Come Meet Bravo TV’s Hottest Couple

Come meet Bravo TV’s hottest couple on television from the “Real Housewife of New Jersey”

Melissa & Joe Gorga

Join us for an in store appearance with the couple and enjoy a night of cocktails, hand rolled cigars and special discounts for the guys to shop for the special ladies in their lives.

Tuesday, February 7,2012

7-9PM

Please RSVP to rsvp@thehipevent.com or 973.707.7125

Join us in Celebrating the Holidays and our 5th Anniversary!

You are cordially invited!!

(Click the image to visit our Facebook Event page)

When planning a business strategy, consider using Yelp

The current state of media is constantly in flux. Everyone knows that social platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are excellent places to support your brand or business’s online presence, even if you’re not sure what results you want from them. But have you considered using Yelp.com? Yelp is a website dedicated to real people providing real reviews of local business relevant to your nearest city. Its a great way to explore and its also a great site to help grow your business. Check out this article from The New York Times below (or right here) to learn more about why you should use Yelp for your business.

Using the Web to Draw in Crowds

By DAN FOST

Published: May 21, 2008

NIKI RUSS FEDERMAN feels that her 94-year-old family business, Russ & Daughters on the Lower East Side of New York, is fighting for survival in a retail environment under assault by chain stores and generic tastes.

The delicatessen cases loaded with caviar, smoked salmon, pickled herring and homemade cream cheese, not to mention the dried fruits, chocolates and halvah at the sweets counter, signify a bastion in a battle to keep Jewish food culture from disappearing.

Ms. Russ Federman, 30, whose great-grandfather, Joel Russ, founded the store, says that business is thriving — thanks, at least in part, to Web sites that attract young cosmopolitan crowds to the Houston Street store. Those sites include Chowhound, where food lovers flock, and Yelp, which enables anyone to review a business.

“Sites like Yelp make places like us seem hip, as opposed to being seen as stodgy old-school places,” Ms. Russ Federman said.

Business owners are learning how to leverage Yelp in their sales efforts. Pat Ryan, 44, who owns Pat Ryan Moving and Storage in San Francisco, said he responded to every review he got on Yelp, good or bad.

One woman wrote a scathing review, Mr. Ryan recalled, because the company had damaged a piece of furniture. She was unaware that an insurance policy she had bought covered the item. “She wrote a one-star review,” he said. “I called her. We fully replaced it. And then she upgraded me from a one star to a five-star.”

Mr. Ryan said he had doubled his business since he started promoting it on Yelp.

Christopher Hall, 35, a hair stylist and the owner of Splitends, a salon in Costa Mesa, Calif., said Yelp was responsible for “tens over tens of thousands of dollars coming into my business.”

It started when Anita L., who has written more than 2,500 Yelp reviews, came in for a haircut and raved about it on the site. That drew others in. “They’re all Yelpers,” Mr. Hall said. “They write reviews. It’s speeding itself like a vacuum.”

Last month, Yelp introduced tools for business owners, including a way to contact reviewers privately and to extract more data from the site.

Joe Alexander, 42, a co-owner of Keetsa Mattress in San Francisco, had not heard of Yelp when he started his company last summer, and now he said he got 80 percent of his sales from Yelp.

“I don’t spend a dime on TV, newspaper or radio,” he said. He hires a search engine optimization company, to make sure he shows up in Google search results, and he buys ads on Yelp. “It blows me away that I can have 80 percent of my people coming from something that maybe costs me two grand a month,” he said.

Yelp typically refuses to remove negative reviews, insisting on giving users their say and letting people figure out if one comes from a shill. Jeremiah Owyang, an analyst with Forrester Research, said in an e-mail message that smart business owners would “get involved in Yelp, listening, responding and being an active part of the dialogue, some going so far as to place signs on their physical doors requesting reviews.”

“Why request reviews?” Mr. Owyang continued. “Research indicates that customers trust other reviews from peers like them. In fact, 83 percent trust opinions of a friend or acquaintance who has used the product or services. Only 63 percent of consumers trust a review of an expert. You can see where this is headed. Yelp is allowing customers to connect to each other, rather than relying on experts. Word of mouth prevails.”

