Now you want me to write?

In today’s highly competitive business world, almost every expert will tell you that you need to get your business on the Internet and plug into social networking sites like Blogger, Twitter, LinkedIn or FaceBook, to name a few. You might immediately think, “And who’s going to write all that content?”

Unless you can afford to hire a professional to run the Internet side of your business at least on a part time basis, if not full time, the answer is - you guessed it - you. While some of the online tasks can be performed by your employees, such as answering simple email questions, filling orders, or setting appointments, the important task of branding your company and projecting a positive company image should be left to the owners or professional writers who understand the image you want projected.

Most small businesses can’t afford to hire a professional to do the work and the thought of writing content might be an intimidating thought to you. Just when you work up the nerve to bring your business to the Internet, the experts throw in a monkey wrench and tell you that how you write for your website is different than how you write for social networking sites. When you finally come to the realization that you need to learn two styles of writing, the experts torque that monkey wrench by telling you that how you write in the various social networking sites is different for each social networking platform. Yes, experts, especially writing experts, like to complicate things.

This article gives basic writing suggestions that apply across all types of Internet platforms. They aren’t rules because, in writing, there are no rules except one: no matter what you write, someone out there is not going to like how you wrote it. The idea, however, is for the suggestions to help you minimize how many people won’t like your writing style. Future articles will cover the do’s and don’ts of writing within the various Internet platforms.

Pick your voice

This isn’t as tricky as it sounds, but your voice will vary slightly across the different platforms. Whether you are writing content for your website or in any of the social networking sites, professionalism is important. Visitors to your website or your social networking sites will form an opinion of your business, you, and your employees on nothing more than what, and how, you write.

Now let’s define “professionalism”. It does not mean you should use big words in a dry, textbook style. Your business will define professionalism for you. How do you talk to customers who walk through your door? That is the level of professionalism you’ll want to convey in your writing. Professionalism for a lawyer will be defined differently than for the owner of a country store. Visitors to a lawyer’s page would expect proper grammar usage and maybe a big word or two. The same visitor to a country store’s page would expect more colloquial writing. “Colloquial”, however, doesn’t mean you get to break all the grammar and spelling rules. There’s a fine line between breaking the rules in the right way and right amount while maintaining a professional image and crossing the line and projecting an image of an unprofessional business owner who isn’t concerned what his customers think of him or his business.

Whether you choose a formal voice or colloquial voice to convey your professionalism and business image, the following suggestions will help you make it work more effectively.

Spell correctly

If you know you are a poor speller, you may want to use the spell check options in your website editor or social network editor. If the platform you are posting your content to doesn’t provide a spell check option, write your content in a word processing program that offers the feature. Once you have corrected all the red squiggly lined words, read what you wrote carefully. Spell check software is good, but not perfect. It might accept “to”, for example, when you really meant to write “too” or “two”.

Is it ever ok to misspell a word? One rule of writing: never say never. If your spell check flagged a word as misspelled, keep it only if you are sure it is correct. Usually, this applies to formal names, but you may use a regional word that isn’t in the spell check’s dictionary. That doesn’t make the word incorrect.

Use proper grammar

Often the spell check function will include a grammar check function. Again, if the platform you are posting to does not include a grammar check, you may want to write your content in a word processing program that includes a grammar check.

Unlike spell check, grammar check is a lot more unreliable. It will often flag sentences that are fine in the context of your style of writing. If you like how you wrote the sentence and it flows nicely in the paragraph, don’t change it. If the suggested change makes the sentence more awkward to read, definitely don’t change it. One good example is that, contrary to popular belief, sometimes it is ok to end a sentence with a preposition. For you lawyers and other professionals: according to the Chicago Manual of Style, yes, sometimes it is preferable to end the sentence with a preposition rather than rewriting it into “proper” form and ending up with an awkwardly worded sentence.

There are plenty of other rules we were taught that you could break without losing the professional image you are trying to project, particularly if you are writing in a colloquial style. If it sounds right or better to you than what the grammar check suggests, keep what you wrote. If formality is important to you, consult the Chicago Manual of Style for guidance.

Once you have finished fixing or ignoring all the green squiggly lines, carefully read your content again. You’ll be surprised how many more grammar mistakes you made that the grammar check didn’t catch.

