Summer Camp is Back

Summer Camp is Back !!! 

Popular Summer Camp Returns This July

We are ready to start Summer Camp again this year at Dungarvan Enterprise Centre in association with Darock Media and Waterford LEO. All kids are welcome to get a chance to see how fun it can be to work with computers.  

This an exciting summer camp aimed at teaching kids how to code and create websites, apps, programs, games and explore technology in an informal and creative environment. In addition to learning to code kids meet like minded people and are exposed to the possibilities of technology. 

This camp promises a simple and friendly approach to teaching skills in a fun learning environment. Skills taught in this camp include how to write HTML, CSS, create themes and publish fully functional websites.

Kids will also set to work with makey-makey’s - A MaKey-MaKey is an Arduino board that can make anything into a key! You can make a connection through anything that’s even a little bit conductive. You can also create inventions that combine conductive and non-conductive parts. It will work with any software that works with the keyboard or mouse e.g. Scratch, Power Point, Photo booth, piano, bongos. The possibilities are endless.  
Click here  to see a screaming carrot :) 

The camp will be open to children from ages of 8 to 14 and takes place each day in Dungarvan Enterprise Centre from 10 am to 1 pm and will be running for 5 days, from 27^th to the 31^st of July. 

This summer camp is a great opportunity for children to get practical experience with websites, code programs + computer languages and is open to any child with an interest in computers, from kids who have absolutely no knowledge to kids who know a little and want to know more.

Summer camp will take place in the last week of July and will cost €99 per child and €160 for two siblings.

If you would like to book a place please contact dungarvanec@gmail.com or phone (058)23598

10 Tips for Going Viral

10 Tips for Going Viral 

Viral marketing is like a "virus'' which is sent from sender to recipient and spreads like wildfire. If the message is interesting it moves very fast around the world and you can get attention from countless recipients. Viral marketing has proven to be one of the most interesting methods of promoting a company. With little effort or money, besides the cost of producing the film, animation, or drawing, you can get to a very wide range of people.


What exactly is "viral'' marketing.

A virus is an interesting video, animation, or drawing, that users enjoy to such an extent,that he/she will begin to distribute it to friends, or share with others on their social network. And so, an interesting video will be sent like "word of mouth" from one person to another. It can draw attention to a product/ service through its entertainment value.

We had a workshop here at Dungarvan Enterprise Centre about going viral last week, if you missed the workshop here's our top tips for going viral. 

1. Focus on Current Events and Trends - you have to keep your eye on what's happening in the world around you. Always check Google news and Google trends and share information on your social media.
   
2. Make a Video - it's become very easy to make video using phone and affordable camera technology. For example look at www.facebook.com/mr-cian-twomey, this guy started making parody videos using an alter ego based on his girlfriend, his videos have spread far and wide and he is now selling t-shirts on the back of it. All in a very short space of time.
   
3. Pay Attention to Keywords and Tags - this is very important to make your material findable in search engines
   
4. Get Noticed by Someone Big- Unfortunately, it is not easy to be noticed by someone famous but everything is possible, keep following the influencers and celebrities and maybe someday.... good luck:)
   
5. Start a Contest- remember a good contest is always popular and has great share value
   
6. Use Humour- everyone likes happy people, something funny will get you attention and sharing. Just be careful - humour is subjective
   
7. Be Shocking and Controversial- within reason!!! Look at the success of Paddy Power's campaigns - they push the envelop every time
   Check out some examples here Paddy Powers Top 10 Controversial Campaigns
   
8. Use Photos and Visual Content - make good, large and high quality photos & visuals to catch the attention of people who will share it.
   
9. Submit to Reddit- to get your material seen
   
10. Don't Be Boring - be smart and do something new, use your imagination, have a brainstorming session, a great idea doesn't care who it happens to! 

Something very Pinterest(ing) at Dungarvan Enterprise Centre

                              PINTEREST

Hello, my names Tayler Auckland. I am a Commerce international student in University College Dublin. I am participating in work placement in Dungarvan Enterprise Centre over the summer of 2015. I have only been here a few days but have learned various amounts of new information.

On the 3rd of June 2015 a Connect Online workshop regarding Pinterest was held in the Enterprise Centre. I was lucky enough to obtain a place in the interesting lesson. As a young student I am familiar with many platforms of social media, however Pinterest is one that I have never used. As many may not have known (like myself) Pinterest has an enormous following and fan-base like Twitter, Youtube and Facebook.

My first question in the workshop was,
"What is Pinterest ?"
Well.... Pinterest is a free online, image based form of social media. Users can upload,save and store content known as pins. Pinterest is used by many individuals and also businesses to advertise their products, boost sales and even communicate with customers. Today's Workshop held by Cian Murphy was very insightful and gave those of us from Dungarvan Enterprise Centre an up-to-date presentation and demonstration of Pinterest.

