Raleigh Public Relations Society
The Raleigh Public Relations Society (RPRS) aims to advance the art and science of public relations and to strengthen communication, understanding and cooperation among the diverse individuals, groups, and institutions of the Society.
It’s time to RSVP for our annual holiday social! This year’s event will take place on Tuesday, December 10, 6-8 p.m. at the new Dram & Draught in Downtown Raleigh at 1 Glenwood Avenue. (Paid hourly parking is available in the forthcoming Origins Hotel parking deck across W. Morgan Street.)
The event is free to attend and a complimentary beer or wine drink ticket is up for grabs for the first 30 guests to RSVP. Light hors-d’oeuvres and raffles are also in store for attendees!
Back in February, we had the pleasure of hosting Jesse Lipson, founder of Real Magic and its contact-based app Levitate, for our monthly lunch and learn program.
According to the brand’s LinkedIn page:
“Real Magic builds SaaS products to help make the world a more creative and entrepreneurial place. Our first product, Levitate, helps small and medium-sized businesses manage their professional relationships to take their business to the next level. You can learn more at www.levitate.ai. Real Magic was founded by Jesse Lipson and some early team members from ShareFile (now part of Citrix), an award-winning business file sharing and document workflow tool that is used by millions of business people around that world.”
At the lunch, Lipson shared with us some of his learnings from his earlier career successes at Sharefile (now part of Citrix) and how he took his observations to heart in building Levitate, a tool that helps professionals overcome the hassle of “keeping in touch consistently with your network [as it] is way too much to manage in your head or on a spreadsheet.”
Hot Topic ? @RPRS attendees ask @jesselipson which subject lines make for the best response when keeping in touch… “Checking in” and “Quick question” and black belt version… Personalized based on sports team faves! #RaleighPR pic.twitter.com/lYevDWwJNl
— Raleighwood Media (@rmg_reg) February 26, 2019
“Levitate helps you build and maintain authentic relationships, which drive more organic referral and word of mouth business,” is the selling point listed on the brand’s website. I implemented the free version for low-volume users just a few days after Lipson’s presentation at my company, Raleighwood Media Group + Raleighwood Event Group. It’s easy to use and doesn’t require much effort to make part of your regular workflow.
Just a few weeks after activating Levitate, I reached out to an industry peer and past client that I had lost touch with in recent years just to say “Hello!” and ask about how work was going for him lately. We met up for coffee after a few email exchanges and he shared with me lots of new (to him) commercial ventures he had become involved with over the last year and that his bandwidth for in-housing marketing efforts had become taxed from the additional commitments. As the primary marketing decision-maker for these businesses, he asked me to put together two separate proposals for new lines of work for our boutique agency. One came to fruition and we onboarded within 30 days. The other is still open, but very much alive and well.
In mid-June, it was announced that Lipson netted a major round of funding from various investors to continue to grow the Real Magic offerings.
That came as no surprise to me given my very brief but valuable interaction with one of their product offerings.
My goal in writing this blog wasn’t to publish a several-months-late recap of the lunch but instead, to praise Lipson’s recent success in securing funding to grow his latest venture, “Raleigh startup exec Jesse Lipson lands $6M for Real Magic app startup“, and to share the impact adding this to my toolbox at Raleighwood has had on my business.
Whatever your reason for considering membership in the Raleigh Public Relations Society, I am proof that our group delivers many opportunities to grow as a professional and for business as a whole. Our lunch events through the remainder of 2019 are all posted online – I hope to see you at another impactful lunch soon!
Cheers,
Lisa Jeffries
RPRS Vice President 2019
We know getting away from the office in the middle of the day can be hard, so what better way to switch up our lunch meetings than meet up for wine after work? We had so much fun sipping wine, eating pizza, and chatting with our guest speaker, Chris Martin, VP of Creative at G&S Business Communications.
Chris walked through how successful companies, big and small, are getting creative and reaching outside their intended purpose to create buzz. Whether it’s Wendy’s throwing shade on Twitter or Post-it fueling a New York office battle, Chris showed us how we can all think outside the box to stay relevant and successful.
Read how some of these brands are going above and beyond to stand out from the crowd:
Want to see more? Check out the full slide deck Chris shared here.
Check out all of the photos from the event on Facebook.
With a delicious spread from Backyard Bistro, full cups of coffee and three ways to network, this year’s Spring Breakfast Social lived up to all the hype.
Attendees started off by dropping a business card into the bowl and filling out a name tag complete with their company name and favorite city in North Carolina other than Raleigh (because that’s the obvious choice!)
After a bit of noshing and chatting, the real fun began. Networking bingo cards were handed out which gave PR pros the opportunity and challenge to talk business, social media, hometowns and wine.
It didn’t stop there. Once the guests completed their bingo cards, they paired off for a bit of one-on-one networking “speed dating” to really get to know one another. The bell sounded twice, and each time the seats rotated to ensure that everyone had the opportunity to connect.
Before returning back to the real world of clients and meetings, attendees grabbed the business card of a stranger with the task to contact them before the end of the week.
At this event, members and nonmembers alike were able to engage, swap tips and just gush about life in the communications and marketing world in the Triangle.
Thanks to all who came out, and we’ll see you at the next breakfast social!
Don’t worry, we’ll make the coffee for you.
The Spring Networking Social is one of our most highly anticipated events of the year. We like to shake things up with a different time, location and structure – and this year’s no exception.
Please join us the morning of Tuesday, April 30 at Backyard Bistro for the Ultimate Networking Breakfast Social – free of charge! With three different ways to network and a lip-smacking free breakfast, how could you possibly say no!? We’ll get the blood pumping and creative juices flowing.
Come on out and network with fellow professionals in the Triangle!
When: Tuesday, April 30, 7:30 AM until 9:00 AM
Where: Backyard Bistro