DAN FOST

BBB Hip chapter preview and behind the scenes photos

If you don’t already know, our Maria Cucciniello was asked to share her knowledge and expertise on creating lasting buzz for your business for the folks over at Woodpecker Press. They’re putting together a fantastic book called Big Bold Business Advice from 100 New Jersey Business Women Business Owners, and Maria has contributed a chapter. In addition, they asked Maria to give a short interview for her chapter:

Head over to the BBB website to check out some of the behind the scenes photos from the video shoot.

The Hip Event’s Maria Cucciniello Dishes On Event Marketing & Other Hip Expertise

Our Maria recently wrote up a little something to get all those event marketers out there to think more on their toes and to educate those who might not know much about what we do. Click on the quick clip below to read the original post.

Annnnnd if you haven’t seen it yet, Maria’s also been a busy author too, contributing to the Big Bold Business Advice From 100 New Jersey Women Business Owners.
Thanks to Woodpecker Press.

The Hip Event Mentioned on 103.5KTU

An incredible special thanks goes out to KTU’s Cindy Vero who brought in our very own Chrissy Colombino to talk about some of our recent events and about The Hip Event in general. Cindy’s been popping up all over the place for us lately and we can’t get enough of her! Check out the clip and listen below:

Click here to see the original placement.

Fashion for the Cure!

As we all know, October is breast cancer awareness month, a time to reflect, remember, and cherish those we have lost and those who have survived breast cancer. All throughout the month, a variety of events are held to raise funds and awareness for the cause. Among all of these events were a special series of fashion shows that were produced in the Simon malls on October 8^th in Rockaway and in Livingston on the 9^th.  With our help and participating stores throughout each mall, two wonderful shows highlighted current fashion trends and some amazing breast cancer survivors.

And when I say amazing, I mean A M A Z I N G!!!

Over the course of the two days, people gathered to enjoy music, makeovers, fashion and fun to support their friends and family. The events helped survivors learn that there is life after cancer and a great one at that. All models for the fashion show were breast cancer survivors who individually added their own unique charms to the events. American Idol’s Tiffany Rios was also in attendance for both events and performed a few of her new singles including an upbeat version of Celine Dion’s “To Love You More.”

Overall, it was a memorable event and left a great feeling of hope amongst the crowd.

Another Peer Group Facial Experience

Like Chrissy last week, account exec supreme Lauren Verini stopped into The Peer Group in Florham Park to experience their services first hand, again sampling their facial chemical peel treatment.

Lauren’s Very First Chemical Peel at The Peer Group

Recently I visited The Peer Group for my first chemical peel.  I honestly had no idea what to expect, I have never been to a spa before or received a facial, let alone a chemical peel, and the thought of it made me a bit nervous.  I had heard the horror stories in the media and in movies where women came out with awful red and raw skin after a peel.

After all is said and done, it’s safe to say that none of those horror stories came true.  I survived and it was amazing!  When I first got there, Shari, a bubbly skin care consultant who shares the same birthday as me, came out and immediately put me at ease.  She was very informative about skin care and I came to realize that I didn’t know a whole lot about my skin and didn’t pay as much attention to it as I should.  She asked me numerous questions to get a feel for my regimen: did I smoke (no), did I lay out in the sun (yes), did I wear sunscreen everyday (nope!).  I realized I needed to get serious about my skin to prevent irreversible damage like brown spots, wrinkles, and skin cancer – that means sunscreen everyday, even in the wintertime!

After our discussion, Shari took a photograph of my skin called the Visia Complexion Analysis Report, which analyzed the condition of my skin and helped her to better understand my specific skin type.  She applied the Obagi Blue Peel Radiance, which didn’t take long at all.  My face felt completely rejuvenated and better than it ever had before.   My skin is very sensitive and to my surprise there was no irritation at all and my skin was glowing.

I absolutely loved my experience at The Peer Group with the Obagi Blue Peel Radiance.  This peel is a great option because its works on all skin types and has little to no recovery time.  I strongly recommend it to anyone who is looking to improve his or her skin.  It helps with acne, brown spots and any other skin imperfections.  Before I left I scheduled my next appointment with Shari for another peel and am counting down the days!

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