El Dorado Hills Town Center has been part of this story from the beginning. Natalie joined in 2010 as Director of Operations, then Marketing Director, and spent those years building the events, the business promotion, and the sponsorship programs that made the center a gathering place.
After a time away, and the long pause of COVID-19, ownership asked her back as a consultant through NLB Creative Solutions. The job was to bring all of it back, and to do it at a time when many people were still deciding whether they were ready to gather again.
Live on the Boulevard came back first, and the Fireworks & Freedom Concert came back with it. That one was the largest and the least certain, since no one knew how people would feel about gathering at that scale again.
The rest followed: Baskets & Bunnies, Spooktacular, the Tree Lighting, and the nonprofit events we hosted, each shaped around the rules of the moment. We added the Mother’s Day Charity Concert. Alongside them we rebuilt the business promotion programs, the social media presence, the email list, and sponsorship.
The community embraced all of it, and the center was booming again.
The programs came back, and so did the community.
Live on the Boulevard has been recognized as the region’s best live music, and the Fireworks & Freedom Concert as its best annual event. The center has been voted best of for shopping center, date night, night spot, and people watching.
Sponsorship dollars brought bigger events, and bigger events brought thousands of guests to the property, and welcome foot traffic to the businesses.
We opened the calendar to local nonprofits at no venue cost, and Hands4Hope, the El Dorado Hills Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, area schools, youth sports, and the Mito Kids Run all brought their events here.
The events, the partnerships, and the marketing programs are all still going today, and the center continues to thrive. That is what a good foundation makes possible.
Reverie Retreat is a nature and wellness property in the Sierra foothills, and like most small lodging businesses, most of their reservations came through third-party platforms. Every one of those cost them a commission and a piece of the guest relationship.
They were also building two new cabins, which gave us ten months of storytelling before there was anything new to sell. We came on to grow the audience through construction, then turn that audience into direct bookings once the cabins opened. Two phases, one goal: more guests coming straight to Tamara and Ramon.
During construction, we treated the build as the story. Progress on the cabins, and the experience waiting at the end of it, became short-form video and branded social content. We stayed in the comments, answering questions and learning who kept coming back.
At launch, we turned that audience into bookings. We rebuilt the Meta Ads Manager setup, tightening audiences, testing creative against creative, and optimizing for what leads to a reservation instead of what leads to a like. Every campaign points to Reverie’s own booking page, so the guests they earn stay theirs.
First we built the audience. Then we turned it into revenue. Here are some numbers from the first year of building their social media.
For a small lodging business, a direct booking is worth more than a booking, because it is one that does not go through a third-party platform. That is the number Tamara and Ramon watch, and it is the one we build every campaign around.
Our work now is focused on booking campaigns, branded storytelling, and the performance insights that keep it moving, so each month builds on the one before it.
El Dorado Hills Brewfest is one of the Chamber’s signature fundraisers, and its success rests on strong beverage partners and a well-run day. NLB Creative Solutions led event logistics and vendor coordination, securing every brewery, winery, and beverage partner while shaping the guest experience from load-in to last pour. We worked alongside the venue and El Dorado County on all permits and approvals, keeping the event smooth, safe, and fully compliant.
We reached out to breweries, wineries, and beverage partners to ensure strong participation, while carefully managing vendor coordination and event logistics from planning through execution. Close coordination with partners, the venue, and county agencies ensured all elements of the event came together seamlessly.
Brewfest delivered a strong, well-attended fundraiser for the Chamber and a full day of visibility for local breweries, wineries, and small businesses.
Brewfest continues to be a signature El Dorado Hills event, one that brings the community together, gives local breweries and wineries real visibility, and funds the Chamber work that supports business across our community.
The Marshall Foundation for Community Health brought us in to work alongside their staff on the Bob West Drive for Marshall golf tournament, heading into its 42nd year, and to help secure raffle prizes and in-kind donations.
A tournament that established has its rhythm, and the question on the committee’s mind was how to raise more without asking the same people for more. The idea of a Golf Ball Drop came up in one of those conversations. Everyone liked it, and the Foundation gave us the go-ahead, helicopter and all. New revenue, on a day that was already full.
Working alongside Foundation staff, we brought in prizes and in-kind donations from more than 22 local businesses, from gift certificates to full baskets.
A ball drop is simple to explain and harder to run. We handled the planning, the permissions, and the day itself. Coordinating with the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department pilot and flight crew took the most care, since it had to be safe from every angle.
Then there was the selling. Fewer than 180 balls had gone in advance, so Natalie worked check-in, ran the Foundation booth, and asked every golfer. Over 520 more sold. It was a huge success for a first-year ball drop!
The Golf Ball Drop was new that year, and it worked.
Just under fifteen thousand dollars is real money for a foundation, and it came from a part of the day that had not existed before. The Foundation brought the Golf Ball Drop back the following year. The money went to their work in the community, which is the only reason any of it mattered.
Charlene has photographed Santa at El Dorado Hills Town Center for years, and December is a busy
season for her. She came to us to take the social media off her hands so she could stay focused on what
she does best: creating an experience for the children and families who come. Our job was to make sure
the community knew what was happening and to make booking easy.
We started by listening to what Charlene needed, which is where we start with every client. From there,
we built the content calendar and campaign schedule ahead of December, so the season could run
without her having to think about it.
Through the month, we ran video and photo content, community campaigns, and paid ads through
Meta. All of it pointed the same direction: let people know it is happening, show them what this special
experience was like, and make booking simple.
Sixteen days in December, and more than 800 families through the door.
Fifty families a day is a full calendar, and Charlene keeps room for walk-ins because not every family
plans December in advance. Close to 40 percent come back the following year, which is the number that
matters most in a business built on tradition.
