Community Connected Commerce

[Patrysha]

Grab a coffee (or your favorite beverage) and sit back...this is likely to be long...

First of all, yes, I know it's a cheesy name. I seem to be unable to resist alliteration. It was originally the 4E3C Simple Math Marketing Plan. There's a whole story behind that, but I cut it...because while it may seem interesting to me, I don't think it would've done much for my target market.

So what is this plan?

Well it's a marketing program that is aimed at small towns (I know it works in small towns...it hasn't been tested in other environments)

In any case...it revolves around a joint loyalty card that is sold by a non-profit group and sponsored by at least 50 businesses. The cards are good for one year and in addition to cardholder discounts the cards qualify the holders to entries in four prize draws throughout the year.

In return for the participation, monthly marketing investment and discount offer to cardholders, merchants are included in an online and in-store promotion that includes a full tab on a joint website, inclusion in weekly emails and in-store promotional materials. Plus, presence at at least the four draw events.

With the charity tie in and so many businesses involved all tied in with an overall shop local publicity campaign to tie it all together...it's really powerful.

And I can say that because I did it once already. Well mostly...my summer promotion didn't include the charity tie-in...but it did have the prizes :-) And I only had 24 businesses involved and they didn't (for the most part) have any special discounts for cardholders...

I learned a lot from it and that's why I am confident taking it to the next phase.

As soon as I get my marketing pieces in place.

The hard part, from where I am sitting, is that many in my target market are not online. At least not at the local small business owner level that I would need to be to sell it well. But the non-profits are...and so are lots of online/offline consultants.

Ideally, I'd think joint venturing with people who are already doing offline work with clients would be the best way to go. All I really want to do is the publicity & media relations and brainstorming with clients.

I can provide web development, writing, database management, advertising writing and booking, printing and all that jazz too

I did all that here but it was more out of necessity in that I did not charge enough for all the work involved and I had to be juggling individual client work as well as the local promotion - it seems like poor planning until you realize I expected 1000 customers to participate...not the over 3400 that did! And I did not figure out the automation part until the promotion was over...I had put this all together in three weeks.

Now the thing is, I am still not quite sure whether to turn all of this information into an info-product or sell this as a full service marketing plan. If I go full service, I'll have to outsource, with an info product there'd be a lot less outsourcing and a lot less work for me overall, but I'd lose control...and that scares me because I don't want this to be done poorly.

While I'm deciding exactly which way I am going to go, I have been contacting different resources to see if there might be a market for it (outside of my local community). That's about the only marketing I've done so far. I created a case study and an outline and sent it to a couple of leads...

I sense that the market is huge, but I also know how closed off some small towns can be when it comes to new ideas. Of course, if it comes from somebody who is already established in the community then it's a lot easier :-) But I haven't found anyone who is really interested in taking it on where they are yet...so I might have to just reach out and do it myself...which I wouldn't mind but would be an awful lot more work...

Not that I'm lazy...but you know if I can do less work...

In any case, I put this here because I am going to need some help deciding which way to go...and because having posted it gives me a little bit of accountability - I've been running on my own power since mid-June when I came up with the idea and it's getting tough to remain upbeat and certain all the time...

[Patrysha]

Steps I took today...

Contacted a journalist on a lead that looked like a good fit

Formulated half a response to one of my potential joint venture leads...they liked the case study and outline...have to figure out where I want to go with this contact next...ack!

Spent a bit of time tooling with article ideas but nothing to show for it really than lots of random thoughts...

Busy day with other business (2 consultations- 1 converted and invoiced, plus actual work (brochures for two clients, membership form for one of them. And I likely spent too much time tweeting...

[Lynn Terry]

Hi Patrysha,

I just found this thread buried in a sub-forum - my apologies for not catching it earlier. I moved it into the Private Brainstorming Forum where we can brainstorm it more.

I would really love to hear Traci and Tina's input on this as they both work in local markets and may be able to share some ideas or resources with you.

How did your teleseminar go this week?

[Gord Young]

This is a very interesting topic to me as I am involved with a similar business structure.

Patrysha is on Twitter http://twitter.com/patrysha

I started getting involved with local businesses through selling listings for
a local directory. But that's a whole other story.

I did come across a business called Get With the Program http://www.getwiththeprogram.ca/

This offers an annual membership card that is sold through any charity
that wants to sell it.

The businesses listed agree to offer discounts to card holders.
The charities keep $5 of a $10 sale. (better than chocolate bars)

I know that networking locally can lead to many opportunities and social
media can be a great boon for charities and events.

It is interesting to observe new businesses, who have heard that they need
to get involved with social media and have an online presence, but don't have a clue how it works.

I was blown away with Patrysha's comment about getting 3400 customers...
would like to hear more about that.

I'm hoping we can continue with this discussion.

I have been experimenting with networking locally through Twitter. There is
certainly a huge market of small biz needing help to get online but that don't
have huge ad budgets or time to spend.

[Gord Young]

Oh! You've already taken care of it. There's a surprise.

[Lynn Terry]

Yup Yup - thread moved and Patrysha's on her way

[Gord Young]

So what is this plan?

Well it's a marketing program that is aimed at small towns (I know it works in small towns...it hasn't been tested in other environments)

In any case...it revolves around a joint loyalty card that is sold by a non-profit group and sponsored by at least 50 businesses. The cards are good for one year and in addition to cardholder discounts the cards qualify the holders to entries in four prize draws throughout the year.

In return for the participation, monthly marketing investment and discount offer to cardholders, merchants are included in an online and in-store promotion that includes a full tab on a joint website, inclusion in weekly emails and in-store promotional materials. Plus, presence at at least the four draw events.

