Category: In the News

In the News – 7/18/17

Saffire’s favorite image editor, Canva, continues to make graphic design easier! Check out Canva’s new Snapchat templates here! A new study shows that FOMO (fear of missing out) is what’s driving millennials to events! Finally, Travel Influencers still find that Youtube is the best platform to reach future vacationers.

Saffire’s favorite image editor, Canva, continues to make graphic design easier! Check out Canva’s new Snapchat templates here! A new study shows that FOMO (fear of missing out) is what’s driving millennials to events! Finally, Travel Influencers still find that Youtube is the best platform to reach future vacationers.

In the News – 6/23/17

THIS SECTION OF OUR BLOG IS DEVOTED TO INDUSTRY NEWS AND ARTICLES WE FIND INTERESTING AND RELEVANT TO OUR FRIENDS AND SAFFIRE FAMILY! How many vacation days are you taking off this summer? Did you know 42% of Americans are not taking a vacation this summer? Don’t let content marketing scare you. Here are 5 dead wrong misconceptions … Continue reading “In the News – 6/23/17”

THIS SECTION OF OUR BLOG IS DEVOTED TO INDUSTRY NEWS AND ARTICLES WE FIND INTERESTING AND RELEVANT TO OUR FRIENDS AND SAFFIRE FAMILY!

How many vacation days are you taking off this summer? Did you know 42% of Americans are not taking a vacation this summer? Don’t let content marketing scare you. Here are 5 dead wrong misconceptions about content marketing. Also, read about how big brands can learn from the challenges of marketing a small town.

In the News – 6/9/17

THIS SECTION OF OUR BLOG IS DEVOTED TO INDUSTRY NEWS AND ARTICLES WE FIND INTERESTING AND RELEVANT TO OUR FRIENDS AND SAFFIRE FAMILY! Been keeping up with the Visit Florida funding debate? Then check out this interesting column warning Florida to not repeat Colorado’s tourism marketing mistake. Remember when your organization would get exposure on … Continue reading “In the News – 6/9/17”

THIS SECTION OF OUR BLOG IS DEVOTED TO INDUSTRY NEWS AND ARTICLES WE FIND INTERESTING AND RELEVANT TO OUR FRIENDS AND SAFFIRE FAMILY!

Been keeping up with the Visit Florida funding debate? Then check out this interesting column warning Florida to not repeat Colorado’s tourism marketing mistake. Remember when your organization would get exposure on Facebook for free? Those days are long gone, so be sure and read how Paid Ads Are Key to Making the Most Out of Facebook. Finally, check out the newest features coming out of Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.

 

 

 

In the News – May 24, 2017

THIS SECTION OF OUR BLOG IS DEVOTED TO INDUSTRY NEWS AND ARTICLES WE FIND INTERESTING AND RELEVANT TO OUR FRIENDS AND SAFFIRE FAMILY! Been keeping up with the continuing Fyre Festival drama? Check out what industry insiders had to say about the failed festival here. You might double and triple check your email blast before … Continue reading “In the News – May 24, 2017”

THIS SECTION OF OUR BLOG IS DEVOTED TO INDUSTRY NEWS AND ARTICLES WE FIND INTERESTING AND RELEVANT TO OUR FRIENDS AND SAFFIRE FAMILY!

Been keeping up with the continuing Fyre Festival drama? Check out what industry insiders had to say about the failed festival here. You might double and triple check your email blast before you press send but eventually a mistake will slip through. Check out How to Recover from Email Fails. Also, read about how Alaska Crosses Historic Tourism Threshold Without State Marketing Help.

Saffire Welcomes Amy Pelzl

Austin, TX – Saffire, LLC, a fully integrated website and ticketing provider to over 330 clients across the United States, has announced the hiring of Amy Pelzl as their Director of Ticketing Partnerships.  Amy is a 33-year ticketing veteran with experience in sales, marketing and operations for various markets including performing arts and venues, college … Continue reading “Saffire Welcomes Amy Pelzl”

AmyPic

Austin, TX – Saffire, LLC, a fully integrated website and ticketing provider to over 330 clients across the United States, has announced the hiring of Amy Pelzl as their Director of Ticketing Partnerships.  Amy is a 33-year ticketing veteran with experience in sales, marketing and operations for various markets including performing arts and venues, college and professional sports, fairs and festivals. Amy joins Saffire after spending 9 years with ExtremeTix where she performed many functions including Account Manager, Client Development Manager, Director of Strategic Accounts, Director of Marketing and most recently a role focusing on developing new business within the fair and festival industries.

