Dorchester Dorset.com Blog

Here is a round-up of all the latest news from Dorchester BID…

• New improved parking voucher scheme – All tickets dated 1st Oct onwards will have a redeemable value. DBID has secured matched funding from WDDC to allow a 2 for 5 buyback (£2 to you for every 5 you collect). See below for full details.

• Cardboard & Paper recycling – Some businesses using WDDC’s paper and cardboard recycling scheme have not yet claimed their BID subsidy for 2009/10. It’s worth 30% of your spend. If this is you, contact us asap for details. The scheme has been extended into 2010/11 and increased to a 50% subsidy! Another way to help you get your BID levy back.

• Social media workshop level II – Following on from the highly successful level I we are now organising a ‘hands on’ workshop on the 1st November. Details below. I have had a couple of requests to run these after work if I get enough interest we can do this, please contact me if you are interested in either.

• Business Connections event – ‘Meet the DBID’ This Friday, at the Dorford centre between 11.00-5.00pm. If you can escape for 20 minutes anytime please come and meet some of your fellow Dorchester businesses who are exhibiting. It’s also a chance to meet the DBID board members, ask any questions you may have or just gain a better understanding of the BID and what are aiming to achieve for the town.

• Christmas Cracker magazine and Wessex FM advertising subsidies – We will offer support again this year if you would like to join in please contact us.

Parking voucher scheme – How it works

Thank you to all those shops and businesses that have been supporting the current scheme that has proved to be popular with the public. As a result of this success, DBID has secured matched funding from WDDC which will allow us to make the following change to support those on the scheme.

All tickets (WDDC car parks in town & DCC on-street parking) dated 1st October onwards, now have a value for redemption. For every 5 you collect, we will give you £2 back. To allow as many businesses as possible to benefit from this support, there is a maximum claim of £200p.a per business. We hope to be able to maintain this scheme for the remaining duration of the DBID term that ends in early 2013.

To remind you, a shopper has to spend a minimum of £10 in your business before they qualify for getting their parking £1 off their purchase (some parkers may have a 60p ticket so get just 60p, please make sure your staff know this). As the on-street tickets are a single part ticket, they need to be used on a subsequent trip to town (or later in the day) so please be flexible on the date on the ticket as long as it’s after 1st October.

I am about to do a re-launch of the scheme to broadcast this unique facility offered by Dorchester to its shoppers/visitors so it is important that I have a correct and up to date list of participating businesses. If you would now like to join the scheme please let me know by emailing philg@dorchesterdorset.co.uk.

If your name currently appears on those participating list on our website and you do not support the scheme again please let me know urgently before I get the next leaflets printed for distribution.

Social Media Workshop – LEVEL II

This ½ day workshop follows on from the original workshop that DBID ran last week and a few weeks ago. It is aimed at giving attendees a good foundation in the world of social media. It provides an equal balance of interactive presentation, discussion and individual work on the applications that businesses and companies should be starting to use in their marketing mix.

Basic principles of Social Media:

Our first session will tackle the key concepts of Social Media and look at how it differs from other forms of marketing (both online and offline). We will also look at Search Engine Optimisation and discover why the principles of SEO are important for social media marketing.

We take time out for you to look at some of the tools that will help you discover the keywords that will really work for your business. With a clear understanding of what keywords you want to target we explore how you can adopt these principles across all their Web 2.0 applications: from blogs and YouTube to Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter:

This session really does lift the lid on Twitter and looks at the many ways companies can use it: engagement, PR, brand building, selling, customer care, sales promotion and much more. We look at how organisations can, at 140 characters a tweet, turn this into a powerful marketing tool. Using a mix of case studies and real-time examples we will explore how your company can maximise the use of Twitter. We also look at third party applications and mobile devices, to see how you can use it for updating, tracking, monitoring, engaging, broadcasting and looking after. Who to follow, what to tweet and more….

Business Blogging:

Blogging has undoubtedly been the driving force behind social media adoption. It allows individuals and businesses, the ability to talk about their organisations, link to similar organisations and invite comments from their community. It is also a force to be reckoned with when it comes to gaining top position on Google! We will explore: Why would an organisation blog? What would they blog about? How do they create fresh, relevant content? How can organisations hook up blogs to other social media channels?

We take a “behind the scenes” look at WordPress – one of the popular blogging platforms and see how some simple tips can make your blogging much more effective.

Facebook:

Profiles, friends, groups, networks, social ads, pages, polls… What does it all mean and how can you leverage the power of Facebook to improve your marketing efforts? How are the multinationals using Facebook and are there important lessons for smaller businesses.

We look at the steps to building a Facebook Business Page and different strategies for engaging with your audience.

Location and Time:

Wessex Royal Hotel, 9.30am, Tue 1st November. Includes lunch with Q&A’s (bring your laptop)

Cost:

£39 for DBID members

PLEASE BOOK YOUR SPACE ASAP AS SPACE IS LIMITED

Social Bookmarks