Anita Smart, Briarlee Wasiolek, Elise Goodge and Petrina Clark, of Thrive Whanganui. Photo / Musings Media
Anita Smart, Briarlee Wasiolek, Elise Goodge and Petrina Clark, of Thrive Whanganui. Photo / Musings Media
Local economic diversity enablers Thrive Whanganui has held their first workshop from the “Marketing Hacks” series. The five workshops are free to attend thanks to funding from the J R McKenzie Trust. They introduce easy tricks and tips that small businesses can use straight away across five essential marketingareas.
“Small business owners are doing so much, their time is precious and it’s often hard to know where to start when it comes to engaging more customers,” Thrive Whanganui communications and design coordinator Briarlee Wasiolek says.
The Marketing Hacks session.
The first session was “Free Publicity and Direct Marketing - Writing for Impact”. Elise Goodge, programme and partnerships lead at Thrive Whanganui, demonstrated how to create a media release using a participant’s business as an example. During the demo, Elise used Google Docs & Sheets, ChatGPT, Google Speak, Canva and standard email. Briarlee then showed how you could re-use this in an e-newsletter or on social media using tools like Canva, Mailchimp, Stock Footage and ChatGPT.
The second session, “Creating video content”, held on September 21, featured guest speakers Keely Skinner, a local cinematographer (Musings Media), and David Perofeta, a local small business owner (Barber Vika), who each shared their tips on using the medium.
There are three sessions remaining: Social Media (September 28), Photography + Design Basics (October 5), and SEO and AI (Oct 12). Each workshop runs from 5.30pm to 7pm at The Backhouse, located at 28 Taupo Quay, Whanganui.
“It is our hope that this series will be empowering, giving participants plenty of ideas to get the word out about their fantastic businesses without spending lots of time and money,” Elise says. She adds that the workshops are also an opportunity for participants to network with other business owners and entrepreneurs. One participant said: “This session was great, I learned so much really useful information that is absolutely relevant to what I am doing right now.”
To register for a session or if you have any questions, get in touch with Thrive Whanganui via kiaora@thrivenow.org.nz or 027 302 0979.
