Visit to Clonakilty

Dear Sirs,

My wife and I have just returned home from a week long holiday in West Cork, including a visit yesterday to Clonakilty town and later to Inchydoney. We were both highly impressed with the cleanliness and general tidiness of the shops, restaurants and other businesses despite the fact that the recent floods have caused so much havoc to traders and residents alike. I appreciate that there is still substantial repair work to be carried out to several properties and we saw evidence of this underway at various locations.

I think what impressed us most was the genuine friendliness and helpfulness from every business person that we came into contact with. You have a town to be proud of and it is the people working and living there who are the real building blocks. Bricks, cement and timber can all be replaced or repaired with relative ease but getting the right people is somewhat harder. In Clonakilty you have the right people and it will be much appreciated if you could find some way to pass our best wishes to them all. We very much look forward to our next visit.

With best regards,

Mark & Mary-Lou Parker

Hillsborough

Co. Down

Chamber News 18th July 2012

 

RECEIPT OF FLOOD DAMAGED GOODS

Could you please advise your members that the Civic Amenity & Recyling Centre in Clogheen are still taking flood damaged goods free of charge upto the 31st July.

Regards and thanks

Justin

Justin England [Justin.England@CorkCoCo.ie]

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DENTAL PRACTIVE RE-OPENS

Dear Chamber Members, 

I would to inform chamber members and the public that my dental practice is  now reopen at 8 Harte's Courtyard.

Thanks to all  my patients for their understanding and good wishes since the flooding.

Regards,

Liam Harte 

023-8858536

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REVENUE EMAIL SCAM WARNING

Warning: Latest Email Scam

The Revenue Commissioners have today (17/07/12) become aware of further fraudulent emails purporting to come from Revenue seeking personal information from taxpayers in connection with a tax refund. These phishing emails are headed ‘Irish Tax and Customs Online Confirmation’ and ‘Irish Tax and Customs Notification’. A link opens up a form seeking personal information.

These emails did not issue from Revenue.

The Revenue Commissioners never send emails requiring customers to send personal information via email or pop-up windows. 

Anyone who receives an email purporting to be from Revenue and suspects it to be fraudulent or a scam should simply delete it. Anyone who is actually awaiting a tax refund should contact their local Revenue Office to check its status.

Anyone who provided personal information in response to these fraudulent emails should contact their bank or credit card company immediately.

Please see Revenue’s Security page for further information.

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WEST CORK’S FIRST EVER FUNDRAISING DANCE OFF

Clonakilty Rugby Club are running West Cork’s first ever fundraising ‘Dance Off’ and BBQ in Scannell’s Bar on this Saturday night  21^st of July to raise funds for Clonakilty Flood Relief.

Thanks to the willing generosity of our sponsors we can guarantee that 100% the ticket price and all funds raised will go directly to Clonakilty Flood Relief.

Tickets are €10.00 - volunteering to dance costs nothing!!!

There is a cup, a unique and fabulous t-shirt, and free entry to the Emmet niteclub for the winning dance!

Tickets are on sale now from; the Emmet Hotel, DeBarras, Fernhill House Hotel, Fuschia Footwear, James Deasy & Co, Scannells Bar, & Club Members

Also, the Rugby Club runs its lotto draw in Scannell’s every Saturday night, and we will be donating all of our takings that Saturday to the flood relief fund.

More information including a video clip of a dance off can be found at this link:

http://www.clonflood.com/2012/07/bbq-and-dance-off-21st-july.html?m=1

All support will be greatly appreciated,

If you want any more information please feel free to give me a call anytime

Many Thanks,

Marie Henson

Social Secretary,

Clonakilty Rugby Club.

M:  +353 86 1548149

How to Use Online Marketing to get the Best Results from a Big Event like Jungle City Clonakilty

This article was started before the flood hit town. Of course, I don't want to take away from the challenges business owners and residents are having in Clonakilty due to the effects of the flood, but it's message is more important than ever:

Online Marketing (whether it be through your website, social media or email marketing) will get the message out that you are back in business, that Clonakilty is open and bustling with the most amazing people in the World and that visitors should choose to come here for their holidays/breaks or just a day out. 

Consider how you can use your online marketing channels to communicate how the flooding has effected (or NOT effected your business); including:

- Showing the Clonakilty town crest and or other imagery to show your town pride.

- Talking about shopping local and supporting businesses and others effected by the flood.

- Communicating how people can help those effected and publicly thanking those that have helped you.

Some may feel that this will take away from marketing the town to bring in visitors, but I have found the response on my social media channels -- and from just talking to people while on a recent holiday in Wicklow - shows that people do want to support the area and are specifically coming to Clonakilty to shop/eat/drink/etc. These people were probably thinking of coming to Clonakilty any way, but this has prompted them to come now, which is what we need people to do -- not put it off and never getting around to organising it.

