pride of dakota news june 2010
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Pride of Dakota Day at the State Fair, Dickinson Harvest Showcase, Pride of Dakota COSE DayTRANSCRIPT
NewsJune 2010
Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring
Business Development DirectorChuck Fleming
Marketing SpecialistsSara KelschStephanie SinnerSue Balcom
Marketing InternJoanna Drennen
Pride of Dakota Day at the State Fair
Dickinson Harvest Showcase
Featured Company: Dakota Roots
Featured Store:Upunder.com
Pride of Dakota Day - Capitol
Social Networking
Technology Tidbit: Skype
Calendar of Events
In This Issue
Pride of Dakota News
Pride of Dakota Day at the North Dakota State FairThe 22nd Annual Pride of Dakota Day at the North Dakota State Fair is Mon-day, July 26, 2010, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Last year, our Pride of Dakota Lunch attracted more than 1,200 hungry fairgo-ers. A bargain at just one dollar, the lunch includes a Cloverdale hotdogs, a bag of potato chips from Northern Plains Potato Growers and milk from Land O’Lakes. The lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The lunch is also a great opportunity for food companies to sell small-por-tioned samples to customers looking for extra bites to complement their lunch. For the second year, we will host a Kuchen Contest. We’re anticipating a large turn-out due to the overwhelming support we received last year, and because you can’t call yourself a North Dakotan if you’ve never tasted “German Pie.” Last year, we tallied more than 300 votes. We’re looking forward to another successful Pride of Dakota Day at the North Dakota State Fair. We enjoy representing the people and products that make North Dakota a wonderful place to live.
If you haven’t signed up yet or need information on the event, contact Sara at 701-328-4766 or [email protected].
Pride of Dakota Day
Here at Pride of Dakota headquarters, we like to plan ahead. So, while you’re enjoying your summer va-cations and time at the cabin, please don’t forget that the Dickinson Harvest Showcase is right around the corner.
The Harvest Showcase will be held, Sept. 18-19, at the Dickinson Recreation Center. Times are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Last year, shoppers from across western North Dakota were eager to shop from 95 Pride of Dakota vendors. We had a great, first year turn-out with more than 3,000 people. This year, we anticipate even more.
The Pride of Dakota staff is working hard to promote the showcase using local media advertising and our social networking sites. Members, let your fans know which showcases you will be attending on your busi-ness Facebook page and on the Pride of Dakota Facebook page with its near 3,100 fans.
Information about the Dickinson Harvest Showcase registration and details was sent out a few weeks ago. Please return your registration with the $75 booth fee as soon as possible to secure your spot.
Questions? Contact Sara at 701-328-4766 or [email protected].
Don’t Miss the 2nd Annual Dickinson Harvest Showcase
The fourth Annual Pride of Dakota Day at the Capitol sponsored by the Council of State Employees (COSE) will be held September 16 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This event is always a highlight during State Employees Recognition Week because state employees, as well as people from surrounding communities, are able to shop from over 50 Pride of Dakota vendors throughout the day.
As in the past, the event will be held in the Legislative Hall, Memorial Hall and ground floor of the Capitol building.
For Pride of Dakota members, this is an opportunity to attend a free showcase that receives a lot of traffic; state employees are loyal Pride of Dakota shoppers.
Pride of Dakota staff is working to coordinate a Pride of Dakota lunch in conjunction with the event. In the past, the Pride of Dakota lunch has been a huge success in driving people to eat Pride of Dakota food in the State Capitol Cafeteria and then shop from Pride of Dakota vendors.
This event fills up quickly because it is free of charge. Registration forms will be sent out soon, so please be speedy with returning your registration forms to save your space. If you have any questions regarding this event, please contact Sara at 701-328-4766 or [email protected].
“This is a great opportunity for Pride of Dakota companies to market and promote their products at a very low price,” said Dawn Watson, executive marketing director.
Upunder.com is suitable for all sizes and types of businesses from grocery items to real estate by al-lowing business owners to create and maintain their online store to fit their needs.