Two grammar rules you shouldn’t break

Granted these rules are more a matter of opinion than hard-set rules, but they happen to be pet peeves of this author and are rules that are commonly broken, even by professional writers. In fact, the Chicago Manual of Style acknowledges that these rules are routinely broken and are not necessarily rules any more. Whether or not you agree that making these grammar mistakes takes away from the professional image you want to project is completely up to you. Whatever you decide, as the Chicago Manual of Style suggests, use the rule the way you see fit consistently throughout your content.

Hypothetical rule: In a hypothetical sentence, “was” becomes “were”. A hypothetical sentence is usually signified by the words, “if” or “wish”. Easiest way to remember this rule – think of the song, “If I were a rich man”. The song isn’t “If I was a rich man”.

Who and that: “Who” signifies a person and “that” signifies a thing. Most people are not things. That is why it is a good idea to say, “A customer who….” and not “A customer that….”

Avoid slang, clichés and nonstandard abbreviations

If you are a professional using the formal voice, this suggestion is a given. For the rest of us, it’s usually a good idea to avoid slang, spell out your words, and think of an original phrase instead of using a cliché. It tells a visitor to your site or social network that you care about communicating effectively, you give original thought to what you have to say, and you’re not lazy on the keyboard.

Which sentence conveys an image of a more professional business owner to you? “When a ticked off customer tells you she’ll brb, get your p’s and q’s in line so you can quickly solve her problem” or “When an unhappy customer tells you she’ll be right back, take the time to look at her purchase and paperwork so you can quickly solve her problem.”

Avoid negative emotional trigger words, phrases and negativity in general

This part of writing is probably the most trickiest to learn. (For the astute reader, you’ll notice my blatant grammar mistake, but the mistake was intentional to emphasize how tricky it is. See? It’s ok to break “the rules”.)

There are many words and phrases that have a potential to trigger a strong, emotional response in the reader. Marketers love the positive emotional trigger words and phrases. Those are the ones that get people feeling good and in the mood to buy stuff. The flip side, however, turns people off, gets them on the defensive, and yes, can even get people telling their friends you run a shoddy business, even if they have never stepped foot in your doors and only know your business through the Internet. Remember, it takes ten good customers to offset the one unhappy customer who starts talking negatively about your business.

There are three main triggers to look for in your writing, and many more minor ones too numerous to list in this short article. The minor ones, however, can add up to become a major obstacle in communicating with your potential customers through the Internet.

Once you have finished writing, read what you wrote. Be on the lookout for these three trigger phrases or words: negative labeling (belittling), commanding phrases or words, and power phrases.

Negative labeling can be blatant, such as substituting not-so-cute words for a real word. An example would be talking about your competitor and calling the store Awful-Mart instead of Wal-Mart or Garbage Lion instead of Food Lion. Negative labeling can also be more subtle, such as implying a negative trait applies to everyone belonging in a particular group. An example would be saying “Shoppers are always looking out for the cheapest price and don’t care about quality or where the product comes from.” Odds are nearly certain that your reader is a shopper and will automatically get defensive because you implied all shoppers, including the reader, think this way.

Commanding phrases are exactly what they sound like - commands. Odds are your reader is an adult and doesn’t like to be told what to do. They like suggestions. They like sound reasoning for what you are trying to communicate to them. They like being talked to like an adult. Which sentence sounds more professional to you? “Shop at the big chain stores if you want to throw away your money” or “if you shop local, you’ll be helping to preserve your community’s unique identity”?

Power phrases are phrases that attempt to assert authority and give little or no room for the reader to think of or offer alternatives. Power phrases leave an impression of inflexibility. Which sentence sounds better to you? “Our products and services are so good, we don’t need a refund policy” or “Our products and services are so good, we have to find things to keep the refund clerk busy”?

Some other barriers in your writing that can add up to an overall negative feeling in your readers are using overly strong, negative words or phrases, writing to impress instead of conveying a message, and pretending to be an expert or know-it-all.

Pretending to be an expert or know-it-all deserves a short explanation. We’re all experts at something, usually more than one thing, to some degree or other, but know your limitations and be honest when writing an article. As an example, I’ll use myself. I have over fifteen years of real writing experience, both in print form (a regular writer for a community newspaper in Baltimore) and electronic form (several websites and blogs, including Shop Local Delmarva). While I am college educated with a degree, I have no degree in English, journalism, or business writing. My fifteen years plus of writing, however, gives me the confidence that I am conveying sound information. Since writing is not my primary field of study, I qualified this article at the beginning that I would present suggestions to good writing, not rules. You’ll also notice that in a few places, I referred you to the Chicago Manual of Style because I knew what I was stating is up for debate. I also have no problem stating my limitations on my expertise. In short, I didn’t try to mislead you into believing I was more of an expert than what my education and experience has given me. In fact, I’m sure someone else with more education and writing experience would be quick to point out that I have yet to master the skill of keeping it short and simple.

