner on the event’s social media promotion.

This is a great way to gain new followers. As a part of your promotion, you can potential work out an arrangement for the event host to encourage their followers to follow your business as well. 

Social media users are ready for interaction, and are the easiest leads to warm up and get them to click over to your website.

Find sponsorship opportunities as they become available

If any of the reasons above sound like they would lead to higher sales for your business, then now is the time to start planning your event participation for the year. Event dates may have had to change over recent months, but the world will keep moving forward and people are ready to find a new normal.

To find out more about upcoming events and other sponsorship opportunities in the Charleston area, talk to your Post and Courier advertising sales representative, or contact us here.

Introducing the Military Digest Newsletter

Posted on | by Peyton Riddle

What came first, South Carolina or our nations Declaration of Independence? This isn’t a trick question. Approximately 100 days before our founding fathers signed the Declaration, the colony of South Carolina adopted its first Constitution. But the colony did not officially enter the union for an additional two years. 

South Carolina’s dedication to the military

A centuries-old governmental presence and temperate climate make the state ideal for military. South Carolina has 8 major military bases and is impressively the 9th most populous state for military retirees. Though these statistics are impressive, the  majority of people impacted by state military policy feel dramatically uninformed.

The solution is a news outlet that encapsulates all things South Carolina military. 

As the 6th fastest growing state in the country, our economy has benefited from the military and contracting industries here. Currently there are 55,396 active and reserve service members. And 416,666 jobs have ties to the Department of Defense.

In a state with a population over 5 million, 9.44% of South Carolinians have a heightened personal interest in our military’s state of affairs. 

Newsletter content audiences want

Up until now, these men and women have found themselves in the unique situation of existing without a centralized source of military and veteran focused reporting. The Post and Courier plans to change that. We’re launching the weekly Military Digest newsletter

Spearheading this project will be Thomas Novelly. With over half a decade of journalistic experience and several blood and non-blood filial ties to the armed forces, Novelly is well-equipped to confront the news South Carolina military personnel care about. 

Over the course of his reporting, Novelly noticed an information gap. Not only was it evident when it came to the hard-hitting stories plaguing the press, such as veteran affairs and dilapidated on-base housing, but also in the day to day happenings and locally centered stories.

Fostering a dedicated community

Readers can enjoy a touch of anecdotal trivia, namely “This day in South Carolina Military History” and a featured “Veteran of the Week” chosen from reader nominations. Through this newsletter, we can expect to have our most topical and pressing questions answered, creating a niche community connected by shared experiences, civil discourse and thought provoking discussion. 

Every Tuesday, plan to see how state leaders and their policies impact veterans, armed service members, contractors, the state economy, or even how the Citadel plans to prepare the next generation of our nation’s bravest men and women. 

Enjoy the news you need, as well as tales from days gone by, with The Post and Courier’s new South Carolina Military Digest. Sign up here.

How to Promote your Award-Winning Success

Posted on | by Peyton Riddle

Award season in Charleston is upon us and we wanted to help winning businesses highlight their success. The Charleston community nominated and voted for the top businesses in a variety of categories. Now is the time for you to highlight your honors and give your business the extra boost that awards can provide.

Here in Charleston, customers are always on the lookout for Charleston’s Choice honors, as it shows a business is the best of the best. And this goes for all types of awards any business might be recognized for. Let your community know you’ve been recognized through these branding and promotional strategies.

Brag in your email marketing

You’ll want to make sure that you’re bragging about your award everywhere you can. Emails are a great place for that. You can make specialized emails focused on your award. Or simply add in the honors to your existing communications.

If you have a regular newsletter, dedicate a special edition to announcing the honors. Make an event out of it and catch subscribers’ attention by detailing how and why you won.

What makes your customer relations the best in the business? Why is your business the top tourist hotspot? Awards carry prestige by nature. But customers want to know just why you’re the best.

This is also a good place to start incorporating the award logo into your branding. This would be temporary and wouldn’t be applicable in all branding locations, so there’s no need to rework your logo. So find the best way to pair your logo with the award branding and place that naturally in your emails. Have employees update their signatures to include that your business is an award winner.

Show off the award with pride

Take advantage of this time to promote your award in the digital and physical space. SEM campaigns can show web searchers that you are a business worth looking into. And traditional web page ads catch the attention of audiences in your area, if you are employing geomarketing capabilities.

Businesses with a customer-facing storefront will have an easy time showing off their award. On-location signage promotes your success to all potential customers or clients. 

But businesses located within a large office complex in their own suite don’t have the opportunity to flaunt as much. Local billboards are a good substitute and open you up for even greater reach.

If physical ads by the side of the highway aren’t your thing, you should at least be showing off your victory on your website and social media pages. Update your website’s hero image and fancy up your homepage for a few weeks to celebrate. Maybe even run a contest to show you want to celebrate with your customers, not just tell them how great you are.

Other benefits of winning awards

If you haven’t gotten your business entered into awards, consider the added benefits outside of attracting new business. The prestige of being an award-winning organization affects all aspects of business.

Awards can bring growth to your business internally as well. It’s not always about showing off the award to the public. Current staff will be able to take pride in the work they do and the company they belong to. It’s an opportunity for a great boost in company morale. So even just putting up the award logo around the office can have great effects.

The celebration events for the awards themselves can also be a great opportunity for employees of winning businesses. Award parties can be a place to network with other winning businesses and build new business relationships.

Our Charleston’s Choice celebration brings together local businesses and gives them a chance to show the community why they were selected for the top honors. Restaurants and beverage companies can share their award winning creations with attendees.

There is always value in building your face-to-face engagement with your community. Event sponsorships can enable you to directly reach your community and professional peers. It is a great way to build your brand image.

Signs, advertisements and published announcements are the wide-reaching way to show off your accomplishment. But, an event sponsorship gives you a more intimate way to connect with potential customers or partners.

Finally, it should go without saying that a little time to unwind does wonders for everyone.