Meet the Man With a Plan for your Business

Editor’s note: The recent launch of the Lake Minnetonka Patch website culminated weeks of hard work from many Patch.com employees. One of these employees is Eric Best, the advertising manager assigned to the new Lake Minnetonka Patch. Now that the site has been launched and been up and running for a few weeks, Best has been busy meeting with business owners in Wayzata, Excelsior, Long Lake and all the Lake Minnetonka communities. He is helping them connect with the site through their free business directory listings and enhancing their opportunities within the site through multiple advertising vehicles that will help their business capitalize on this new venue. So who is Eric Best? We sat down with him to find out.

What is your official title?

Advertising Manager and Interactive Media Consultant

How long have you been with Patch.com?

I started in December and have spent 13 years of my career in interactive sales.  I have loved the opportunity to help businesses and residents around the lake with everything from local advertising opportunities all the way up to business video profiles and integration within social media campaigns.

What is the nature of your position?  What do you do on a daily basis?

Living in Chanhassen and having my kids go to school in Excelsior, clearly the best part of my job is getting out into the communities I live in and spending my time in them on a daily basis.  I have absolutely loved the opportunity to learn so much about each business around the lake and helping them coordinate a digital media campaign. My main goal is becoming a resource to my clients and serving as a consultant to them regardless of their advertising intentions with Patch.

I find myself attending a chamber meeting in the morning, meeting several people for coffee, attending a luncheon within the communities and scheduling face to face meetings with businesses on a daily basis.  Patch is becoming an integral part of these communities we serve and I want to make sure I am out there on a daily basis as the face of lakeminnetonkapatch.com.

Why is Patch covering Lake Minnetonka?

The Lake Minnetonka region is a vibrant business and residential area. There is no better place to be in the Twin Cities, in my opinion, and the Lake Minnetonka area is a crucial strategic element for our model. With the number of school districts, city councils, chamber of commerce offices and businesses around the lake, clearly there is a need for a resource like Patch.  I am excited to be a part of it.

What is special about Patch?

I've worked with a number of media outlets in my career and I haven't seen the dedication to cover the communities we serve like I've seen at Patch. We have a professional journalist assigned to each of our 21 sites that our live in the Twin Cities and we will be adding more to each site this year.  I've also never been a part of an organization that truly has the commitment and resources to entrench themselves within these communities.  Living in a 50+ home sub-division in Chanhassen and having kids in the Minnetonka school district, I can tell you hyper-local news is just what we need and Patch provides that to the communities we serve.  

I can also tell you the commitment to social media and keeping our residents informed for everything from power outages to controversial city topics is absolutely essential to everyone that works at Patch. The commitment level is amazing. Patch has put together a tremendous team of professionals, both on a local level and on a national scale and it is a really special thing.

What is the best part of your job with Patch?

Without a doubt, it's meeting the people within our communities that make it happen on a daily basis.  Having lived in the area for almost seven years now, sometimes I forget to realize how vibrant the Lake Minnetonka area is in terms of commerce and resident involvement.

It's a joy getting back to the local level where the real purchasing decisions are made.  I can't wait to meet the next resident or business owner because they all have a story to tell and it's an absolute blast hearing about them.

Where can people reach you?

There are several ways!  First of all, my mobile number is 952-232-7655.  I'd love to chat and learn more about them and really work with them to help form a strategy that makes sense on Patch.  They can also email me at eric.best@patch.com and follow me on Twitter by searching for @ericrbest.