If you feel you don’t have a good grasp of the concept of negative emotion trigger words and phrases, one quick way to learn more as well as learn what not to include in your writing style is listen to talk radio. What words and phrases do the hosts use that trigger a negative response in you as you listen? That’s the sort of thing you want to avoid in your writing.

Read what you wrote and make corrections

If you have followed these suggestions step-by-step, you’ve already read your article at least three times. With each reading, you probably made some corrections. Do you really need to read it one final time? That decision is entirely up to you, but is strongly encouraged. I have already read this article four times up to this section and made corrections each time. When I’m done typing this section and the next and last section, I will read it one more time before posting it to the Shop Local Delmarva blog. If you want to maintain a professional image and establish yourself as an expert in your field of business, you probably don’t want to rush an article. Even if you are only writing a couple of sentences on a social networking site, you will probably want to read it a couple of times before clicking the post button. For potential customers (your readers) who have never been in your store and who don’t know you personally, the first impression is everything.

Overwhelmed? Start small

Believe it or not, the more you write, the easier the task becomes. Get your business page on a social network like FaceBook and practice writing one paragraph at a time. In a relatively short time, you’ll find that churning out a useful article of 500 words or less is a relatively easy task, with your typing skills being the slowest part of writing. If that sounds like a lot of words, a 500 word article averages three to five paragraphs of five to ten sentences per paragraph. You don’t have to post every day, either, but post frequently enough that people will be inclined to follow your page in their newsfeeds. Post on other people’s pages, too. The more you write, the easier it becomes. For most business owners, a less than 500 word article a couple of times a week is all you’ll really need to write and be able to gain and retain loyal customers. More on this topic in future articles….

　

Shop Local Delmarva Virtual Mall

Shop Local Delmarva is happy to unveil its prototype Virtual Shopping Mall to make it easier for everyone to shop local.

Businesses with a storefront in the mall are those who offer some or all of their products online. To move around in the mall, click and hold the yellow arrow and move forward or backwards. The two stores you are in front of will appear in two blocks below the mall. You can either click the store front you see, the sign, or the block below the mall to visit that store's website.

If you think your store should be added to the mall, please message me. There are two more stores I would like to add to the mall, but I am still having trouble accessing their website.

Currently, storefronts in the mall are available to all businesses who provide ecommerce to all of Delmarva and beyond. If the prototype mall works out and is received well, storefronts in the mall will be limited to subscribers of Shop Local Delmarva. In the mean time, basic members of Shop Local Delmarva can enjoy their free store front.

My only concern with the mall at this point is I would like to add more user interactivity to it. Wouldn't it be great to be shopping in the Shop Local Delmarva Virtual Mall and be able to talk to the other shoppers in the mall? Limited resources and technical know-how are two obstacles to overcome, but I'm working on that possibility.

Please let me know what you think of the virtual mall. Any and all feedback is appreciated, even constructive criticism. I can only make it as good as what you, the business owner and shopper, tell me.

Steps locally owned business can take to remain competitive

Word is out that a Wal-Mart or Rite Aid or Home Depot is looking to move in on the outskirts of your community.  While local politicians hail the news has a promise of new jobs and revenue for the community and consumers hail the news with mixed feelings, cold shivers are sent through the local business owners’ spines.  They don’t need to look far to see what the giants have done to other communities to guess what will probably happen to them.

Studies have shown that when a national chain moves into town, they effectively shift 84% or more of the spending from local businesses to the national chain.  One study in a small town in Massachusetts, for example, concluded that a proposed Wal-Mart would cost local businesses $35 million in lost sales.  The 177 new jobs Wal-Mart would create would be offset by the projected 148 lost jobs caused by the lost sales.   The end result would be many of the locally owned and operated businesses would close their doors for good.

There are some steps a locally owned and operated business can take that may help them remain competitive with their new neighbor.  Of the ten steps presented below, the first two are a must in today’s economy.  More and more, consumers are shopping online, first, before deciding where to go to get the best deal.  Not only that, but consumers are also turning more and more to the convenience of purchasing online.  It is not a farfetched notion that in the near future, the brick and mortar stores of today will be little more than a final distribution warehouse direct to the consumers’ home in the future.

