December 2019 Morning Meeting Highlights
Good day members. Thank you to all who attended our meeting. It was a great conversation with a lot of useful information. Here are the December 2019 morning meeting highlights.
After conducting our pledge of allegiance and thanking those who donated the coffee (Sweet Southern Comfort) and the food (the FMA Board) we launched into discussions.
Nanci Watkins, FMA Treasurer, updated everyone on our current and growing member count. We had new members join since last meeting, so…again…The FMA is growing. We appreciate all new members.
This was followed up with the current status of our marketing material, which Nanci will have “in hand” tomorrow (December 20th). If you have a brick and mortar location and want to display FMA rack cards in your business, please let us know.
Next up Jeff Weller, FMA Secretary, talked about the FMA Evening Social. And he shared how beneficial the socials are to the host businesses. The last one was hosted by Skipper’s and within a couple days another FMA Member came in and bought new furniture. Also, FMA Members like to give benefits to other FMA Members (this is something we encourage). So, if you intend to buy furniture from Skipper’s or patronize any other FMA Member’s business, ask them if they offer an FMA Member only benefit.
Jeff also stated that we need a host for the January 2020 Evening Social. So, if you want to host, let us know. We commonly do them the 1st Thursday of the month. In January, that will be January 2nd. After a New Year’s Celebration, not many merchants will be attending an evening social on the 2nd. So, this time we are pushing it to the 9th.
After that, Chase Barfield, VP of the FMA, discussed the Social Media Workshop that the FMA is sponsoring and that is being led by local realtor and founder of the FreeportInsider, Rick Gonzalez. This will be a monthly workshop that will be held in the evening (once a month) at the Hammock Bay Lake Club. Rick will be teaching small businesses how to effectively use social media for marketing their businesses. He will go over things like building relationships, gaining authority, getting exposure and more. If you want to attend and have not notified us yet, please do so to confirm your spot.
Next, the board gave Rick Gonzalez the floor to discuss the Census. The 2020 Census is important as the data collected is what helps drives governmental decisions. The 2020 Census will be the first one ever where you can fill it out online.
According to Rick, he thinks this will become available in March of 2020 online. For complete details, check out the Census Bureau online.
On to the next topic, Chase continued with the offer that came from Corey Flynn of N2 Publishing. She granted an FMA Exclusive offer for advertising in Be Local, a magazine that is delivered to every new resident in Walton County as well as those who move within Walton County. The offer included a special reduced price and to have a Freeport Map with multiple merchants on it, each sharing in a portion of the cost. We currently have 6 members who want to commit to this offer. In order to us to make it feasible, we need 4 more. The summary version is that committing will give you broad distribution for your business at the cost of about $45 per month on a 1 year commitment. Contact us if you are interested. If we do not have 10 by January, this offer will no longer be available.
In the same vein of marketing, Chase shared Newspaper Rates from the DeFuniak Springs Herald. Stacy Martin, a Herald Reporter and Photographer, shared a Christmas Edition special where they feature one family in the newspaper. If you would like to advertise in this edition, contact Stacy Martin at stacy.dfsherald@gmail.com.
Finally, Chase introduced Ray Cyr with Bay Life. This is a local newspaper that covers the area from Niceville to Freeport. They are increasing their stories, events and coverage of the distribution area. So, if you have something to share or you want to advertise, contact Ray. You can find complete details about the paper and contact info on their website.
That concluded the December Morning Meeting. It was a great and lively meeting. We look forward to seeing you all at the January Evening Social and our next morning meeting.
If you are not a member and wish to join to gain the benefits of membership, feel free to visit our membership page to sign up.
Lastly, we have a diverse group of members in the FMA that celebrate different holidays at the end of the year. So, we would like to wish all of our members and their families a Happy and Joyous Holiday Season and a Happy and Prosperous New Year!
FMA – Uniting The Businesses of Freeport
