AMERICINN OF BAUDETTE EARNS 2016 TRIPADVISOR CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE

BAUDETTE, MN – June 21, 2016

AmericInn Lodge & Suites, Baudette MN announced that it has received a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence. Now in its sixth year, the achievement celebrates hospitality businesses that have earned great traveler reviews on TripAdvisor over the past year. Certificate of Excellence recipients include accommodations, eateries and attractions located all over the world that have continually delivered a quality customer experience.

“With the Certificate of Excellence, TripAdvisor honors hospitality businesses that have consistently received strong praise and ratings from travelers,” said Heather Leisman, Vice President of Industry Marketing, TripAdvisor. “This recognition helps travelers identify and book properties that regularly deliver great service. TripAdvisor is proud to play this integral role in helping travelers feel more confident in their booking decisions.”

The Certificate of Excellence accounts for the quality, quantity and recency of reviews submitted by travelers on TripAdvisor over a 12-month period. To qualify, a business must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five, have a minimum number of reviews and must have been listed on TripAdvisor for at least 12 months.

Simply Fresh Farmers Market Opens

Article courtesy of the Northern Light Region
By: Doris Knutson

“The Simply Fresh Farmers Market, formerly known as Fresh Start Farmers Market, will open for the season this Saturday, June 11. The hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Hometown Hardware in Baudette.
This year, the market has a new manager, with Ellen Richards taking the reins. Richards replaces Lynda Annoreno, who was the driving force behind the organization of the farmers market in Baudette, as well as the manager for the first several years.
Richards started off in 2014 as a vendor at the farmers market, selling crafts and other homemade items.
In 2015, upon Annoreno’s decision to retire, Richards accepted the position of manager.
“Nobody wanted to run the market, so I decided to give it a try, with my husband’s blessing,” Richards said.
Despite the market’s new name, most everything else is the same.
“I tried to keep it close to the original purpose of the farmers market,” said Richards.
“The market will feature only foods that are homegrown, homemade, home-picked, home-raised or handcrafted and other specialty items that are food-related
“The customers, vendors and well-wishers were all used to the location, days and times, so they will remain the same” she said.
“I had a lot of help and support from Lynda and Rick and Joyce Blodget from Hometown Hardware,” Richards continued.
“My back-up help and support are Barb Porch, Judy Olson and Larry B.”
Some of the vendors shoppers will find at this Saturday’s market are Nancy Dunnell of Nancy’s Greenhouse, Sybil Butler with Tupperware, Our Country Pantry’s Kim Benike, Olson Furniture built by Philip and Joyce Olson, Barb Porch’s produce and baked goods, Wild Rose Ranch, owned by Wendy Rogers, with meats and baked goods, Colette Olson with some gluten-free baked goods and crafts, Calvin Carlson of Potamo Produce with garden produce and homemade jams and Ellen’s Cotton Shop, owned by Ellen Richards, with hand-woven rugs and other homemade crafts.
Simply Fresh Farmers Market belongs to the Minnesota Farmers Market Association and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Minnesota Grown.”
If you are interested in being a vendor, call Ellen at 218-634-1331, or email simplyfreshfm@aol.com

Take a Kid Fishing Weekend

Fish Lake of the Woods for free during Take-A-Kid Fishing Weekend June 10-12, 2016:

“Minnesotans 16 or older who take a child 15 or younger fishing don’t need a license this weekend, and opportunities for inexperienced, beginner anglers abound throughout Minnesota.

Catch some quality, family time and plan a special fishing day or weekend. There are a variety of organized fishing opportunities throughout the state during Take a Kid Fishing Weekend.”

Source: MN DRN

 

 

History of Willie Walleye

Ever wonder the history behind the famous Willie Walleye, the fish that has come to symbolize Lake of the Woods?  Here is a great article from Lake of the Woods Tourism on how it all started…

Click here to read the full article.