With the charity tie in and so many businesses involved all tied in with an overall shop local publicity campaign to tie it all together...it's really powerful.

And I can say that because I did it once already. Well mostly...my summer promotion didn't include the charity tie-in...but it did have the prizes :-) And
I only had 24 businesses involved and they didn't (for the most part) have any special discounts for cardholders...

I learned a lot from it and that's why I am confident taking it to the next phase.

As soon as I get my marketing pieces in place.

How small is a small town?
When you are talking about very small you are talking about a market where
everyone knows everyone else by their first name and the name of their kids.
Often the loyalties are long established and not much advertising is required
by the biz owner.

What you are describing sounds more like a promotion than a business model
in that case.

The idea of a membership, loyalty, discount card is not new and has been
tried many times many ways. One problem is often trying to be all things to
all types of businesses.

There are many examples of successful models. For example the Student Card.

I think I'll stop there for now. Just trying to stir the discussion again.

[Patrysha]

Yup, yup I am here :-)

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry or run in the other direction when I saw the Get with the Program Site. I never heard of it before and it is very similar to the programs I want to develop. But hey! It's proof I'm not totally insane.

As for getting 3400 customers...that blew me away too!! I expected 1000. 10% of our local population. That is what my research seemed to indicate would be an average result and based on what I'd observed with contests and the like in town over the past couple of year I thought that would be pushing it - especially in the summertime because it is so slow and quiet in town over the summer months. Evidently some of the things incorporated into the promotion made it more popular than I'd anticipated.

Really though, it's not just about the big promotions (though they are easiest to get publicity for). Even a few businesses banding together for a promotion with a common, cooperative theme can stretch their budgets and reach more people than going it alone.

Anyway, over the past few weeks I've created what I think is a good funnel to lead towards getting these ideas out there.

The teleseminar was part of it. It only had 6 sign ups and only one of them made the call. I just don't appear to have enough reach and visibility in the wider marketplace yet. (I have a tendency to come up with ideas and implement them too fast...)

I am in the midst of turning that into a product though. I know the information was solid and works...not thoroughly impressed with the delivery, but think with the transcripts and workbook that it will flesh out and maybe down the road I can re-do it with a new call.

Localizing twitter hasn't worked well here...not enough ppl on board here and those that are tend to be from high school...though there is a local band on there now and I often found bands playing at the Casino through there. I only found two active adults on there that I've connected with...one of them moved away though. I am using it a lot to grow my network in the city (Edmonton) though.

[Lynn Terry]

About the teleseminar - you charged a fee for that, right? You might try doing a free teleseminar to use as a lead generator in the future and see if that gets you more sign-ups. It could work out very well with a strong follow-up system in place.

[Patrysha]

How small is a small town?
When you are talking about very small you are talking about a market where
everyone knows everyone else by their first name and the name of their kids.
Often the loyalties are long established and not much advertising is required
by the biz owner.

Well our town is just under 10,000. I have lived in places small enough that yeah it would be a total no-go. (Though I see those sorts of communities coming into programs in their hub community - because when a town is that small there are often only the most basic of services and maybe a store or two so they all are going to go to a hub community nearby or head to the nearest city.

For the record, even in towns of 500 not everyone knows everyone else.

Here we have the challenge of a transient population that has no ties to the community and no incentive to shop local. While we have founding families that have been here since the beginning, they are no more loyal to the business owners here than anyone else and can be found jumping in their vehicles to head to the city as quickly as anyone else.

Example: When I first moved here, my boys went over across the street and met the boys there. Their mom had friends over and invited me and over coffee and getting to know each other I asked "Where do I buy decent clothes for work?" (I originally came here and had a job in radio sales) "Oh there is nothing in town! You have to go to the city to buy anything for yourself or the kids"

There are people who have been living in this town for years who do not know what is available in this town at all. Some are stunned to discover we have a mall. (Okay so it's small and old, but it is there!)

And some of the kids from the founding families are the first to head to the big city ("eewww it's so boring here...there's nothing to do...")

So, I believe the thought that loyalties are long established in a small town is a fallacy. Advertising may not be required, but marketing is. Competition as locally owned business owners is fierce...here the city is an hour and a half away and online shopping is becoming more commonplace every day.

What you are describing sounds more like a promotion than a business model in that case.

Yeah, that's the idea - developing and managing simple campaigns (for the consumers and merchants...not so simple in everything they encompass).

The idea of a membership, loyalty, discount card is not new and has been
tried many times many ways. One problem is often trying to be all things to all types of businesses.

There are many examples of successful models. For example the Student Card.

Of course it's not new. There is nothing new under the sun, after all. And why would I want to start with something all new when all that is required is putting a new spin on things that are already proven. You know, build a better mousetrap? Because most of the ones that I have encountered don't incorporate all the marketing and publicity strategies that go behind these ones...combining web, radio, print, in-store promotions, publicity etc and few of them target the small locally owned merchants who don't have the marketing budgets to do incorporate these things on their own and don't have the time to do it on their own.

The hairdresser, the plumber, the cozy restaurant and pub, the caterer, the florist...you know the people in your neighborhood :-) (Yes, I based some of this concept on what I learned on Sesame Street :-))

For example, there is one clothing store here who has an internal customer loyalty card program. They do not email, the do not direct email, they do not make phone calls, they do not have a website. Customers get points with purchase towards discounts and that's about it.

So basically the owner is paying for the software (no open source freeware or shareware) and brochures (there are no cards involved in this particular system) but isn't getting the potential marketing power of it...it's not included in the package.

So how is a business owner in a small town supposed to know how to use all these strategies or find the time to do it? Despite all the hype of working on your business and not in your business, that just doesn't seem to translate to most small business owners.