March 8, 2007

The W-PBA hosted its first dinner to introduce the association’s newly elected officers and encourage dialogue with the business community to help move the group forward.

March 31, 2007

The www.Woodstown-Pilesgrove.com website was launched by Websketching. As of September 2007, the website has had over 1,800 visits and nearly 10,000 page views. Nearly 42% of the visits came from new visitors and each visitor looks at an average of 5-6 pages per visit. Nearly ½ of the traffic comes from referring sites (sites that have linked to the W-PBA), ¼ is from visitors typing in www.Woodstown-Pilesgrove.com and ¼ is through the search engines. The most popular pages are the homepage, the W-PBA members’ page, the calendar and the online business directory. The most popular categories in the online business directory are “art gallery/photography”, “real estate”, “accountants”, “retail shopping” and “contractors”. Websketching has built in 12 premium advertising spots on the homepage of the website that serve as a fundraiser for the W-PBA and generate an additional $600 in income per year.

The By Laws

The By Laws were developed with the help of John Beans and Trudy Layton from ISN Bank, Paul Langley, Pat Smith and Christine DeGraff and presented to George Rosenberger, Rosenberger Law Office for review. The By Laws were adopted by the membership the September 13, 2007 Business to Business Card Exchange. As soon as we get a non-profit status from the state, we can begin mailing. Peggy Scheule from Warner & Company has been helping us in this effort.

The Welcome Wagon

The W-PBA was asked by the Presbyterian Church to partner with them by collecting coupons, promotional items, business cards or discounts from our members that would be incorporated into a reusable canvas bag that was donated by Nifty Stitches/Picture This in exchange for a free membership, branding our logo and web site address. Members of the church have distributed 56 bags to new area residents and this will be an ongoing project.

Advertising & Promotional Campaigns

Phase I was designed to list the entire W-PBA membership on a large banner branding our logo and featuring our website. This banner, sponsored by D’Anastasion Corporation, was displayed on a float in the Fourth of July Parade, in which members who participated, walked the parade route and distributed over 1,000 bottles of water, donated by The Wagon Wheel Restaurant, to the public.

The banner was also displayed at the W-PBA Rodeo and Tailgate Party, held August 4, 2007, and at the 2007 Salem County Fair where members passed out promotional items provided by our members and distributed over 600 free pretzels to fair goers. Our members were also listed in the Salem County Fair Ad Book.

Phase II was designed to promote the W-PBA website, our members and to help promote community events by offering advertising space on an Astro Sign Company billboard outside of town for one full year. Astro Sign Company has donated the design time to the W-PBA so that members can purchase a (5’ h x 10’ w) space to advertise their business at a reduced price. The Woodstown Fall Festival and The Candlelight Tour, two of the major annual events in our town, have advertised on the billboard to promote these events and our community as a whole. In turn, the W-PBA purchased advertising space on the Woodstown Fall Festival and the Candlelight Tours’ websites to help bring recognition to our logo and to drive traffic to our website.

Phase III is the Woodstown-Pilesgrove Business Directory, sponsored in part by John Berenato, Woodstown Development Group and John & Ann Picking, Johns Print Shoppe.

This publication will be distributed December 7, 2007, the night of the Candlelight Tour, and will include an insert with details on how to register to win a W-PBA Gift Certificate sponsored by the W-PBA. Christine DeGraff of Websketching is donating her time to set up the sweepstakes on our website.

Phase IV is The W-PBA Newsletter. Christine DeGraff of Websketching donated her time to set up the newsletter and to sell the ad and coupons spaces. John Picking of John’s Print Shoppe will be printing the newsletter at cost. As soon as we get a non-profit status from the state, we can begin mailing. This newsletter will be mailed to over 4,000 area residents, hopefully in January of 2008.

Advertisement Specials

April 2007
Premium Sponsor Advertising Opportunity/Fundraiser on the W-PBA website

May 25, 2007
Memorial Weekend a Special Ad, listing our entire membership was placed in the Weekender.

May 28, 2007
Business Card Ad (Support Local Shopping & Become a Member Today!)

July 4^th 2007
Business Card Ad supporting the Parade

September 1, 2007 – August 31, 2008
Began our W-PBA billboard campaign

September 14, 2007
Business card ad supporting the Fall Festival

November 24, 2007
Advertise Gift Certificate Promotion

Special Events

April, 12, 2007
The W-PBA hosted its first workshop “Website 101 for Small Business” presented by Websketching.

September 13, 2007
The first Business to Business Card Exchange was held at The Rushes Restaurant to give members the opportunity to net work with other businesses. It also served to recruit new members.

Sponsorships and Donations
The W-PBA sponsored a T-shirt for the Fourth of July Parade and donated $200 to the cause.