Behind the Scenes, The Show-house Saga: James Rixner

"Design Showcase Houses are breathtaking homes in which every living space has been given a makeover by an interior design or landscape professional. The annual events are eagerly awaited events by design junkies nation wide, myself included." Bonnie MacCarthy

James Rixner, a five-time featured Kips Bay Showhouse participant and a three-time participant of Holiday House Showhouse, has been featured in major shelter publications including Traditional Home, New York Spaces, Interior Design and The New York Times Magazine Design Section.

James is taking on a new show-house project: Mansionin May! Mansion in May Showhouse is taking place at Blairsden- a mansion that was constructed in 1897-1903 in Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey benefiting the Morristown Medical Center. 

This time James is taking on a major challenge-the biggest room he has ever done for a showhouse!

Many are debating if this may be interior designer James Rixner’s grandest show house design. (Illustrated in red in image)

“The grandeur and historic significance of BLAIRSDEN attracted particular designer interest this year,” said Mansion in May Design Co-Chair, Nancy Alfano of Bernardsville. Working with her are Design Co-Chairs Suzanne Van Fossan of New Vernon and Judie Hofmeister of Stirling. Said Van Fossan, “Over 152 design proposals were submitted from well-known designers located throughout the New Jersey-New York metropolitan area, and Pennsylvania. Mansion in May always attracts prestigious designers, but this year has been exceptional.” 

James has teamed up with top showrooms such as, Baccarat celebrating their 250^th year anniversary, Christopher Guy, Colombo Mobili, Elizabeth Sadoff Art Advisory, Alan Schatzberg  and Beacon Hill. 

This glamorous vignette is set to dazzle the crowds as designer James Rixner helps raise funds for the expansion of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit & Autism Center at the Gryed Children’s Hospital Morristown Medical Center.

Mansion in May will be open to the public May 1st, 2014.  Restoration and decorating work at the mansion is proceeding rapidly. “With over 30,000 square feet of house and 53 interior design spaces to complete, our designers have a short time frame in which to translate their concepts into beautiful reality,” said Hofmeister. 

Mansion in May is the preeminent designer show-house in the New Jersey-New York area, attracting over 25,000 visitors to the event, typically held every other year. As a fundraiser for Morristown Medical Center, the event is known for presenting the area’s most unique and historic mansions, restored through the work of top interior and landscape designers.    

General Admission

Self-guided tour (approx. 1.5 - 2 hours)
Hours: 10am - 3pm, every day in May
Last ticket sold at 3pm

Ticket Pricing
$40 per person, February 1 - April 30
$50 per person, May 1 - May 31

Purchase Options
Online: February 1 - May 31
In Local Stores: April 1 - April 30
At the Door: May 1 - May 31

Sources:
www.GCTMarketing.com
www.jamesrixner.com
www.baccarat.com
www.colombomobili.com
www.mainsioninmay.org
www.esadoff.com
www.alanschatzberg.com
www.vandenloom.com
www.beaconhill.com/

Marketing Tips: 5 Twitter Mistakes to Avoid

Social Media Objectives

• Expand brand presence
• Engage in dialogue with consumers and vendors
• Promote products and promotions
• Announce new vendors, products, etc.
• Increase awareness of business and sales

1: Auto-DM to message everyone that following you

The problem:  Using software or web apps that send everyone that begins to follow up a direct message.

Most people view this as spam and your click-through ratio on the links you post will be very low and it prevents people from building trust with your brand

The solution:  Don’t auto-send a DM to anyone on Twitter.  Build relationships with people first to find out what their needs are.  

2:  Posting Overkill

The problem:  You feel that the more post you put up the more exposure your brand will get. You are replying to tons of people and sending out lots of cool tweets that your followers find valuable. 

Stay consistent but don't over tweet. Over tweeting takes space and attention away from other Twitterers and can be bothersome to followers.

The Solution: Tweet at least once a day but limit tweets to under 5 times a day.

3:  Not Posting Enough

The problem:  Yes, not posting enough on Twitter is a Twitter sin although you might not know it.  If you aren’t posting multiple times a day, then you aren’t interacting with others and you aren’t driving traffic back to your website.

The solution:  You’re probably really busy and you don’t have time to visit Twitter multiple times a day to tweet.  I feel you.

So again, this is where a tool like Hootsuite comes into play.  Visit Hootsuite once a day and schedule multiple tweets for that day (at least 3).

4: Posting @ wrong times

The problem:  You send your tweets at times when your followers aren’t online.  As a result, your tweets don’t get clicked on and you don’t get re-tweeted.

The solution:  You need to find out when a majority of your followers are online and schedule your tweets for those times.  Luckily, there are a couple of services that can help.

5: You thank everyone & their cousin for following or re-tweeting you

The problem:  Every time you get a new follower, you send them a mention thanking them for the follow.  Every time someone re-tweets you, you thank them for the re-tweet.

The solution:  Thank people for the follows and the re-tweets sparingly.  Also, once you find out when a majority of your followers are online, schedule the thankyou’s in advance to go out during your non-peak times

Motivational Mondays: Complimentary Art of War Quotes As Backgrounds

5- Motivational quotes to help you conquer your industry. Please feel free to use these as backgrounds for your base computer, social media background, or even as a post to your friens/followers. 

 We wish you a productive and profitable week.