While this author considers the first two steps to be extremely important, the remaining eight are equally important.  Even if a national chain isn’t proposed for your community or a nearby community yet, implementing any or all of these steps into your business plan may help you remain competitive in today’s changing economy and put you on solid ground the day you will need to face the giants.

1.      Build a website

Of all the steps, building a website is the one that costs the most, either in time, money, or both.  What sort of website do you need?  The easiest way to answer that question is look at what your big name competitors are offering.  Do they offer online shopping?  Live customer service?  Coupons?  Calculators to estimate cost?  Appointment scheduling?  Your budget will determine how many of the features offered by your competitor you can match, but don’t stop there.  Listen to your customers.  You may think of other features to make your website, and your company, stand out.

Once you have an idea what you need in your website, you have two choices.  The easiest, but most expensive choice, is to hire a professional to build the site for you.  The old adage, “you get what you pay for”, applies here whether you hire a professional or build the site yourself.

If you hire a professional, pricing can start as little as a monthly fee of less than $100 per month to as much as a few thousand dollars for set up and a monthly fee of several hundred to maintain.  Make sure you detail to the professional exactly what you want in your website before signing any contracts.    One small business, for example, signed a three-month contract at $99 per month.  What he got was a basic website he could have built himself for less than five dollars per month.

If you build the website yourself, plan on spending a lot of time maintaining and refining the site to keep it in the top searches.  There are many hosting sites out there, but the one that is consistently ranked high and the one hosting Shop Local Delmarva is Blue Host.  One word of caution: steer clear of free hosting sites.  Usually, free hosting sites make their money by placing ads on your website.  Just as you wouldn’t allow another business to advertise in your brick and mortar store, you don’t want other businesses advertising in your virtual store.

2.      Establish an Internet presence

If your budget doesn’t allow for a website, you can still establish an Internet presence at no cost other than time.  If you have a website, you still need to enhance your Internet presence. 

Join social networking sites like FaceBook or Blogger.  Be active and offer useful information your customers can use.  Social networking sites allow you to establish yourself as an expert for the products or services you offer.  If you sell groceries, offer a home recipe and suggest using the products you sell.  If you sell a local artists’ works, talk about the natural beauty of Delmarva that inspired the work and the importance of preserving that beauty.  Interacting with potential customers by offering them information goes a lot further in gaining a new, loyal customer than simply telling them about the great products or services you have on sale this week. 

List yourself in online directories.  Some directories charge a fee and some are free.  If a fee is involved, search around the directory to get a feel for the layout and the likelihood the big name stores that can afford the bigger and flashier advertising space may overpower your listing.   As a general rule, if listing your business is free, list it.  The more frequently the search engines’ bots find your name out there, the more likely a search related to your business will return your name in the results.  In addition to the directories you may be familiar with, you may want to consider these top 50 local directories.  As a reminder, Shop Local Delmarva offers a free listing to all locally owned and operated businesses.

 

3.      Present a very professional image

Whether on the Internet or in your store, image is everything.  Consistency is important in presenting that image.  If you don’t have a business logo, get one.  If you can’t afford a professional to design one for you, there are all sorts of free tools on the Internet to help you design your own.  Use it on the Internet, in your store, and on your business cards.

Be constructive and professional in your written and verbal conversations and don’t criticize your competition.  Saying “We offer ceiling fans in unique styles and designs made right here in the US that you can’t find elsewhere” goes a lot further than saying, “We don’t offer the cheap, made-in-China junk that other stores offer”.

Train your employees to project the same professional image that you project.  If a new customer is impressed with your online image, but then walks in your store and an employee who lacks that professional image serves him, there’s a good chance you will lose that customer.

4.      Know your competition

Not only do you want to know the products or services your competitor offers, but you want to know as much as you can about how they conduct their business.  What are their return policies?  What is their delivery area?  Do they charge for delivery?  Do they offer any warranties or guarantees and on what?  Do they have a customer rewards program?  The more you know what your competitor offers, and equally important, what your competitor doesn’t offer, the more likely you can win back loyal customers by offering the same, better, or different enticements.

