Unite for the Fight!

Hello dear SoRewarding friends!

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog post.  Today, I want to write about our upcoming event Unite for the Fight for MyLifeLine.org at Kentuky Inn on Friday, Sept 28^th in Denver CO.

But first, to do that, I’ll provide some background info for those who are unfamiliar with our events and what they’re all about.  Our events are focused on one thing, a deserving local non-profit that could use some help fundraising.   Our events have naturally evolved into “Good times for Great causes” – this was bound to happen seeing as how there are great people behind these great causes and with great people comes good times! 

We work closely with over 30 non-profits in the local Denver area and each of them has a mission that is admirable, impactful and praiseworthy.  Once a decision is made to host an event for a non-profit partner the RewardingCrew gets to work! 

First up, the RewardingCrew finds a cool local venue with a history of giving, to host the event.  Next, a ticket is put together – included in the price is a substantial donation to the non-profit, drinks and sometimes food.  Of course these things vary from event to event depending on the venue and the non-profit involved.

So you’re probably wondering… what does it all mean for me?  Well, making the assumption that you’re a giving-person and care about your community, it doesn’t get better than this!  This is a great opportunity for everyone to support their community while having a good time and getting to know one another.   The next event, Unite for the Fight – includes 3 drinks and your donation to MyLifeLine.org… for $12!  You’d likely pay $12 for 3 drinks on a typical night (If you’re lucky) but at a Good time for a Great cause, you pay the $12 and make a real, meaningful impact on your community.

Be a part of the positivity in your community and give-back by being a part of Good times for Great causes. Have fun, meet people, make a difference and give-back… all while enjoying lively libations.  See you at a Good time for a Great cause in your neighborhood!

Cheers, Happiness and Giving,

SoRewarding

First ever Party for a Purpose Event!

This post should be prefaced by saying that we are very grateful for the generosity and compassion that everyone involved in our first ever Party for a Purpose event has shown.  WOW, truly wonderful to see everyone come together and rally behind a great cause for a night of fun!  You may even say the experience was SoRewarding J .

There was a certain excitement and buzz in the air at Indulge Bistro and Wine Bar on the evening of June 18^th and as people joined the party, that vibe only grew stronger.  The wine was flowing, the food was sizzling and friendly faces were in abundance!  That’s a winning combination and while I was sitting there eating my Caprese Kabob (vine-ripe grape tomato, fresh mozzarella and delicious basil), I thought to myself, why can’t we do this every-day?!

I snapped out of my day-dreaming mode when I heard the wonderful voice of Dianne from the Make-A-WishFoundation begin giving a toast for the evening.  It was beautiful to learn about Make-A-Wish and hear about how they’ve positively affected the lives of so many children with life-threatening illnesses. 

People wrote checks to Make-A-Wish, one was up to $500!!  Shortly after, SoRewarding was doing a raffle to select a $250 CASH prize winner for the evening!  Toni Bixler ended up being the luckiest of the bunch and winning the $250, but as I mentioned before, generosity and compassion was in the air and she donated $150 of her prize to Make-A-Wish!

All-in-all, it was a night to remember.  Even though I’m writing this with the hint of a hang-over, I know I partied for a purpose and made a difference and no matter how big that difference is, every little bit counts!

Thank you to everyone who came out, if you missed it, I hope to see you at the next one!

Drinks were had, donations were made… PARTY FOR A PURPOSE!  Find pictures and more here:  http://www.rewardingcrew.com/

Merchants: Publish your own deals on the SoRewarding homepage!

Are you a business owner? Do you want to publish your own deals on the SoRewarding homepage, but don’t want to wait for someone to send a deal request to you? 
SoRewarding is not only the home of Consumer Driven Deals, we're also one of the only places that's automated the process for merchants to publish their own deals. Getting started is easy, just follow these simple instructions:

• In order to publish your own deals on the SoRewarding homepage, you must have a SoRewarding profile and a page for your business. Next, you must enable your Consumer Driven Deals feature, which will allow you to receive deal requests from consumers and publish your own deals.
  Click the links to learn how to do each.
• After you’ve logged in, make sure you’re using SoRewarding as your business. Click Menu and then click the Dashboard button.
• Once you’re on the Dashboard for your business, click “Publish a Deal.” This will open up a calendar for you to select the day you’d like your deal to publish on.