ART OF WAR QUOTES:
 Sun Tzu, The Art of War  

1)  “Rouse him, and learn the principle of his activity or inactivity. Force him to reveal himself, so as to find out his vulnerable spots.” 
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

2) “Ponder and deliberate before you make a move.” 
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

3) “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” 
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

4) “Who wishes to fight must first count the cost.” 
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

5)“The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent .” 
― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

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How To: Use Facebook Analytics For Your Business Page

Most of us are on social media, I currently have my Facebook page open to my personal page as I am sure many of your staffers currently do. We all understand the need to be active on social media, but during working hours we want to make sure the company stays active too.

How to structure your social media team:

First thing is to find information to create a report and have something to look at as you measure the growth of your business page. 

Facebook already gives you a lot of information such as:

• Overview
• Like
• Reach 
• Visits
• Post
• People

Overview: Gives you overall information from the different tabs available.  The image below shows insights from Likes, Post, and Engagement, at a glance. Each of the tabs have their own set of information and breaks down all the statistics.

People: This tab highlights types of people and their location. It give information such as gender, age group, location, and language. 

Post: Your post are key to growing your base. Are you staying relevant, engaging the end user. The Post tab gives you insight on your top post. This will be great for your marketing/social media meetings to generate topics your fans will be interact with. 

Likes: We love to see people like our page but we sometimes get an unlike, both are equally important and need to be examined.  By seeing who is liking and un-liking it will show you who you are attracting and why others may decide to leave.

"Thankfully, Facebook has refreshed the web version of Insights to bring you clear data sets that are presented in easier-to-navigate graphs that are highly dynamic and customizable. New features include:

• Benchmarking
• Easy start and end date slider
• When your fans are online feature
• Best post types feature
• Comparisons vs. general Facebook audience
• Advanced filtering
• Addition of Post Clicks stat"

"The data Facebook currently offers is very easy to read and understand, it is a great tool to measure and analyze your growth.

"When considering what metrics are relevant to your business or your client, think about what you’re using Facebook for and what goals you have in mind for the page.

If you stick to your goals and only report on them, you can ignore the other Facebook metrics and avoid the dreaded ‘analysis paralysis’!

Most brands set up Facebook Pages as a marketing method to bring traffic to a site (or foot traffic through a door) in order to convert" 

How go to your page's insight:

1. Be a manager or administrator of the page. Have the current admin just add your name to the list once you have liked the business page

1. Go to top of the page --> insights

Sources:
www.facebook.com
www.branded3.com
www.gctmarketing.com
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/

Next week--> How to Create a Spreadsheet To Track Growth. 04/20/14

A Real Estate Agent That Gives Back to Haiti

As a Manhattan resident for more than 14 years I am pleased to announce my affiliation with Stephen P. Wald Real Estate Associates, Inc.   

Having a bachelor’s degree in Architecture combined with a strong background in both marketing and interior design, I am extremely qualified to discuss your real estate needs and options. My career experience and my relationships have led me to collaborate on major projects with the Mattone Group and Dematteis Organization. 

My work has been featured in prominent publications such as: New York Cottages and Gardens, The Real Deal, The Robb Report, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.  With all that being said, I see well beyond the floor plan and can help you achieve the home that will work best for you.

If you are selling, purchasing, or investing...my knowledge of real estate and my 8 years of experience in the interior design industry...

”MAKE ME THE MOST RESOURCEFUL REAL ESTATE AGENT FOR YOU”

 Haitians and any patrons affiliated with a charity who engage our brokerage services to sell, buy or rent properties in both New York and The Hamptons, Wald Real Estate will donate up to 20% of the brokerage fees earned to a Charity supporting Haiti in their honor. 

Languages spoken: French, Spanish, English, Creole, and working knowledge of Portuguese.

(IMAGES: GCT MARKETING  STAGING WITH DESIGNERS JAMES RIXNER AND BJORN BJORNSSON CURRENTLY AT THE AZURE NY)

Sources:
www.waldrealestate.com
www.gctmarketing.com
www.bjornbjornsson.com
www.jamesrixner.com
www.urbanzen.com

5 Must Have Accessories For Designers on the go

Technology

Interior designers and Architects check out these gadgets that will make your life a little easier. Our lives are a bit different then most, we often deal with construction sites where there is no electricity, large plans and paper that we need to be scanned yesterday, and more often then not need a measurement of some oddly shaped room. 

I researched and found 5 gadgets that could help with those issues.

1. Premium Solar Charger 

- Ultra Thin Solar Powered Backup Battery and Charger for Cell Phones Approx- $29.99

2. Doxie Flip Scanner

This portable flatbed scanner is made to work anywhere, small enough to fit in a bag or large pocket, it features battery power and flash SD memory, so you can use it without the need for a computer.  Approx--$150

3.Structure Sensor (attention Architects and Interior Designers)

Using the sensor and your iPad, you can measure the three-dimensional space in any room, automatically capture three-dimensional models of everyday objects, and even simulate physics on top of the real world. Approx- $380

4. Handpresso Hand-Held Espresso Maker

If you dislike Starbucks as much as me but find yourself in need of an espresso on the go, this device is it.  Approx-$78.00

5. Pocket Smart Measuring String

A string that gives precise measurement even around a curved surface can really save time and energy. $12.00

sources:
http://www.foxnews.com
http://www.ebay.com
http://www.forbes.com/