Upunder.com’s customer service is based in North Dakota. For more information about Upunder.com, visit their website at www.upunder.com or contact Dawn Watson at 701-250-7818 or [email protected].
Pride of Dakota Featured Company
Pride of Dakota Featured Store
Upunder.com enables Pride of Dakota companies to create a virtual store where customers can buy their products.
The website offers “deal of the day” promotions to highlight each registered company, and is equipped with secure e-commerce capabilities. Individual companies can also design their own online store pro-motions, such as “buy-one-get-one,” and can customize shipping charges.
Registration is free and companies are charged a one-time 4.5 percent commission on sales.
Jo Ann Winistorfer and Cathy Langemo share their passion for genealogy in their book, “Tracing Your Dakota Roots,” first published in 1999.
Starting with comprehensive his-tory about the settlement of North Dakota, the book’s 10 chapters contain a wealth of knowledge and information to help people in North Dakota learn about their ancestry. Additional resources include websites, bibliographic material and charts.
Jo Ann and Cathy suggest that novice genealogists start by look-ing for three key clues: names, dates and locations. These can be found in vital records, newspa-pers, military records, marriage licenses, etc. Everything should be organized using a pedigree chart.
Writers and editors by trade, Jo Ann and Cathy, took on the project together, dividing the chapters between them. They also conduct genealogy work-
shops and provide genealogical research for other people. “A horrible thing happens to you when you get hooked—you want to get other people hooked,” said Jo Ann. “You want to inspire them to do research on their family.”
If you’re interested in learning more about genealogy, Jo Ann and Cathy will host a workshop, June 19, in Ellendale. For more infor-mation contact Janette Robb at [email protected].
For more information, visit www.prideofdakota.com and search
Dakota Roots.
Pride of Dakota Social Networking
July 26 Pride of Dakota Day ND State Fair Minot
Sept. 16 Pride of Dakota Day ND State Capitol
Sept. 18-19 Pride of Dakota Harvest Showcase Dickinson
Upcoming Events
Technology Tidbit: Skype
Unfamiliar with social networking (also called social media)? Then it’s time to get connected. Pride of Dakota is working one-on-one with social net-working consultant, Scott Wild of Wild Inspired, to increase marketing opportunities for our members.
Pride of Dakota now has a Facebook© page, Twit-ter™ account, WordPress blog, Ning network and YouTube account. Our Facebook fan page reaches nearly 3,100 people daily with feature stories about our members, little-known facts about the program, status updates and feature videos.
We have increased traffic to our page by holding contests for our fans such as “Tell us your favorite Pride of Dakota product and why you can’t live without it.” These contests increase visibility for you, while giving us valuable insight about what people say when they use or describe Pride of Da-kota products.
If you want your company to be featured on Face-book, please take the following steps:1. Call or email us and ask to set up an interview
to be the featured company of the week. Pride of Dakota retail stores are welcome and encour-aged to do the same.
2. Fill out the “Tell us about you” form and email, fax or mail it back to us so we can share some “Little known facts…” about your company.
3. Let us know if your company has been in the news. For example, Cloverdale had a show pro-duced about their company on television. They posted the link on our Facebook page so that all of our fans could watch the trailer. Over 3,100 people will be seeing the link so this is a cost-effective way to reach a big audience.
If you find social networking overwhelming, please email Sara at [email protected].
Skype uses personal computers and the Internet to let people talk face-to-face. With webcams and microphones, up to 25 callers can both talk to and see each other.
A Skype account is necessary for make free calls using Skype. A fee is charged if a caller does not have an account.
Businesses can use the program for video conferencing. Skype’s video capability creates a more engaging atmosphere than the traditional telephone conference call.
Pride of Dakota encourages its members to register for a Skype account and connect with us. We will use the account to conduct and record interviews that provide us with information to write feature stories for our social networking sites and newsletters.
For more information about Skype or to sign-up for a free ac-count, visit www.skype.com.