The one consistent reason people cite as why they don’t shop local is price. They say they can’t afford to pay more for items they need on a daily basis. But shopping local isn’t more expensive if you take into account the following aspects: Loss Leaders Big box stores run Read more…
Do you have a shop local program or campaign? What about local currency? If you have one, you should have the other. They go together like the Kardashians and bad jokes, or peas and carrots (if you’d prefer). Here’s why you need to make a local currency program part of your Read more…
The trend in marketing towards personalization and giving your audience what they want, transcends just content. It needs to permeate your interactions with them. If you don’t take their preferences into account, there is always someone who will and when they do, it reflects poorly on your efforts no matter Read more…
We talk quite often about the benefits of making your employees feel important and integral to your business’ success. It’s impossible to provide good customer service on behalf of a business if you feel undervalued by that company. Uninspired employees cost organizations money, customers, and employee moral. Ensuring your team Read more…
If you have a local currency program, chances are there’s quite a bit of administrative processing you have to do. You have to: record each gift check sold verify its expiration date log when it’s spent reimburse your local merchants You also have to write-off the ones that have expired Read more…
Polls indicate most people feel good about shopping local, yet there’s still a lot of big chain buying that goes on. Why is that? Knowing the reasons people shop at national stores can help you adjust your small business marketing accordingly. Here are the main reasons people shop the big stores Read more…
When a giant tree topples in the forest, it leaves a huge hole in the tree canopy but provides much needed nutrients to the fledgling trees around it. Your community may be one of the ones affected by the recent announcement of Walmart store closings and you may be bracing Read more…
Last week we passed the most popular day out of the year to look for a new job. No, really. At least according to Monster. With the holidays and busy end of year, not to mention that most companies aren’t pushing hiring as a main objective at that time either, Read more…
Whether you run a chamber, a local merchant association, or you are a local merchant, if you have dreams of creating a community where people think to shop local before running to a box store or ordering something online, you’ll need to implement social media best practices and use the following Read more…
One of the benefits of our product is that it makes it easier for local organizations, like chambers, to provide gift cards for their members. Many smaller merchants simply don’t have the resources to run an e-commerce platform to sell gift certificates. Many chambers and local business associations also lack Read more…