A few weeks ago I was talking to someone from the Social Media group of the Chamber about how to get 'Clonakilty' trending on Twitter. Now, I didn't want to go so far as creating a natural disaster, but Clonakilty was trending for a couple of days from all the news reports about the flooding, but mainly from people showing concern and just spreading the word about what was going on here and what people could do to help. We can now turn that sympathy and support into interest for Clonakilty as a great place to go no matter what is going on and get Clonakilty trending for our own reasons!

A big event like Jungle City can have a large impact on visitors to your website or sales in a shop, but it can be short lived unless you have a plan for your sales and marketing (online and offline) in relation to the event that will create a long term effect.

How Chamber Members can make the most out of the Jungle City Experience

Jungle City Clonakilty is an amazing opportunity for Clonakilty Chamber of Commerce members to increase their profiles and profits from the publicity and the visitors it will bring to our town.

Your individual business will benefit the most if you do a bit of planning and forward thinking on your sales and marketing strategy alongside the marketing and promotions being organised by Jungle City Clonakilty, the Chamber and the other sponsors.

Here are a few ideas of what you can do:

Opening Hours

Will it benefit you to increase or change your opening hours to be more in line with the times that visitors will be coming to town to view Jungle City?  
Of course we don’t know exactly when people will choose to come for this event, but it is open 24/7. We do expect that a number of families will come on Sunday afternoons and many others may come in the evenings after a day touring around the area. This past Sunday, throughout the day, there was a stream of people coming into the Jungle City Pop Up Shop. Many of them were looking for more things to do, but there was little open in the town.
- You should consider if it will benefit your business if you can be open during these times. Also keep track of the times of any scheduled events. We can publish a list/calendar of all the events coming up to help with this.
- If you know of a large group coming into town, please spread the word so as many members as possible can benefit and we can make the best overall impression.

When the visitors are here in Clonakilty we need there to be so many things to do and see; as well as places to eat, drink and shop; that they want to come back to take it all in -- and tell all of their friends and colleagues about it.

Special Promotions

What products/services do you have that are related to the theme of Jungle City?
- Develop a special promotion around these products/services to attract the Jungle City visitors to your business.  

What products/services do you have that appeal to the kind of visitors that are likely to visit for Jungle City.
We see the following as the main target markets for Jungle City Clonakilty: families with young children, artists and art lovers (with a focus on street art), animal lovers and conservationists. Of course Jungle City has a wider appeal than this, but for PR and marketing it’s best to focus on the main groups that the project will most appeal to.
- Develop special offers/packages for Jungle City visitors.  For example: Richy’s now has the "Gold Croc Monsieur" sandwich highlighted on his menu, noting the relationship with Jungle City and that €0.25 from each sandwich will be donated to the organisation. Other possible tie-ins: Jungle themed toys, gifts, clothing; outdoors equipment, binoculars, books, etc. Consider if it would be worth getting in specific stock to suit the jungle theme (safari related clothing, toys, games, etc.).
- Are there other target markets that may suit your business better?  You’d know best from your experience.  Do you cater for older visitors or surfers or musicians?  How can you use Jungle City Clonakilty to draw more of these people into your business? (Please share your ideas in the comments below.)

Can you decorate your premises -- inside and out (if appropriate) -- to appeal to Jungle City visitors?
If the whole town appears to have ‘Jungle Fever’ it will make a better impact on visitors -- and photographers/cameramen -- over all. It will also attract the visitors to your premises.

Online Marketing

Is your website up to date, including information on Jungle City and other events taking place in the town this summer?
The increased publicity for clonakilty.ie will hopefully mean more visits to the site and all of our own websites.
- Make sure that your website  is up to date and features current information on what’s going on in the town.
- Include information on and images of Jungle City Clonakilty to highlight this great event.


Now also communication if the flood has had any impact on the products or services you offer.

Are you using social media channels like Facebook and Twitter?
Jungle City Clonakilty and the Chamber will be using social media heavily to promote the project and area.  You can gain from this exposure as well.
- Let us know about your social media profiles and we will connect with you and share your posts with the online followers of Jungle City and the Chamber.
- Share the posts of Jungle City Clonakilty and the Chamber (and those of other members) with the people you are connected to.
- Post any relevant photos and videos that you or your customers take related to Jungle City.  These are great additions to your social media channel as people love to share great images and videos with their friends and they can get a real taste of what it’s all about.
- If you are not using social media at present it would be a good time to start as the PR surrounding Jungle City will be a great way to get exposure and gain connections.

It would be helpful if all members’ sites included links to http://www.jungle-city.org and http://www.clonakilty.ie and if you connect with the social media channels with a follow or a like, and share our posts as you see them:
http://www.facebook.com/JungleCityClonakilty
http://www.facebook.com/clonakilty
https://twitter.com/#!/cloncierge
https://twitter.com/#!/clonchamber

Do you have an email marketing sign up form on your website and/or in your premises?
You will be getting a number of additional visitors to your website or in your premises over this time. The best way to benefit from this in the long term is to capture the visitors details in an email marketing list. Mailing lists aren’t just for businesses that send regular newsletters, you can start your list by offering subscribers information when you have news or updates to your products/services and only send occasionally. www.mailchimp.com is an email marketing application that is free to use if you have less than 2,000 subcribers and send less than 12,000 messages per month with the service.  They have helpful tutorials and resources on their website to get you started.  You may need the help of your web developer to get the sign up form on your website.