5.      Fill a void

In getting to know your competitor, you learn what products or services your competitor offers and at what price.  You may not be able to offer the common products or services at the same price the big name store can, but you can specialize in what your competitor doesn’t offer.  A good example, based on this author’s personal experience, can be found in Easton in Talbot County.  Homeowners and contractors alike flock to Lowe’s for all their building needs.  Across the street from Lowe’s is a local hardware store that is thriving.  When customers can’t find what they want in Lowe’s, Lowe’s sales associates often refer the customer to the local hardware store.  The hardware store thrives because they concentrate on stocking products customers want, but that don’t sell in large enough quantities for Lowe’s to justify carrying.  This example illustrates why it is important not to criticize your competitors, too.  If the local hardware store complained about their big neighbor, odds are good that employees of Lowe’s wouldn’t be referring customers to them.

6.      Emphasize the uniqueness of your products or service

The big chain store can always undersell you, even if at a loss, to win your customers and eliminate you as a competitor.  In fact, some big chains are known to practice this tactic, only to raise their prices by as much as a third higher than the average once the local competition is eliminated.  This is why it is important to start emphasizing now, and continue to emphasize, what makes your products or services unique.  Customers are always looking for a good deal, but price alone isn’t how many customers decide where to shop.

Define one or two main points that make your product or service unique.  Are most of your products made right here in the US?  Do you carry unique or hard-to-find styles and designs?  Do you offer a personal shopper who will help customers around the store and select what the customer needs (particularly helpful for the elderly or disabled)?  Do you use environmentally friendly products around the customer’s home?  How many years experience do you or your employees have in your profession?  What professional certifications or recognitions have you, your employees, or business received?

Build value into those one or two main points and ensure all of your employees understand them.  Consumers are willing to pay a little more if they know they are getting something they can’t find in a big chain or are dealing with well trained professionals.

7.      Collaborate with similar businesses

The national stores have the advantage of pooling the resources of hundreds, if not thousands, of stores nationwide – and even internationally – to be able to offer products and services far below what the average Mom and Pop store can offer.  The local business can do the same, albeit on a smaller scale, if they are willing to team up with similar businesses in their community, even if it means teaming up with your local competitors.

Perhaps there is a trade show you would like to attend, but the cost isn’t in your budget.  By teaming up with one or two other businesses, the cost becomes affordable and the experience can be mutually beneficial.  If you know a couple of other businesses who source their products from the same vendor as you, by teaming up with them to schedule your deliveries on the same day, you may be able to get a discount for bulk buying, savings you can pass on to your customers.  You may also be able to receive better warranties or return policies, which, in turn, you can pass on to your customers.  If you and similar businesses use different vendors, talk to your vendor about consolidating and compare notes with what the other vendors told the businesses you are considering collaborating with.  Perhaps switching vendors would be mutually beneficial for everyone.

8.      Take care of your employees

Your business is only as good as your weakest employee.  You may not have the resources to offer health plans, retirement benefits, education programs or advancement opportunities, but there are plenty of other ways to make an employee feel important and appreciated so that they’ll want to perform their job to the best of their ability.

Your employees are people, not a commodity to use that will allow you more time off or increase your bottom line, only to be disposed of when the economy slows down.   Know why each of the employees are working for you and what their goals are.  Is the employee fresh out of school and looking to establish a work history?  A retiree who wants to supplement his retirement benefits or simply just wants to get out of the house?  A spouse who wants to help supplement the household income?  A part time college student looking to build a new career?  Someone who needed a job because of a recent layoff?

Once you know why an employee is working for you, be supportive and encouraging with the employee.  Maybe you can be more flexible with the work schedule.  Help with purchasing college textbooks.  Assign increasing responsibilities and be an excellent reference source for the employee’s future career.  Be on the lookout for a new job the employee may really want.  If you show genuine care for your employees, where they are at, and where they want to be, you’ll gain much more productive employees and possibly life long, loyal customers through the employee and his family and friends.

9.      Support your community

There is no better form of advertising than getting your name mentioned throughout your community.  Sponsor local events, organizations, schools, and charities.  That doesn’t always mean, “cash donation”, either.  Buy new uniforms for the high school football team.  Volunteer to be a bus driver for a local Church event.  Donate food and drink for the participants of a local parade.  Offer your business site for a blood donation drive or other charitable contribution.  Anytime you offer money, time, or services to your community, community residents will know and remember what you did for them.  By word of mouth, the best form of advertising, customers will visit you because they don’t want you to go anywhere anytime soon.