The presentation began with some very neat and informative slides explaining the basics of Pinterest and how people can benefit from using it. It then became even more engaging when Cian explained Pinterest for Business. A few facts and some number crunching...
25% of Fortune Global 100 companies are on Pinterest and one Pinterest image can generate over a thousand business webpage views ! So it can be very useful for small or big businesses to attract consumers and hopefully drive sales.

We were guided step by step on how to set up a personal and business Pinterest account. A well differentiated group attended the workshop, each person having different backgrounds and working in differed businesses. It was impressive to see how the different people went about setting up a Pinterest page for their businesses. After the account was set up we started "pinning". I will do my best to explain the basics of this platform without causing boredom or an information overload.

A single post made by someone is called a Pin. It can be a picture (of anything), blog, testimonial, infographic or Product. It can be business related or personal and it may or may not contain a description. Other Pinterest users(pinners) can like this picture, save it or share it(Repin). Many people form folders of similar pins called "Boards".This simply allows for a neater more organised interface and ease of access for users. As it is a form of social media you can message and follow( not literally follow but keep up to date with updates) your friends or interests.

Finally Pinterest Analytic's were mentioned. A built in feature of Pinterest allows businesses to see how many people visit their webpage, on what devices, at what time and many other precise information. This could prove as excellent Research and Development for a business.

The workshop in Dungarvan Enterprise Centre was certainly fascinating as it involved key information, participation and good communication.

There is truly a lot on Pinterest. Things for Sale,
 new products, messaging or even nice pictures.
Either way... To say the least it was Pinteresting.

Lunch with Heather Reynolds of Eisthec

Join us For Lunch with Heather Reynolds of Eishtec

We are more than happy to introduce you to Heather Reynolds who is one of the owners of a new Irish company called Eishtec. Based in the South-East of Ireland, Eishtec is an outsourced contact centre providing tailored customer service solutions.

Heather is an exceptional  business woman but she is also a wife and mother of three children and she has decided to share with us her story of how she grew a business from 0 to 950 employees in just 3 years.

You will get  more interesting information and  advice  face to face at Dungarvan Enterprise Centre 27th May 2015 at 12 -2 pm.

Heather has over 20 years industry experience in the services sector across a number of Blue Chip organisations including AOL Inc, Dell UK and TalkTalk Group. Heather holds a Degree in Business Management and is a confident, decisive leader who is able to clearly develop, deliver and achieve superior results.

Heather is a motivated leader focused on creating high performance teams to drive innovation and best in class service. 

An ability to clearly develop, articulate and direct operational support Heather is a leader who transforms business practices through stakeholder engagement and working relationships. Experienced in contact centre management across Ireland, UK, India, and Holland,

Heather was awarded Irish Contact Centre Manager of the year 2007. Heather holds a Higher Diploma in Business & Professional Management.

We hope everyone who will attend the Dungarvan Enterprise Centre and take a lunch with Heather Reynolds will find the presentation informative and worthwhile.

The lunch with Heather Reynolds is in Dungarvan Enterprise Centre 27th May 2015 at 12-2pm  The cost is €15 per person,lunch included. 

To reserve your place call on (058)23598 or email dungarvanec@gmail.com

It's all about the money!

I was at a very interesting Dungarvan & West Waterford Chamber event this morning about the Funding available to enterprise in Ireland. There were speakers there from Enterprise Ireland, LEO, Waterford LEADER Partnership, Department of Social Protection, Glor na nGael and RIKON, all of whom have attractive funding and enterprise support services on offer.





The following is a summary of my key takeaways from this morning, along with links to the various agencies - there is help out there

Enterprise Ireland 

Enterprise Ireland supports high potential start-ups and existing businesses with propensity to trade internationally. They work mainly with manufacturing and internationally traded services, with the potential to create >10 jobs within a short timeframe. Grants include:

Competitive Start: Aimed at start-ups this grant is for €50,000 with the client raising €5000 themselves. The trade-off is 10% equity goes to Enterprise Ireland. The fund accommodates 15 businesses per call and is a highly competitive process.

New Frontiers: Aimed at individuals with innovative business ideas the programme is delivered over two phases. Phase 1 is a 6 week free training programme and phase 2 is an intensive fulltime development programme with a €15,000 stipend paid to participants

Get more information on the various Enterprise Ireland supports available here

LEO 

LEO supports micro business (<10 employees) from start-up through all stages of business. Their supports are broken into two measures; Measure 1 and Measure 2

Measure 1
Measure 1 supports are open to manufacturing (including craft, software & food) clients and can be used for innovation and capital projects.

Measure 2 
Measure 2 supports are broader and can be used by any micro enterprise. The following are some very attractive grants available:

• Trading Online Vouchers: 50% of up to €5,000 to be used for website development, e-commerce, web photography, online advertising and digital marketing 
• Marketing Assistance Grant: 50% of €800-€2,000 for marketing, can be used for trade fairs, marketing collateral, etc 
• Employment Grant: Between €8,000 to €15,000 for creating a job 

Get more information on the various LEO supports here


Department of Social Protection 

Employment Services through the Department of Social Protection incentivises the creation of jobs.