The level of success we all achieve for Jungle City Clonakilty will depend on the efforts of the members working as a group to highlight what a wonderful project it is and that Clonakilty is the destination of choice for holidays, short breaks and days/evenings out! 

We've seen how working together can help a quicker recovery from the effects of the flood. Let’s continue to work together to make this summer and the rest of the year a great success for us all!

If you have any additional ideas, please note them in the comments below to share with all the Chamber Members.

Chamber News 10th July 2012

The Rossa St. Bridge is open again.

The following message was sent in by a Chamber business member who had some uninvited guests availing of the disarray following the flood –

“You might remind members to remain vigilant in respect thieves, particularly as some business are still dealing with the upheaval  of the flooding.  We are not a cash business, but still managed to have our petty cash box stolen yesterday evening, while I was out back. We are awaiting new furniture, & are little disorganized at present. Our petty cash box was out of sight but was still stolen. Apart from some cheque books & receipts nothing of value was taken; but you might remind business that the disarray the flood has caused presents thieves with opportunities.”

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Tourism Meeting

The next chamber tourism meeting is on Tuesday 17^th at 7pm, upstairs in Harte’s Courtyard, all welcome.

Agenda

Flooding on 28^th June

Jungle City

Michael Collins Festival

Clonakilty 400 / Gathering 2013

Xmas Lights

Tourist Office

Wild Atlantic Way

New ideas. This is just a heads up for August’s meeting - Clonakilty once had a great name for festivals but in more recent times, it has fallen by the wayside and is trading on its name to a certain extent. This is something I want to open up at this tourism meeting because our Summers are generally void of things to do with sometimes empty streets on bank holidays. We don’t have to fill the Summer with fun from start to finish and you don’t have to bring any ideas to this month’s meeting but I want you to leave with your creative thinking cap on, and come back with some ideas in August.

Any other items you want added, please email me at alanlowney@hotmail.com

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Electronic Security Tagging System

Hi Mick

Should anyone need to replace their shop electronic tagging Security system with a nearly new one at just over half price please let me know.
Regards,

 

Allegro.   

[allegromusic@hotmail.co.uk]

Flood Repair Advice

I wish to sympathise with any fellow members who suffered the consequences of the recent flooding.

Just a couple of points that flood victims might need to keep in mind.

 Please note, I'm sending this email  in good faith, without any intention of self benefit and remember this is only my opinion.

• Any premises that had tiled floors flooded should keep an eye on these during their drying out process. While no harm may be immediately obvious, depending on what adhesives had been used when originally laying the tiles, it may break down over the coming weeks causing the tiles to lift in time  (this is a note that should also be made if dealing with insurance claims).

We all hope that last weeks occurrence will never happen again, however people will be taking precautionary measures .

• For any one who has taken up timber floors, carpets etc, the floor underneath needs to be left dry out thoroughly before recovering. Just because a concrete slab looks dry does not mean it is, as it will soak water. A moisture meter will give you a reading of the water content within the floor slab .( I know Sean Cowhig in Clon Tool Hire has these. 023 8834340. they may also be available elsewhere) . 
• If people are tiling floors ensure that you are getting moisture resistant adhesives from the tile suppliers.
• If skirtings are to go back on, possibly consider a skirting tile as opposed to timber.
• for shop fittings etc near the floor, chipboard, MDF or most manufactured boards are a no no ! These tend to soak water and break down.
• where there is a possibility of future flooding, plasterboard slabs with skim coat plaster are a non runner . Concrete blocks with sand and cement (grey coat)  plaster finish have the best hope of survival.
• There are also tanking options available for floors and walls which could be considered but are obviously costly. However they may be an option if you are concerned about water coming through your wall from a neighbouring property.
• Around town there are some very old doors on properties with no form of threshold or saddles at the bottom between them and the ground under. There is nothing to stop water seeping in underneath should levels rise again. Obviously many already have flood gates to hand . However I consider the modern pvc  doors to be a good flood barrier. I know these bring on architectural/heritage issues etc but some premises may have space to fit them inside their existing doors.However,keep in mind, thresholds/ saddles on these can have issues with wheelchair access or be a tripping hazard.

Should any member wish to query me on anything further , I'm available on the contact details below anytime, but please remember I don't have all the answers !!

   

Kind regards,

Gilbert O'Sullivan

Construction & BER Assessor,

Atlantic Contractors Ltd.,

Ballinoroher,

Clonakilty,

Co.Cork.

Mobile:(087) 277 2895 Fax: (023) 8835632

Email osullivan.gilbert@gmail.com