10.  Remain positive

No matter how slow the economy is or how much you think customers like the big chain stores more than your store - remain positive.  This step is actually part of the projecting a very professional image step, but deserved to stand on its own.  If a customer makes an offhand remark like “I don’t know how you stay in business with those big stores in the shopping plaza down the road,” that is not an invitation to spout off about the importance of shopping locally.  It is an invitation for you to emphasize your unique products and services.  The customer may steer the conversation towards how the big stores are killing the local businesses, but that still is not an invitation to spout off about the evils of your national competitors.  It is an opportunity to reinforce the idea that locally owned and operated businesses, yours included, offer unique products and services the big chains often don’t offer.  Hopefully, the customer will walk away with the feeling that maybe he should visit his locally owned and operated stores a little more often.

Remaining positive means you never bash a competitor, locally or nationally owned.  You never lament about how slow business is, especially since the big boys moved into town.  You never give the impression that customers who choose to shop at a big store are making a wrong choice.  You can’t guilt people into doing business with you.  You can only give them good reasons why they should do business with you instead of choosing a competitor.

Feedback needed

Shop Local Delmarva has always tried to not only cater to the locally owned and operated businesses, but also to keep everything local.  In our complex world, this isn't always possible.  The site, for example, is hosted by a company located in Utah since there were no locally owned and operated hosting sites on Delmarva.

A third party advertising company (http://Baltimore.localgreatcoupons.com) has expressed interest in advertising on Shop Local Delmarva.  We're just in the discussion phase right now, but I wanted to get feedback from both, our locally owned and operated businesses and from our local consumers. 

We've already discussed the purpose of Shop Local Delmarva and that any advertisements offered on the site would have to be strictly limited to our locally owned and operated businesses located in any of the fourteen counties of Delmarva, no exceptions.  Please let me know what you think, bot pros and cons.

Welcome Sand N Stones, Delaware & Nature Shoppe

Shop Local Delmarva welcomes Sand N Stones, Delaware & Nature Shoppe to the family of locally owned and operated businesses.  Local artisan Michele Buckler offers 14K gold-filled and Anti-Tarnish Sterling Silver wire-framed jewelry with each piece created in the shop.  You can select a gem in stock or have Michele custom wrap your own piece.  And, yes, you can order your custom jewlery right from her website!



Welcome Marsha's Co.

Shop Local Delmarva welcomes Marsha's Co. to the family of locally owned and operated businesses.  Located in Sussex County and serving all of Delmarva, the coastal environment is the inspiration for Michele Holler's artwork, which she faithfully prints on her collection of apparel, accessories, and home decor.  Her "comfort wear" includes her own Trim T and Trim Fleece giving you stylish, yet comfortable wear.  You can even order her work at her website!



Welcome Law Office of Walter Gunby

Shop Local Delmarva welcomes the Law Office of Walter Gunby to the family of locally owned and operated businesses.  With over 37 years of law practice and over 34 years of bankruptcy expertise, they deal in matters that include, but is not limited to, bankruptcy, workers' compensation, IRS problem resolution, and elder law.  Located in Dorchester County, they serve all of Delmarva.



Welcome JEM Lumber & Building Supply, LLC

Shop Local Delmarva welcomes JEM Lumber & Building Supply, LLC to the family of locally owned and operated businesses.  Located in Sussex County, they serve all of Delaware and all nine counties comprising the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  Serving the construction industry since 1978, their mission is to provide “Quality Products at a Competitive Price with Friendly Hometown Service”.  For all your home remodeling needs, you will find everything you need at JEM Lumber & Building Supply, LLC at competitive prices that often are better than the big box stores - and their service is second to none.



Welcome Great Graphics

Shop Local Delmarva welcomes Great Graphics to the family of locally owned and operated businesses.  Located in Kent County, DE, Great Graphics offer expert textile printing services across the USA.  They provide custom printed apparel for businesses, retail outlets, and special events.  If you have a business or special event you want to promote, be sure to check out Great Graphics!



Welcome Delmarva Popcorn & Nut Company LLC

Shop Local Delmarva welcomes Delmarva Popcorn & Nut Company, LLC to the family of locally owned and operated businesses.  Located in Kent County, DE, Mark, "the popcorn man", serves up fresh popcorn in a multitude of flavors.  He only uses locally grown kernels from MD, Va, and PA to make his popcorn. Not only can you find his popcorn at his store, but you can find him all up and down Delmarva at local fairs and events or simply order his famous popcorn right from his website!