Saffire founder, Kendra Wright said “Amy’s wealth of ticketing experience and knowledge make her a key addition to our team. As Saffire continues to see explosive growth in the ticketing industry, having someone with Amy’s experience on board is essential, especially as new ticketing services are added, such as the ability to sell reserved seating tickets.”

The ticketing component of Saffire is called SaffireTix, which combines three points of sale (including online, physical tickets and gate sales) into one handy system for comprehensive, up-to-the-minute reporting.

Saffire is the first industry provider to incorporate full website management into its ticketing offering, via its Spark™ content management system. Spark gives clients complete control over website content, navigation, homepage features, event calendar and more. Further, the system allows clients to schedule web content including site-wide messages, events, event tickets and homepage features. This gives Saffire clients one place to manage all items for sale, and their customers one interface and URL throughout the shopping process.

Additionally, Saffire offers unlimited customer support. “Our support is second to none. We provide email, phoneand chat support, and our goal is to answer questions within ten minutes. We also provide Saffire U, an 8-week site launch training process, which breaks website creation up into eight areas of online success. Finally, we provide ongoing webinars, newsletters, town hall client calls and more to help our clients be successful online,” said Saffire’s president Aaron Pederson.

To congratulate Amy or to learn more about Saffire and SaffireTix, feel free to email Amy directly at amy@saffire.com or on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amypelzl/

 

 

 

In the News – April 13, 2017

THIS SECTION OF OUR BLOG IS DEVOTED TO INDUSTRY NEWS AND ARTICLES WE FIND INTERESTING AND RELEVANT TOUR OUR FRIENDS AND SAFFIRE FAMILY! Check out some good news coming out of The Big Easy and read how New Orleans Tourism Finally Returns to Pre-Katrina Levels. And hey, didn’t get enough about “influencers” in our last Dirt? See … Continue reading “In the News – April 13, 2017”

THIS SECTION OF OUR BLOG IS DEVOTED TO INDUSTRY NEWS AND ARTICLES WE FIND INTERESTING AND RELEVANT TOUR OUR FRIENDS AND SAFFIRE FAMILY!

Check out some good news coming out of The Big Easy and read how New Orleans Tourism Finally Returns to Pre-Katrina Levels. And hey, didn’t get enough about “influencers” in our last Dirt? See how the Cherry Blossom Festival was able to Use Influencer Marketing to Increase Event Attendance. We’ve also noticed that Facebook Live via Desktop Recently Rolled Out Globally.

 

 

 

In the News – March 2017!

This section of our blog is devoted to industry news and articles we find interesting and relevant tour our friends and Saffire family! For those of you ready to convene, check out these Five Trends that Will Impact Convention Centers in 2017. And hey, how are you feeling about your social networking? Here are 19 … Continue reading “In the News – March 2017!”


This section of our blog is devoted to industry news and articles we find interesting and relevant tour our friends and Saffire family!

For those of you ready to convene, check out these Five Trends that Will Impact Convention Centers in 2017. And hey, how are you feeling about your social networking? Here are 19 Facebook Marketing Predictions for 2017 from the pros. We’ve also dug up these 5 Tech Trends that will influence your marketing strategies.

 

 

 

Pokemon Go Proves to be a ‘Catch’ for Marketers

With more than 100 million downloads and 20 million daily active users, Pokémon Go became the biggest craze of the summer. Launching all over the world, Pokémon Go creates a whole new realm of advertising which, by now, should be in your back pocket. Pokémon Go is everywhere and is used by an overwhelming number … Continue reading “Pokemon Go Proves to be a ‘Catch’ for Marketers”

With more than 100 million downloads and 20 million daily active users, Pokémon Go became the biggest craze of the summer. Launching all over the world, Pokémon Go creates a whole new realm of advertising which, by now, should be in your back pocket. Pokémon Go is everywhere and is used by an overwhelming number of people; so initially you might be thinking, how can I use this trend to my benefit?

The gamer’s (typically 21 to 27-year-old men) goal is to catch all of the Pokémon, which are creatures of different sizes and types spread throughout your geographical location and will randomly pop up when the app is open. Users also take advantage of the “PokéStops”, which are points on the game map used to collect “PokéBalls”. You can think of “Pokéballs” as small, ball-shaped cages used to store each Pokémon you collect. Users also travel to Pokémon Gyms, used for battling other Pokémon and trainers. The “PokéStops” and Gyms, are normally located near landmarks, statues, parks, churches, etc. which are strategically place to attract many people. This is where the marketing comes in. PokéStops could also be used as a tool by businesses to turn their location into a huge, profitable ad in the virtual world of Pokémon.