Zippel Bay Northern Pike Tournament 2016

By: Katie Pieper, Guest Blogger

I have been fishing the Zippel Bay Northern Pike Tournament for 8 years with my fishing partner Katie Berg who has been fishing the tournament for 17 years of the 20 year tournament. She started fishing with her dad in the beginning and as years past he decided to retire and I was able to step in. The tournament has always been the last weekend of April dependent on the weather. There have been a few cold years where the ice could still be seen on Zippel Bay where the tournament is held. Some years the tournament has been bumped back due to ice. It is extremely exciting yet competitive tournament for us. Our main goal every year is to beat our husbands Chris Pieper and Greg Berg, who are also a team. They have fished the tournament ever year since the beginning. Our excitement starts to build in early April as we get ready, checking our lines and lures. We prepare babysitting for the kids to make sure we have a fully uninterrupted weekend of Northern fishing.

Saturday morning as the sun rises we get our many, many layers on to stay warm for no matter what the weather brings! Everyone warms up their boats and watches the steam rise off the bay, secretly getting excited and anxious to see if they can catch that over 40″ Northern every one dreams about. The shot gun goes off at 8:00 a.m. for the first heat and the boats fly from the starting line, racing to get their spot. Katie and I have developed a system that works best for us, which includes music and lots of laughter. I’m pretty sure that’s how we draw the “big one’s” in! The limit is 6 Northerns per team and only two lines. It’s a race to get as much weight as you can before 4 p.m.on the first day. There is nothing more exciting than getting a hit and wondering, will it be a “big one”? As you start to reel and the fish starts to fight the adrenaline builds. When you pull up a 43″ Northern for the first time it is truly amazing as you see the head of this huge fish emerge from the water.
When everyone is back in for the evening Deanna, Nick and the staff at Zippel Bay greet you with warm how’d you do’s and cheering you on. Everyone waits for the leader board to show on the screen and see where we all fall into place. Even if you fall short on Saturday there is still a chance for Sunday! The great part about this tournament is it can change quickly with just one fish in your favor. It’s one tournament I will never miss as long as I’m able. The people are great, the fishing is amazing and the opportunity to win is in your reach.
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6 Tips for a Great Social Media Marketing Campaign

By smallbiztrends, Guest Blogger
Published: SBA March 17, 2016

“Social media can be a huge driver of website traffic, awareness of your brand and, of course, new business leads, and online and offline sales.

Social media can also be a time suck that eats resources but doesn’t yield results.

How do you prevent that from happening?  Simple: treat social media marketing with the same discipline and level of planning as any other marketing.  Don’t just engage in random sharing and chatting. Instead, plan and execute real campaigns.

Here are 6 tips for a great social media marketing campaign:

1. Define your goal – in detail

What’s the one goal you want out of your campaign? Is it to drive people to fill out a lead form on your website? Are you trying to increase e-commerce sales? Do you want to drive in store traffic?

Define it as an action you want people to take. Be specific. “I want people to [insert verb].”

If you aren’t clear about your goal, the rest of your campaign is likely to be vague and may disappoint you. Get this step right and the rest falls into place easier.

2. Specify a measurement

The next step is to define a number that you would consider a successful result. This could be a flat number such as adding 500 email subscribers. Or it could be a dollar number, such as driving $20,000 in online sales.  Your number could be a percentage growth as well, such as driving 15% growth in new leads.

Assigning a numerical goal gives you something to drive toward and later measure your success against. Just as important, it serves as a gut check to assess whether the resources you are about to devote will be worth the desired outcome, and whether the goal is a stretch yet attainable. If not, it’s better to set a different goal for your campaign.

3. Focus on one platform

Unless you’re an accomplished marketer, you’re going to want to focus on a single social media platform. By focusing on a single platform you can devote more effort to understanding the platform features and implementing the techniques to leverage them well.

More campaigns fail through poor execution than any other reason, in my experience.  Often that stems from not understanding the right steps to take or not knowing the social platform well enough to use advanced features that really can move the needle.”

View the rest of the tips by clicking here.