Local artist Raul Mejia is taking a big step in growing his business by launching his own online brand at www.raulmejia.com, featuring an online store offering original work, prints, shirts and more to a national audience. Mejia is a very well-known artist in Sacramento, having had his work exhibited in the SMUD Building, Spanglish Arte, Sol Collective, DEEDA Salon, CUFFS Urban Boutique, Centro’s, Ink, Borjon Winery, MoMo Lounge and Mixture. He has also had features in the Sacramento News & Review, Submerge Magazine, NorCal Magazine, Legend Magazine and on the TV show, Turf Wars. An online store is a logical next step in the rapidly growing career of this local Sacramento artist. Allowing

Since childhood, Chris Cotter has known what he was born to do. Growing up, he found TV, film and live performances fascinating, as he imagined the many elements that had to come together to make compelling art. This fascination eventually led him to start his own business, Integrant Sights & Sounds, so that he could tell engaging stories through the medium of video. His art takes several forms. Chris produces music and entertainment shows, and also develops video marketing content for small businesses. On the entertainment side of the business, Chris has been involved with shows for a few “big names” in the music industry. Earlier this month, Chris was the technical director for Sammy H

This may seem like an odd pair of movies to write about together but, aside from opening in the same week, they do seem to have something in common. Both seem to want to be something while also trying to be something else, for marketing purposes, and both suffer somewhat along the way as a result. The more blatant of the two is “The Bourne Legacy” which isn’t a movie about the character Jason Bourne, but at times seems like it desperately wants to be. Without Bourne, the franchise needs a new hero but a new character has no brand equity – hence the title and the setup. We’re re-joining the action roughly where we left it, with Bourne on the run (and completely absent) but with Pamela Land

MeringCarson, a fully integrated branding agency, invites Sacramento area nonprofit organizations to submit applications for its second annual CreateAthon event, to take place September 13-14, 2012. This event will be held as a 24-hour work-around-the-clock creative blitz during which MeringCarson will generate creative and strategic work for nonprofit organizations that otherwise would not be able to budget such efforts. CreateAthon was founded by Riggs Partners in South Carolina and was expanded to a national effort in 2002, forming the CreateAthon network. This effort has benefited more than 1,100 nonprofit organizations with 2,500 projects valued at more than $11 million. Last year’s

Broken dreams can either stir up hunger or infuse discouragement. I look around my city and see shreds of both woven into the fabric of the small business community. We are hungry to press on but weary from the fight. For most of us, what started as a passionate expedition into the direction of our dreams, has proven to to be an exhausting up hill battle. Is this sounding familiar? For those of us who aren’t locked in the grip of struggle perhaps you find yourself treading water in the grip of survival? Unable to capitalize to your fullest potential and continually replicating the same results? My name is Russell Breton and I am on a mission to make a difference. I want to change the s

Vision Launchers, a Sacramento based marketing & web design company is giving away a $17,000 “marketing makeover” to a struggling Sacramento small business. "Small businesses are the backbone of our city. We've spoken with a number of small businesses that are struggling to keep the lights on and they all need the same thing... help. We really want to do something to give a struggling business the tools and re- sources it needs to succeed," said Russell Breton, a co-director of Vision Launchers. Breton says the giveaway is part of Vision Launchers' LiftOff division, which has helped numerous local and international businesses with web development and business consulting services. The ma

This free, information-packed seminar will cover essential strategies and best practices as you begin to market with social media. You'll have plenty of time to ask questions, share your experiences, and network with your peers. (Bring lots of business cards!) You'll leave with real-world insights and knowledge that you can put to work immediately to help your business succeed. The speaker at the event will be Maureen Dudley of Dudley & Nunez Communications. Event Details: Social Media Marketing Made Simple Wednesday, February 22, 2012 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Raley's Roseville Event Center 1915 Douglas Blvd. Roseville, CA 95661   To register visit http://ow.ly/8Nc7b *Registration

We are seeking a highly motivated Sales, Marketing and Advertising Intern. The successful candidate will assist the Department with various projects and tasks that will give them a well-rounded understanding of business operations. Your Role: Distribute marketing materials for Sacramento Press and clients Coordinate advertising efforts and help design email campaigns for prospective clients Research thoroughly via the internet for information to create effective marketing plans for clients’ businesses Compile leads from online and other listings and add them in a database Assist with client management by making sure our clients receive the highest level of sales and operational customer

INTERVIEW: DIRECTOR JOE CARNAHAN AND ACTOR FRANK GRILLO [NOTE: THE INTERVIEW CONTAINS SOME MILD PLOT SPOILERS FOR “THE GREY”.]   Recently, in San Francisco, I had a chance to chat with co-writer and director Joe Carnahan and actor Frank Grillo about their new release “The Grey” which opens this week. The film, which is reviewed in a separate article, tells the story of a group of oil workers whose plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness, where they find themselves stalked by a pack of almost mythically large wolves. Joe is a Sacramento native and we’ve known each other for several years through the local film community and the Sacramento Film and Music Festival. As we were setting up f

The Urban Hive was filled with nearly 100 representatives from local charities and non-profits at the Sacramento Social Media Club’s “Social Media Best Practices for Charities” last Tuesday. The event, hosted by Clay Nutting, director of Concepts 4 Charity and account executive for 3Fold Communications, inspired attendees to use social media outlets, such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube to spread their message, raise funds and increase public awareness of their cause in order to promote social change.  Panelist Julie Bornhoeft, director of development and community relations for WEAVE, Inc., advised the audience that beginning to use social media is quite simple – you must have a presen

