Can you believe we’re already in June?! From conferences and employee events to social media coaching and more, our team’s first half of the year has been a whirlwind!
Curious about what we’ve accomplished for our clients so far this year? We can’t wait to tell you!
2024 MEDA Annual Conference: Maryland is our home, and for over twenty years, the PPR Strategies team has served the Maryland Economic Development Association (MEDA) as the organization’s communications advisor. For the past few years, the team has been supporting behind-the-scenes efforts for MEDA’s Annual Conference, including coordinating speakers, creating programming, developing scripts and slides, and more!
Sophie, Hannah, and I were on-site this year to help facilitate the three-day program in Cambridge, MD, and to hear the many bright ideas for Maryland’s future! It was a full PPR team effort to keep all the plates spinning leading up to the conference (we were just the lucky ones who got to go to the Eastern Shore). 😉
Social Media on Main Streets: For small, local businesses, social media marketing can be the strongest tool for engaging customers and driving business!
This year, the PPR team was thrilled to help Main Street affiliate Rock Hall and Main Street Middletown with marketing accelerator programs to support local business owners learn foundational marketing practices. Webinar topics included sustainable content planning, time-saving AI tools for social media, Canva 101, and marketing and branding.
Our Social Media Coordinator and certified rockstar Kayla Sherry and I got to visit both Rock Hall and Middletown for our kick-off events. It was AMAZING to talk with dozens of business owners eager to chat about social!
Making the EDO Breakthrough Podcast: Last month, PPR Strategies announced that our new podcast, EDO Breakthrough, will be coming in the near future! In this new podcast, I will bring together economic developers and other industry professionals to help answer the challenges of EDOs! Think of it as Dear Abby… but for economic development!
Click here to send us your EDO-related questions, and we will tackle them head-on in an upcoming podcast episode!
Celebrations at the UVA Community Health: When UVA Community Health asked PPR to help with another employee event, we jumped at the chance to work with their team again!
PPR helped UVA celebrate National Hospital Week and milestone birthday celebrations this year for UVA Health’s Haymarket, Culpeper, and Manassas locations. Our team enjoyed planning and working on-site for each celebration. The biggest reward of all was giving the hardworking staff a chance to relax, enjoy local eats, and listen to good music!
Charles County Business Appreciation Week and “With Love From Charles” Gift Card:
Facilitating a local gift card program has been an exciting initiative for the PPR Strategies team! “With Love From Charles” is a digital gift card valid only at participating local Charles County businesses. It launched during Charles County Economic Development Department’s Business Appreciation Week.
For months, the PPR team has been hard at work, creating eye-catching ads, engaging social media content, compelling website copy, and more to gear up for the launch and encourage business participation.
PPR’s own Managing Director, Sophie Smith, hit the ground running in Charles County during the launch, personally signing up local businesses to join the gift card program.
Town Hall for FSC First: PPR Strategies was happy to assist our longtime client, FSC First, in coordinating a successful virtual town hall this past May!
The town hall showcased FSC’s Level Up Program, which assists small and minority-owned businesses. It brought together an all-female panel to discuss the capital, training, coaching, mentoring, and networking opportunities that the program can provide. You can watch the recorded town hall here.
We loved facilitating (and watching) the town hall and supporting our client in elevating this incredible project to spread the word for small businesses. FSC First is hosting a second town hall tonight with help from PPR.
Click here to view the broadcast on Tuesday, June 18th at 7 PM (EST).
Where in the World is Sandy? While I’m not exactly Carmen Sandiego, I have been catching flights and inspiration at different conferences and events in 2024!
The Main Street America Conference in Birmingham, Alabama, and the International Council of Shopping Centers Conference (ICSC) in Las Vegas, Nevada, were excellent opportunities to connect with some familiar faces and make new connections across the country!
Back on the East Coast, the Virginia Economic Developers Association (VEDA) 2024 Summer Membership Meeting was a great opportunity to learn more about different communities and their unique approaches to economic development.
The PPR team had an incredible first half of 2024, and we’re constantly brainstorming new ways to help our clients make a more significant impact in their marketing efforts and trying to connect with the vibrant EDO community!