• There is a free recruitment website called www.jobsireland.ie where employers can advertise roles for free. 
• The Jobbridge scheme allows enterprises to take on an intern for a period of 6-9 months www.jobbridge.ie
• The Jobsplus scheme rewards employers for taking on someone from the live register with grants of up to €10,000 www.jobsplus.ie 
• If a small business owner is self-employed and encounters a serious drop in turnover, that person may be eligible for a Jobseekers payment www.welfare.ie 

Waterford LEADER Partnership 

Waterford LEADER Partnership support rural development and regeneration. Their next funding cycle will run from 2015-2020 but hasn't been finalised yet.

They are eager to hear from you so that you can start your application process prior to the release of funds - contact your local office here

Udaras na Gaeltachta 

• There is limited funding available for gno as Gaeilge 
• Signage: 50% of up to €6,000 
• Bilingual website or literature: 50% of up to €2,000 

More information here 

Glor na nGael 

Glor na nGael are a new support centre for those who wish to work through Irish and you can contact them here  

RIKON 

RIKON help to design sustainable business models. They have a raft of expertise in business, marketing, operations, lean manufacturing and other business related areas. There are 45 members of staff, each with specialist knowledge. RIKON administer the Innovation Voucher Scheme on behalf of Enterprise Ireland - a fund worth up to €5,000 per voucher 

More information here 

4 Awe-Inspiring Digital Marketing Specialists You Simply Must Follow

We found another good article written by Zara Burke of Digital Marketing Institute, she knows about digital marketing, social media, email, mobile and Analytics - so it is worth a read and she is definitely worth a follow - she's a font of knowledge :) 

In this article she is trying pushing us to be more curious, to tap into expertise in order make it easier to use all the tools that we need to be visible to other people online. 

The article has four stories, four experts, and four tools explained in a very clear way. All you have to do is study their success stories and get inspired. We will introduce two experts from the article to give you a taste of what's included.

Jon Morrow is an expert and a blogger extraordinaire, programmer, marketing strategist and expert speaker. He decided be a blogger after a traumatic car crash accident, interestingly most people who survive serious accidents start to think "what am I doing, life is too short ...'' and, realising their mortality they do something totally different then what they did before. Jon Morrow decided to be a blogger. He talks about how to lead a more fulfilling life. His style works because it is authentic, relevant and comes from the heart. He understands that great content starts with the customer and works back. 

Jeff Bullas is a social marketing blogger, keynote speaker and digital strategist, consultant and best selling author. 

Another good guy, and another inspiring story about turning a life around. His passion for social media marketing translated to a blog gave him many psychological benefits and, importantly, his passion resulted in a profitable business. If, like us here in Dungarvan Enterprise Centre, you are low on budget and dependent on affordable marketing tactics, Jeff's blog posts contain some truly unique ideas. 

In this article Zara Burke writes about two more experts with great back stories. One of them is SEO expert Rand Fishkin and the other is Analytics expert Avinash Kaushik.

If you want to know more 

click here and read whole article. 

The Top 6 Digital Marketing Blogs Every Business Should Bookmark

After reading an article "The Top 6 Digital Marketing Blogs Every Business Should Bookmark’’ written by Zara Burke, whose core passions are content creation and small business strategy, we decided to share this article because Digital Marketing is growing very fast and is at the heart of every business' marketing strategy. 

It can be difficult to distinguish between different blogs, which ones are useful for us and which are wasting our time to read them? Digital Marketing Institute recommends some of the most valuable blogs. 

1.  Digital Marketing News & Views: Marketing Land

This blog looks at why digital marketing is so important for business and what you can expect from it. All entrepreneurs know the most important business is generated by the client and demand, and not the product itself. That’s why information is the key to success. Marketing Land keeps you  up to date with important upcoming launches and digital marketing announcements and helps you to stay ahead of the competition. 

2. Content Marketing: Content Marketing Institute

Content Marketing is important primarily because it perfectly positions the page in SERP and drives more and more customers to your website in a quick and easy way. Content Marketing is good quality, valuable to the reader content that informs and attracts visitors to your site, and  can even convert them, so they will become your customers. After reading the text, from which the client will learn something about you and your product, or will learn how to solve his problem you can be sure that he will return just for your expertise. It is within your content that he found what he was looking for. And finally Content Marketing is the answer to the question how to find the top positions in the search engine and what's more - to keep it. 

3. Social Media: Social Media Examiner

We all know that without social media your business doesn't exist! Social Media Examiner shares information that gives a broad sense of the use of Internet and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. The popularity of social networking sites ranked among the leading marketers are of course Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Blog. Social Media Examiner gives the inside track on these tools - the strategy and case study blog posts are particularly useful for helping you to plan and create your own social media strategy and content calendars. 

In summary,there are some great blogs out there.Social Media, Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, all of these tools are very useful. Good blogs can help us to find the best way to success and if you write a good blog you can find more customers for your business. It is so important to be smart and stay ahead online. 

For more interesting Marketing tips plus the full article click here