Through their use of Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and other social media tools, many local charities have spread their message, raised funds and increased public awareness of their cause in order to promote social change. In the hopes of spreading their stories and inspiring other philanthropic organizations to do the same, four local charities will be conducting a panel discussion at the Sacramento Social Media Club’s “Social Media Best Practices for Charities” on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. at the Urban Hive. Moderated by Clay Nutting, director of Concepts 4 Charity and account executive for 3Fold Communications, the event will include panelists: Kate Towson, Americorps VISTA with Sacrament

93% of all American adults adult internet users are now on Facebook. While this is not a surprising statistic for anyone that has fielded a friend request from their mom, aunt or even grandpa, it does make it harder for small businesses to ignore Facebook as a platform to engage their target demographic. The argument that a business targets an older or less tech savvy demo than Facebook users just doesn’t hold water any longer. Businesses without a Facebook presence are not just passing up a valuable opportunity to engage their customers, provide customer service, and gain new consumers; they're falling behind. But just being on Facebook and setting up a business page isn’t enough. A Face

What began with an adult beverage and a frustrated Twitter post quickly led to a series of grassroots efforts to keep the Kings in Sacramento.  Radio personality Carmichael Dave, founder of #HereWeBuild, was relaxing in his backyard when he discovered that the Anaheim City Council had voted to pursue efforts to bring the Sacramento Kings to Anaheim.  “I thought this is frustrating and I’m ticked off and I want to let people know,” Carmichael Dave said. “So I tweeted out, ‘Carmichael Dave votes one-to-nothing to issue $200 into a fund to build a new arena. Whose with me?’” Then the explosion happened which soon resulted in the HereWeBuild, HereWeStay and SacDeflated.com campaigns, and th

Mark Bean, the managing director of C7, and Josh Hilliker, the director of social media at Intel-GE Care Innovations, sat on a panel moderated by 3Fold’s Gordon Fowler to discuss whether or not social media’s return on investment (ROI) is measurable. Turns out, it is. As was revealed over the course of their discussion, there’s a plethora of tools out there for everyone to track just how effective their social media presence is. There are a lot of dated measurements (i.e. number of clicks or time on site), but they don’t quite carry over into social networking very well. Some of the newer tools include Hootsuite and Tweetdeck for the smaller businesses, or Radian 6 and Crimson Hexagon for

If you didn't get your ticket early, you missed out. Raley Field was the setting for Infuze Marketing's Wine in the Park wine tasting, featuring a selection of wines from surrounding area wineries, appetizers and a seat to watch the ballgame. The sold-out event took place in the VIP tented section off the third base line before the Sacramento River Cats and the Tucson Padres started the first of a four-game series at home. Participating wineries included Sierra Knolls Vineyard & Winery, Abundance Vineyards, Lucchesi Vineyards & Winery, Watts Winery and Mount Aukum Winery. The event was sponsored by Top Speed Data Communications, Porter | Scott Attorneys and the UC Davis Health

Nationally recognized marketing innovation expert Elaine Starling announces a provocative recovery strategy for small businesses. “Marketing is at the core of all successful business,” Starling said. “If your marketing isn’t working for you, it’s working against you – watering the wrong plants grows the wrong crop.” Starling is offering free marketing training videos to share her award-winning strategies with small businesses everywhere, available at MillionairesMarketingMatrix.com Starling was motivated by a meeting with the California small business advocate Marty Keller, who shared that the 3.2 million small businesses in California generate 99.2 percent of all new jobs and 70 percen

The little store in the little town© By Diana Hartley Once upon a time there was a business. The business stood on a cute corner of a cute town and for years did cute, if not, substantial business. One thing was for sure, it made the owner the money he needed to pay his bills and stay in the town. The owner knew all of his neighbors and friends who frequented his establishment often, if not every day. The business sold goods that people needed in their daily lives and it was easy and convenient to go to town to get these things. Then, what seemed like overnight, the town began to change. The news had forecast big changes for the town years before, but no one who had lived there, many for

 The Sacramento Social Media Club (SMCSac) held their April meeting at The Urban Hive featuring a trio of experts discussing social media and the law. Formally titled “The Web of Justice,” some forty plus lawyers, law students and those just interested in the topic gathered to hear individual presentations, followed by a question and answer period. Jeff Marmins, Executive Director of the SMCSac, was the MC for the evening, welcoming the crowd, before introducing the three speakers. Jonathan G. Steinis a litigator whose law practice handles a variety of cases from personal injury to debt-collection. It is as a blogger, however, that Mr. Stein comes by his social media expertise. He contrib

The Northern California Social Media Society is a new organization that aims to provide its members “access to a broad ecosystem of support to help you grow your business, enhance your leadership, and expand your impact as a socially responsible business leader.” Its launch party was held last Tuesday at Mix Downtown’s rooftop location at 16th and L streets. It was a sunny, comfortable setting for the introduction of the media society as well as good conversation among the enthusiastic attendees, who enjoyed light refreshments and raffle prizes donated by the leadership team and fans.   The team includes Nicole France of Buzz Sense Media, Beth Diebels of A Social Media Group, Peri R. R

If you have been reading about communication and marketing tools over the past couple of years you are aware of the proliferation of new devices and platforms for marketing to and establishing community with existing and prospective customers.  Studies continue to show that growing numbers of people are adopting the use of social networking and micro-blogging platforms for personal use and to “follow” or “fan” their favorite businesses.  Social media will continue to grow and offer businesses perhaps the greatest value in time and investment to reach customers and successfully track the results of their efforts.  Read this: your business needs a presence in social media. As growing number