One example of an organization using this app to its advantage is the Brown County Fair, located in Aberdeen, SD. Currently they have 8 PokéStops on their fairgrounds and have decided to put them into their marketing strategy. The stops are located anywhere from the Bunny Barn to the Grandstands, which are an easy way to get traffic to these fairground locations. The fairgoers have the opportunity to see parts of the fair they otherwise might have never experienced!

If your organization doesn’t have a PokéStop, and you want one at that location, you can request one. The request forms are here: http://support.pokemongo.nianticlabs.com

Additionally, if your organization would like a Pokémon Gym on your location, a suggestion can be submitted at http://support.pokemongo.nianticlabs.com

 

Tips and Tricks

  • Make sure a few people in your organization have a Pokémon Go account, so they can purchase lures, which will help attract Pokémon to your location
  • Put up signs that warn people to stay out of restricted areas.
  • Get a Pokémon logo at each building or monument that has a PokéStop. Signage is important!
  • If a gym is on your property, give the leader of that particular free tickets or prizes if he or she is a leader at a certain time of the day (Advertise this on Social Media to attract more people to battle in the Gym).
  • This could provide incentive for other players to take over your particular gym. The prize for the winner of a PokéHunt or Gym leader could also be PokéCoins.

Staying up to date with the newest tech fads may seem overwhelming at first, but whether it’s giving an extra jump to a small business’s finances or helping double revenue in big corporations, Pokemon Go is a growing force not to be reckoned with.

Pokémon Go is free and available for download through the Apple App Store for iPhone users and the Google Play store for Android users.

 

We want to thank Michaela Liebl for being our Guest Blogger! Michaela is currently a student at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. She is looking forward to a career in the fair or festival industries and is currently seeking internship opportunities. To contact Michaela about this article or about potential internship opportunities, please email her at michaela.liebl@wolves.northern.edu

 

 

Snapchat: Think Inside the Geofence

Are you still struggling on how to use Snapchat? It’s okay, it can be confusing! In fact, Snapchat has been around for over four years now and many marketers are still desperately trying to figure out how to use the platform and how to reach it’s large and growing user base. We even see Snapchat … Continue reading “Snapchat: Think Inside the Geofence”

Are you still struggling on how to use Snapchat? It’s okay, it can be confusing! In fact, Snapchat has been around for over four years now and many marketers are still desperately trying to figure out how to use the platform and how to reach it’s large and growing user base. We even see Snapchat confusing technology writers like in this slate.com article, Is Snapchat Really Confusing, or Am I Just Old? One great way to dive into Snapchat marketing is for your organization to purchase a “Business Geofilter” from the app.

Snapchat has had custom branded geofilters available for a few years to large retailers, movie studios and other large budget organizations for tens of thousands of dollars. But in February of 2016, Snapchat announced that they would allow anyone, including smaller organizations, to upload geofilters starting at just $5. Geofilters are nothing more than a digital graphic that can be laid on top of a Snapchat user’s photo or video at a specific location.

These new, on-demand geofilters are divided into two categories, Personal Geofilters and Business Geofilters.

  • A Personal Geofilter is one that does not include any branding, business marks/names or logos and doesn’t promote a business or a brand. You might submit a Personal Geofilter to celebrate a birthday, wedding or graduation.
  • A Business Geofilter is one that promotes a business or a brand.

Complete Business Geofilter submission guidelines can be found here. However, the key to making a good filter graphic is to create something fun and enticing that will inspire people to place your graphic on top of their selfie! The image has to be 1080px wide by 1920px high and saved as a .PNG file with a transparent background. Many of you may not have access to photo editing software which allows you to save a transparent background. This is why we recommend sending your graphic over to one of our favorite sites, Fiverr! If you click here, you can choose from over 30 graphic designers that specialize in Snapchat Geofilter creation for as low as $5!

After you have uploaded the image, you will be able to choose your dates and the geographic area you want to target. You can drag and drop a “geofence” around the location, which will then give you a pricing estimate based on the size of the area selected and the date range.

Your submission is then sent for review by Snapchat. After approval, your filter will appear on the user’s filter options in that location! During and after your campaign, you’ll be able to receive on-demand metrics and insights on the success of your geofilter.

We would love to see what Snapchat filters your organization has used! Please post them below or on our Facebook page!