Make plans to join us for the Blount Young Leadership Development social Tuesday, January 27 at the Casual Pint at 5:30 p.m., and coffee club at Dead End BBQ on Thursday, January 29 at 7:45 a.m.

 

Tickets for the 95th Blount Chamber Anniversary Celebration are on sale now. The celebration is Friday, January 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the Airport Hilton. It will be an evening of live music with Jessie's Girls, a national party band, food and networking with Blount County business professionals.

 

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION MENU
Fresh Vegetable Crudite Diplay with Assorted Dipping Sauce
Fresh Seasonal Sliced Fresh and Tropical Fruit and Berries
Assortment of Cheeses Garnished with Nuts and Dried Fruit
Spinach & Artichoke Dip with Tortilla Chips
Breaded Mushrooms - Jalapeno Poppers - Mozzarella Cheese Sticks
Petite Maryland Crab Cakes with Roasted Red Pepper Aioli
Mini Twice Baked Potatoes with Chive Sour Cream
Pasta Station: Accompanied with Warm Focaccia and Garlic Bread Sticks
Whole Roasted Turkey, Country Gravy, Cranberry Compote
Cafe Round of Beef, Fresh Horseradish
Honey Glazed Ham with Dijon Mustard, Hawaiian Pineapple Salsa
Petit Dessert Display

 

Tickets are $100 each and can be purchased by calling 865.983.2241 or online at www.blountchamber.com.

 

Join us for a special briefing from superintendents from Blount County, Alcoa and Maryville schools as they give a state of education in the area. It takes place on Thursday, February 5 at 8 a.m. at the City of Maryville building, 404 W. Broadway. If you wish to attend, please RSVP to Amy.

 

Raeus Jae Cannon is conducting a free networking training class on Tuesday, February 3 from 3-4:30 p.m. at the Boys and Girls Club, 520 S. Washington St., Maryville, Tenn. Cannon shows you how to quit making cold calls and drive more business your way. She can show you how to build stronger relationships that drive higher profitability. If you wish to attend, please RSVP to Amy.

 

Make sure you and your staff maximize membership in the Chamber and get connected with potential customers. Connect with others by joining a special interest group, volunteering for special events planning and/or receiving alerts & updates that could potentially impact your business. Not just for the business owner or Chamber representative, click this link and forward to your staff and get them signed up today.

 

The Blount Partnership and the Blount County Library are sponsoring two social media and marketing seminars in the upcoming weeks. Both classes are free and take place at the Blount County Library, 508 North Cusick Street, Maryville, TN 37804.

 

The first class, entitled Pin and Tweet Your Business to Success, is set for Thursday, January 29 from noon-3 p.m. SlamDot's Daniel Monday will show how Pinterest, one of the fastest growing social networks, can convey your business's visual story and offer tips for getting started. He will then show how to begin with Twitter and start building a base of followers.

 

The second workshop which focuses on The Marketing Fan framework is set for Thursday, February 12 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Bruce Hayes, a certified Growth Wheel Educator and Senior Business Specialist from the Tennessee Small Business Development Center, shows a list of six broad categories of marketing that can be used when selecting a marketing mix. Often it makes sense to take advantage of multiple media in a marketing plan instead of just one channel. The broad categories are ads, prints, online marketing, direct marketing, publications, and promotions, each of which contains a number of concrete examples of marketing channels.

 

A key point of this framework is that there are many different marketing methods to choose from, and the best approach is to decide on one or more methods that will clarify the purpose of the marketing. Do you want to attract new customers, retain existing customers, or strengthen your brand? Once you have clarified the objective, you can better deal with the broad range of marketing opportunities and use them in the best way.

 

To register for the classes, call the Blount Partnership at 865.983.2241.

 

Participate in the Chamber's 17th annual "Operation Thank You" set for February 17-19 and meet other business people on a one-on-one basis. During this three-day event, Chamber members, the Chamber staff and Board of Directors will personally deliver Chamber member information packets for 2015. We invite you to join us in this three-day effort. You can agree to call on as many or as few members as your schedule permits. If you, someone (or several people) from your business, organization or group is interested in participating, please contact Amy or call 865.983.2241.

 

Promote your business during "Operation Thank You" by sending 1250 gift certificates, brochures or business promotional pieces to us and we will distribute them during "Operation Thank You". Your Chamber constantly looks for ways to help you promote your business and the ABC theory - Always Buy Chamber. We do ask that your enclosure piece be a 4"x 9" brochure or a size not to exceed 8.5" x 11" and be no more than 1 page or sheet. These inserts should be delivered to the Chamber no later than 5:00 p.m. Thursday, February 5. Please contact Amy or call 865.983.2241. There is a small charge of $175 for insert enclosure.

 

Is your organization hosting an event in the community? Submit it here on our community calendar. If it's a tourism event, please email Ashlee so she can post it on www.SmokyMountains.org.

 

Also, please send us any news releases or good news about your business. We'd love to share it with the community.

 

Phil Collins topped the Billboard Singles Chart this week in 1989 with "Two Hearts," a song from the film Buster. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and Grammy Award for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture.

Phil Collins - Two Hearts