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…
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…
End of year is the time we come together and give thanks for those who are important to us. Everyone seems a little nicer and we take the time to show more appreciation than we do the rest of the year. That’s why this is the perfect time to thank Read more…
Small Business Saturday, the day after Black Friday, is coming up this Saturday. It’s an important day (and weekend) for local merchants as some bring in as much as 30% of their year-round revenue just in that weekend following Thanksgiving! While that can be a real boon to the Read more…
If you’re like most chambers and always looking for sources of non-dues revenue, we have an easy one for you. This idea works well with or without a local currency program but having one means even larger opportunities for non-dues revenue. Many chambers are running a shop local program this Read more…
Image credit via Flickr by David Blackwell There are things that stick with us the whole year — we remember whatever holiday celebrations we conduct, we remember the end and beginning of school for as long as we have school-aged children or have to drive through school zones, and we Read more…
The topic sounds super simple doesn’t it? Simple and desired, yes? But there’s more to people buying chamber bucks and revenue coming in. The purchase is not the only form of revenue involved. Here’s how a chamber currency program makes the chamber money and is a continual source of non-dues Read more…
