The Southern Alleghenies Planning & Development Commission partnered with us to present the Alleghenies Marketing Challenge, a series of marketing seminars for small businesses in the region.
Prime Design Solutions was selected by the Southern Alleghenies Partnership for Regional Economic Performance (PREP) as a partner in the Alleghenies Marketing Challenge in 2014. Through the challenge, for-profit businesses in six counties were invited to participate in four marketing training seminars. Prime Design Solutions developed and presented the content for the two half-day and two full-day seminars.
“Prime Design Solutions brought the talent, know-how and energy to the table that we were looking for to provide an exciting and valuable program.”
Deborah L. Prosser, Director of Business Development / Southern Alleghenies Planning & Development Corporation
In order, the four seminars were:
- Introduction to Marketing, Sales & Promotion, covering research and how to write a basic marketing plan, and the sales cycle
- The Basics of Marketing Your Business, which included information about websites, using social media effectively, e-marketing, and content marketing
- Networking and Customer Relations, about LinkedIn, networking in person, elevator pitches, and sales calls
- Tools of the Trade, covering the advantages and disadvantages of various avenues for paid advertising, public relations, and more about social media
More than 35 businesses in manufacturing, building and construction, health care, logistics and transportation, business services, hospitality, leisure and entertainment sectors participated. Prime Design Solutions surveyed participants after each of the four seminars, and after the series was over. About 80% gave the seminars an overall rating of “excellent,” while 20% rated them “very good.” Comments included, “Great information for growing your business. Great facilitator and the social media info was fantastic,” and “These seminars have far exceeded my expectations! Every session left me with several take-aways – actionable items that I was able to start using immediately!”
In fact, the initiative was so successful that SAP&DC retained Prime Design Solutions to present a similar program in summer 2016.