Shop Local Delmarva is growing

Shop Local Delmarva is growing. For almost two years, the site averaged around 7 unique visitors per day. This past August, the average was shattered with a record 21 visits per day to the site. Last month shattered that record with an average of 26 visits per day to the Shop Local Delmarva website. This month is only two days old and looks to be on track to match or beat the past two months with an average of 14 visits between today and yesterday - and it's not even the weekend when the Shop Local Delmarva website gets most of its traffic! The really good news is both months saw a 37% return visit rate. That means people are bookmarking the site waiting for the directory to be filled with locally owned businesses and become a useful tool for the visitors seeking your locally owned business out.

For both months, the overwhelming keywords used to find the Shop Local Delmarva website were some combination of the words local, shopping, and Delmarva. And in August, two businesses, Salt Water Style and Long Neck Plumbing, were specifically searched for and found in the directory more than once each.

If you're a locally owned and operated business, get listed! Your customers are trying to find you!

Eighth Shop Local Delmarva Day

Saturday, September 8th, is our eighth Shop Local Delmarva Day.  The weather is supposed to be just eh until the storms move in late afternoon or early evening, then the weather will be really eh.  The forecast sounds like a good day for staying home...and shopping.  Get a taste of the wave of the future: shopping without the hassles of weather, traffic, and crowds.  Take a virtual tour of a sampling of our locally owned and operated businesses.  You'll never know what might catch your eye, and, yes, it's never too early to start Christmas shopping.  (Ok, I threw that in because I wanted to get a jump on the big box stores.  Their Halloween stuff is already on display and by the end of the month, the Halloween stuff will be yanked to make room for the Christmas stuff.  Just preparing you for what the big box stores are going to be throwing your way in a couple of weeks.)

Locally owned and operated virtual tour

Please note: businesses are listed by the county they are located in, but they serve all of Delmarva, unles otherwise noted.  You can decide how "local" local is.

Delaware:

In Kent County:

Great Graphic Originals, Ltd
http://www.wemakenicestuff.com/
We make nice stuff

Serves primarily Kent County

Snow's Painting Service, LLC

http://www.snowspainting.com/

Your Local and Reliable Professional Painting Contractor

Serves Kent County only - schedule a free consultation

In Sussex County:

Sand N Stones

Delaware & Nature Shoppe

http://www.sandandstones.com/

Your One Stop Sea Glass Shop!

Delmarva Popcorn & Nut Co. LLC

www.Kettle-Korn.com

More Better Than Good!

Marsha's Co.
http://www.marshas.net/

A visit is like a treat for the senses where you will find just the right thing to reflect a relaxed lifestyle.

Maryland:

In Dorchester County:

Funky Feathers Fancy Poultry Farm

http://www.funkyfeathers.com/ 

We hatch for quality, not quantity. (Poultry related merchandise also available)

Shop Local Delmarva

www.shoplocaldelmarva.com

Your one stop directory to find your locally owned and operated businesses.

In Worcester County:

Salt Water Style

http://www.saltwaterstyle.com/

Your one stop shopping for the woman who loves the ocean, loves to fish and who might have sand in her shoes.

Sixth Shop Local Delmarva Day

Just a reminder - this Saturday, August 11th, is our sixth Shop Local Delmarva Day.

Welcome Salt Water Style

Shop Local Delmarva welcomes Salt Water Style to the family of locally owned and operated businesses.  Serving all of Delmarva, Salt Water Style caters to the "woman who loves the ocean, loves to fish and who might have sand in her shoes."  Primarily through Internet sales, one can find everything from gifts to clothing and things for the kids and for the pets.  If you're looking for that little something special, be sure to visit Salt Water Style at their website.



The homogenization of Rural Town, USA

Many of you reading this article may remember a time when towns across the country had their unique identity.  If you were on a road trip, you didn’t know what to expect to find in any town you stopped in.  That was the excitement of road trips. 

Many more reading this article may not fully understand the above paragraph.  Sure, we still recognize different dialects across the country, but that sweet gal with the southern accent in Atlanta serves us the same fried chicken that the sweet Boston gal serves us in Massachusetts.  She just serves us in a different accent, but the chicken is the same.

Prior to about the late sixties and early seventies, towns were defined by their unique businesses.  The fried chicken in Atlanta was different than the fried chicken in Boston.  Experience taught us that the fried chicken in Atlanta was an excellent, must-have, meal, but in Boston, skip the fried chicken and order their must-have pork chops, instead.

What happened in the late sixties to early seventies that led to the southern gal serving the same fried chicken the Boston gal serves?

To explain the answer to that question would take a graduate thesis from multiple disciplines to explain.  In simple terms, people moved out of the cities and gave rise to suburbs.  Starting in the late sixties to early seventies, businesses responded to the growth of suburbs by introducing a new shopping concept – the mall. 

