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10 Tips on Building Your Community and Business at the Same Time

Paper Goat Post is a brick-and-mortar store that combines beautiful paper products with events, and is quickly growing through their out-of-the-gift-box strategy for growing a business through community, social media, and snail mail.

When most non-wedding invitations are sent online, letters devolve into emails, heart-to-heart conversations happen on Gchat, and gifts are sent straight from Amazon Prime – a business based on paper seems a bit old-fashioned – and optimistic.

But there is something about paper.

Reading the hand-written words of a loved one that has physically traveled from hand to hand.

Carefully disassembling a beautifully, thoughtfully wrapped gift.

Discovering an elegant invitation in the mailbox.

As Paper Goat Post’s co-founders (and twin sisters) Megan and Cedar will tell you, they consider it their mission to “promote togetherness through the lost art of snail mail, gathering in celebration, and the thoughtful art of giving.”

Our philosophies extend through our products, services and brand to enrich our local community.

In fact, Megan and Cedar’s philosophy and business plan is very much about building community – and growing through community – with the help of paper.

And social media.

Where the old-fashioned and modern marketing methods converge is in this unique, utterly delightful space Megan and Cedar have created, both in their brick-and-mortar shop in Ivanhoe Village in Orlando, and their online presence.

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Social Media

How One Event Designer Used Styled Shoots to Establish Her Blog and Connect with National Brands

Twinkle Twinkle Little Party is a party blog that works with brands like Starbucks and TinyPrints, and has been featured on Style Me Pretty and 100 Layer Cake (to name but two). Blogger Andressa Hara’s secrets to success leverage social media and her own stunning styled shoots.

Bloggers who make a living from their blogs walk a delicate line between delivering engaging, original content to their audiences – and serving their advertisers. Go too far in one direction, and you look like a shill. Go too far the other way, and you’re back to applying for a 9-to-5 job.

Andressa Hara has successfully transitioned from event planner to event designer and full-time blogger at Twinkle Twinkle Little Party (TTLP). If you’ve ever tried to pay bills by blogging, you’ll understand just what a challenging transition that is. But it’s one she felt compelled to make in order to fulfill her creative vision.

“When I was building my event planning portfolio, I used to invite several vendors to collaborate with me. They would provide all the party décor and food necessary for the shoot, and I’d use a photographer as well.”

For Andressa, that was giving over a lot of creative control. Each styled shoot was the result of the team’s vision, rather than her own.

I found that I am happiest when I plan, design and execute my own vision from beginning to end. So I chose to rebrand from being an event planner to being a brand stylist only.

“Once I rebranded and became a party stylist/blogger, I was able to establish my own style and stick with it. I started to incorporate more DIY ideas rather than having vendors to provide everything. I also started to take my own pictures.

“Now I create content that is easy to recreate: parties my audience can get ideas from to host their own events rather than hiring someone to do it for them.” Andressa says that producing styled shoots for her readers has become her biggest passion, and her strongest content for building her business and brand.

When she agrees to a brand partnership, her audience – real people planning real parties – come first. If what she does helps them to throw an unforgettable, joyful event, she’s done her job well.

“When a brand contacts TTLP to promote a new product they are launching, we will only work on the campaign if the product is a good fit for our blog. Since TTLP is a party blog, I will only promote products that can be easily incorporated into celebrations.”

Her work has been featured on Style Me Pretty, Oh Lovely Day, 100 Layer Cake and Hostess with the Mostess, as well as nationwide magazines and brands like Coca-Cola, Starbucks, Nestle, Kate Aspen, Tiny Prints and Shutterfly.

Andressa’s blog, Twinkle Twinkle Little Party Magazine and an Etsy store work together like gears in an engine to support and promote each other. But none of these became successful overnight.

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Social Media

Building an Events Business with the Help of Reality TV and Visual Marketing

Ever wonder how reality TV shows find their event planners? Want to know how to turn your Instagram page into a brand-building, client attracting portfolio? How’d you like to get in on the secret of creating a powerful first impression with your website’s home page alone? Elle Anderson of Elle A Events covers all of this and more.

Seven years ago, while living in Hawaii, Elle Anderson had her life flash before her eyes – she’d been in a car accident that landed her in the hospital. Until then, she hadn’t really asked herself what she truly wanted to do with her life. She already had a number of event coordinating, venue management and marketing jobs under her belt, but it wasn’t until that exact moment that she realized event production was what she felt called to do.

“I knew it was the culmination of my experience. It pulled all the pieces together. I wanted to create once-in-a-lifetime experiences for people.”

Unforgettable moments. When life flashes before your eyes, those moments are what stay with you.

Fast-forward to today where Elle A Events is a fast growing event production company with an accomplished team of creative professionals. They do everything.

“I get to be involved in so much more than one aspect of the event. This was why production for me was a bigger calling. I love being able to do custom fabrications and unique detailed touches; that’s the side of production you see. Planners and designers think of the ideas, but the people who put them into place are on the production side.”

Elle’s company has grown fast in the last six years in a way that could almost only happen in Los Angeles – by being on reality TV. Her television appearances may have been the catalyst for some of her success, but it’s not the only reason – her incredibly smart marketing strategies and business philosophy all contribute to her success today.

Our conversation with Elle ranged from how she first began marketing her business on Yelp, to how she found herself as the wedding planner for several reality TV shows, and how her marketing strategy and branding has evolved along the way.

She explains how she did it all, and why at the end of the day, it’s integrity that’s really the most important factor for growing your business (although a carefully curated Instagram page helps).

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Social Media

How @thebowsarrows use Instagram and Print Media as a Springboard to Grow Their Audience

Floral designers Alicia and Adam Rico focus on just two ways to reach the brides who’ll love their style. They use print media as a springboard to grow their audience and a carefully curated Instagram page to nurture brides-to-be. The unintended consequence: travel opportunities.

When Alicia Rico and her husband Adam Rico first began their floral design business, Alicia had one goal – get into Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. It’s not easy. Weddings featured in Martha Stewart’s magazine have to be submitted long before they happen, and if chosen, an entire Martha Stewart design, planning and photography team help the happy couple with every facet of their big day – planning just the right look, choosing linens and lighting, even picking the perfect dress. For brides who adore Martha Stewart’s signature style of pale hues and vases overflowing with soft pink petals, it’s a dream come true.

But as Alicia’s business, Bows + Arrows Flowers was just getting off the ground, she didn’t have a bride-to-be in her back pocket. She did have photos of a recent wedding for which she’d designed floral arrangements. On a chance, she submitted them to the editors.

The editors loved them.

“It was of a wedding we did in the desert, which is a very different style than Martha Stewart magazine usually publishes. And we submitted it after it was done, and they still agreed to feature it. That was a huge moment.”

It didn’t take Alicia and Adam long to see their work from another wedding land on the cover of the magazine, checking off her next goal.

While it certainly helps to build your brand by aligning with one of the biggest wedding publications in the country, Alicia and Adam don’t rely solely on print media or even wedding blogs to get in front of their ideal audience of blossom-loving brides. Their success is a combination of understanding their ideal client really well, staying true to their brand, and building a truly impressive following on Instagram that not only lands them clients, but literally sends them around the world.

Here the Ricos share their journey from art students to Martha Stewart-approved floral designers (and occasional wedding designers), and give tips on how you can improve engagement, increase followers, and get clients on Instagram.

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