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Meet Barbara Evangelista of Lowell Macaroni Kid in Greater Lowell

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Barbara Evangelista.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Way back in 2013 (it seems like ages ago), my three kids were all in elementary school, and I was looking for a part-time gig that would be fun, creative, home-based, and use my marketing and project management experience. Impossible to find, right? At the time, I subscribed to a NH edition of Macaroni Kid and, one day, it occurred to me that we needed a Macaroni Kid edition right here in Greater Lowell. I was driving an hour to fun family events, since I didn’t know if there were any family events happening near me. I checked with the Macaroni Kid national office, and it turns out each Macaroni Kid edition is launched and run by a local mom as their own business. It was like it was meant to be.

I worked at Bose Corporation in the internal advertising agency for 10 years, which I loved and missed a lot when I “retired” to be a stay-at-home mom. I kept looking for the right home-based business because I love generating ideas, connecting with people, sharing information, and creating marketing plans that really work. Everything fit when I started Lowell Macaroni Kid in May 2013. I love to research, and it was so rewarding digging up fun local events and sharing them with readers. I was surprised at how many great kid-friendly things there are to do in my area — festivals, story times, concerts, playgroups and so much more — since there was no central, local resource before Lowell Macaroni Kid. I enjoy writing, and it’s pretty neat to have a vehicle where I can post my thoughts. And it’s fantastic being able to help local businesses connect with families. My sweet spot is meeting with local businesses and brainstorming out-of-the-box ideas, figuring out their key messages, and planning and executing their Macaroni Kid marketing campaigns. It’s so exciting to see their successes.

Happily, Lowell Macaroni Kid has grown like crazy. I had a Macaroni Kid booth at probably 100 local events my first few years, providing free crafts for kids and signing up parents for the newsletter. I published a lot of local content and filled the event calendar with every kid-friendly or parenting event I could find. The combination of community outreach and useful information just made Lowell Macaroni Kid blossom. We had 2,500 subscribers within about 10 months and reached 9,500 subscribers and 2 million page views by May of 2018. Local businesses took notice, and we’ve had wonderful sponsors since our first year. I brought on my assistant Wendy in January 2017; she is a rockstar, keeping the event calendar and social media schedule full.

In 2014, I started the Acton-Concord-Bedford-Lexington edition and just took over the Macaroni Kid Burlington-Wilmington-Woburn edition in June 2018. I also launched the Greater Lowell Summer Camp & Activities Fair in 2016. This annual camp fair has been a huge hit with families and camps and grows every year.

Has it been a smooth road?
I’ve been very lucky that our growth has been pretty smooth. Lowell Macaroni Kid filled a niche, I think, with local parents, and they immediately saw the benefits and signed up. Our Facebook fans are so engaged — I absolutely love to see their comments and enthusiasm. I’ve had a bumpier road with the Acton-Lexington edition, which I wish would grow more quickly. It’s a challenging area though; readers there are closer to Boston and may rely on Boston-based event calendars. Once they find Macaroni Kid Acton-Concord-Bedford-Lexington though, they are loyal and supportive readers. Open rates and subscriber retention for that edition are so high. I also have not had the bandwidth to get out and participate in community events in the Acton-Lexington area like I did in Greater Lowell. There are so many things I’d like to do — Macaroni Kid events, guides, reviews — that I’ve had to pull back from doing local events, which I miss. There’s nothing like connecting with local parents, sharing war stories, and letting them know about all the great things happening in their communities.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Lowell Macaroni Kid – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Lowell Macaroni Kid is known for its free local event calendar packed with family-friendly events. We only host a few events a year ourselves but we specialize in finding and listing as many fun events in Greater Lowell as we can. Macaroni Kid is “hyper-local”, so my editions focus on listing events in very specific towns. Families don’t always want to drive to Boston or Worcester or the North Shore for a family event, so my Macaroni Kid editions are there when you’re looking for a local, kid-friendly event or activity any day of the week. For instance, today (a Friday) my 3 editions list a total of 31 different local events, including ice skating (in summer!), story times, mothers groups, drop-in craft sessions, a touch-a-truck, swimming, a downtown festival with food trucks and a market, singalongs, and summer concerts, All of these are within 15 minutes or so, assuming our subscribers live in the towns we focus on. (We have many subscribers who live 30-45 minutes away but who enjoy following our calendar and content.) We also partner closely with local family-friendly businesses and share those resources with families. Parents are always looking for the best places for their kids, whether it’s for dance classes, a doctor, summer camp, dental care, indoor entertainment, a haircut or anything else that a typical family would need. We work hard to understand our sponsors’ businesses and promote their services and products to local families via articles, ads, events, social media, dedicated email blasts, giveaways and other fun promotions.

Lowell Macaroni Kid is much more hands-on than other media outlets, such as a newspaper. Each sponsor has a weekly schedule of communication touchpoints with our readers, and we provide marketing consultation based on 20+ years small business and community marketing experience. Since we’re local parents, we delve deeper into local content that’s useful to families. We have a playground guide, summer music guide, summer camp guide, indoor swimming guide, a water play guide for summer with lakes, pools and splash pads, apple-picking guide, Fall fun guide — the list goes on and on! Our local content is only limited by how much time we have. Lately, I’ve been adding local contributors so that we can expand our local content more quickly.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the history and the seasons here in Massachusetts. There’s so much to see and do and learn and so many diverse and welcoming cultures. It’s wonderful to be able to visit the Boott Cotton Mills museum one day and learn about the mill girls, and then see the latest in robotics at the MIT Museum. The mountains and the ocean are 1-2 hours away, and spring, summer and fall are gorgeous. I’m not a winter sports fan though, so winter is WAY too long for me here! If winter was maybe three months long, Massachusetts would be just about perfect.

Pricing:

  • Our weekly email newsletter with local content and top pick events is FREE
  • Marketing campaigns for local businesses vary in price and start at $100 per month
  • Promotion of specific events starts at $40

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Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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