• After you’ve selected the day you want your deal to run on the SoRewarding homepage, the rest of the “Publish a Deal” form will open up. Your default deal settings will automatically populate. 

• Just fill in the fields with the details of the deal you want to publish and then click “Add the Deal.” You’re done! Your deal will publish on the date you selected. You can even enter your customers' email addresses and share this deal with them!

Merchants: How to Enable the Consumer Driven Deals feature for your business

The first step to driving new and existing customers to your business is enabling your Consumer Driven Deals! 

Getting started is easy, just follow these instructions:

• Before you can enable your Consumer Driven Deals, you must have a merchant page for your business. If you haven't done so already, click here to learn how.
• After you’ve been verified as the owner/authorized manager of your business, you can enable your Consumer Driven Deals feature. First, make sure you’re using SoRewarding as your business. After logging in, click Menu and underneath Use SoRewarding as:, select your business page. 

• Now that you're using SoRewarding as your business, click Menu again and then click Dashboard. Next, click the Enable Consumer Driven Deals button.
• There are 2 parts to enabling your Consumer Driven Deals. 
• First, you must agree to the Terms and Conditions. Just check the box saying “I agree…”
• Second, you'll set up your default deal settings. Each time you accept or publish a deal, this information will appear on the page for your deal. You'll have the opportunity to change/edit this info each time, but to save time, this is the info that will automatically populate every time.

If you're confused about something when filling out your default deal settings, just hover your cursor over the question mark icons. A tip will appear that will tell you what to enter in that field.

After agreeing to the Terms & Conditions and entering your default deal settings, click "Save" and you're ready to go! You'll receive an email alert when you get a deal request with instructions on how to respond. You'll only have about 24 hours to respond, so once you get that email alert, you should respond sooner rather than later.

If you accept or counter-offer a deal request, here's an example of what your deal page will look like. The area circled in purple is where your highlights will appear, the area circled in green is where your fine print will appear, and the area circled in blue is where your ad copy will appear. The pictures you add (up to 4) will cycle every 5 seconds.

You can also publish your own deals on the SoRewarding homepage after you've enabled your Consumer Driven Deals! To learn how to do this, click here.

How to get your business on SoRewarding

Setting up a merchant page for your business on SoRewarding is easy! Just follow the simple instructions below. Click on the pictures for a closer look.

• First, you’ll need to create a personal profile. From your personal profile, you can add pages for businesses and/or non-profits.  You’ll manage your pages from your personal profile.

• After creating a profile, log in and click "Menu" in the top right corner. Then click “Add a Page” from the dropdown menu.

• Select “Merchant.”

• Fill out the form with information about your business.  Under “Relationship to Business,” if you select I’m the owner of this business or I’m a/the manager at this business, a “page claim” will be sent to SoRewarding. A SoRewarding representative will follow up with you to verify your identity as owner/manager of the business. This is a measure taken to prevent people misrepresenting your business and running fraudulent deals under your business name. After verification, you’ll be able to enable your Consumer Driven Deals feature and start receiving deal requests/publishing your own deals!

• While waiting for verification, you can view and edit your merchant page. To edit or add info to your page, simply click the “Edit Page” button and then click the info you want to edit.

As soon as you've been verified, you can enable your Consumer Driven Deals! Then, you can start receiving deal requests from customers or publish your own deals on the SoRewarding homepage. 

To learn how to enable your Consumer Driven Deals, click here.

Thank You!

Hi Friends,

Hopefully at least a few of you caught us on the local news in Denver.  We were on CBS channel 4 last week, which as you know (if you live in Denver) is the equivalent to being nominated for and winning an Oscar on Primetime television!

We are extremely flattered to be recognized by CBS4 and Denver as a company they deemed worthy to have a spot on the nightly news.  This only reinforces our commitment and dedication to connecting our communities and rewarding our users.  We didn’t get here without any help; we couldn’t possibly show enough appreciation to the city of Denver, our blog readers, Facebook fans, Twitter followers, SoRewarding users and YOU!  All the thanks in the world, you guys are truly great and we couldn’t have done it without your support.

We’re overjoyed with the reception we have received thus far and our optimistic about the future!  If you didn’t catch the piece on CBS4, you can find it here:  http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/05/18/new-website-allows-customers-to-create-own-savings/#.T7qngXnX-jQ.twitter

Until next time… SoRewarding, out!