The new concept expanded and improved on the big city concept of a main shopping district in downtown.  Back in our grandmother and great-grandmother’s day, the mall was Main Street of the nearest big city.  As people left the cities and suburbs grew, developers packed up the big city shopping districts and brought them to the suburbs.

Malls were instant hits with consumers.  For the first time, one could do all of their back-to-school or Christmas shopping in one place without having to go to the nearest big city.  They could even grab a bite to eat or a coffee to drink while shopping without leaving the building.  Ample parking meant no more walking several city blocks or taking a bus to the shopping district.

Malls were also very expensive real estate.  Developers needed commitments from big box stores before constructing the building.  With the big name anchor stores book ending the real estate, rent per square foot in between the anchor stores skyrocketed.  Local Mom and Pop stores couldn’t afford the rent for a kiosk much less a storefront. 

As the flight to the suburbs grew, many big box stores followed, but the CEOs realized their success didn’t depend on being attached to a mall.  All they needed to do was build in a rural area near a mall and people would come from miles around.  It was a shorter and easier trip for the locals than going to the big city’s shopping district.

Many would argue that growth is good even if it means losing prime forests and farmland to mega shopping centers and the housing developments that inevitably spring up for miles around the new shopping district. 

But there is a dark side to the growth.  Nationally owned stores rely on consumers wanting the same thing en masse.  Over the decades, they have trained consumers to expect consistency and shun the unexpected inconsistency. 

Joe’s Burgers might be good today, but tomorrow another cook might mix the ingredients slightly differently and it might not taste the same.  McDonalds pre-packages everything so the burger in Los Angeles tastes the same as the burger on Delmarva and they taste the same every day regardless of who is cooking them. 

At Joe’s Burgers, Sue might be cooking today and her burgers aren’t quite as good as Joe’s, but she makes an awesome homemade crab cake sandwich.  When Sue is cooking, you order a crab cake sandwich instead of the burger.  Try getting a homemade crab cake at McDonalds.  McDonalds doesn’t care that crab cakes are a local staple.  They offer you a fish filet sandwich made of who knows what kind of fish.  Joe’s burgers might serve up a slice of Smith Island cake for dessert.  McDonalds never heard of such a thing so all you’ll get is a boxed slice of apple pie massed produced on an assembly line.

The homogenization doesn’t stop with food.  Delmarva’s unofficial symbols are the blue crab and blue heron.  Shore Gardens offer garden ornaments with these Delmarva themes.  Go to a Home Depot or Lowe’s and try to get a blue crab ornament for your pond.  Blue crabs don’t have a national appeal so you most likely won’t find these uniquely Delmarva items in those stores.  Instead, you’ll find the same garden gnomes and angels that every Lowes or Home Depot across the country sells.

The convenience and cheap prices of big box stores is an overwhelming draw for the average consumer.  Most of us shop at the Walmarts, Targets, Lowes, and Home Depots or eat at the McDonalds, Burger Kings, Red Lobsters, and Olive Gardens because we know what they have and what we will pay.  We’re not risking our money by spending it at an “unknown” little store.

Those shopping habits of sticking to the big box stores comes with another high price.  The little stores that did offer variety and uniquely different items go out of business.  Some day, when you want something different than the same food or want something that isn’t a made-in-China item that everyone else has, there is no little store left.  Your community and everything that defined your community has morphed into Anytown, USA.

Here’s a challenge if you do not believe the big box stores are making all of our communities the same.  When you’re in a big box store, pay attention to what they sell.  Other than brand names and prices, is there really any difference between what Lowes and Home Depot sells?  Or Walmart and Target?  Take a walk down the carpet aisle, for example.  Are the style, colors, patterns, and quality of rugs really different between the two stores?  Can you find any locally themed patterns for that perfect welcome mat on your front step?

When you’re done comparing what the big box stores offer, take a look in your home, your neighbors’ homes, your relatives’ homes, and your friends’ homes.  Is there any real difference in the style, type, and quality of the house and most items in it?  Can you guess which store some of the items and fixtures in the home were probably purchased?

When you’re driving around, take a look at people’s yards.  Are there unique plants and bushes in the landscaping and gardens?  How about unique lawn or garden ornaments? 

The more you pay attention to how much of the same things we all have, the more you’ll realize how the big box stores are homogenizing our communities and even our individual homes.

Third Shop Local Delmarva Day - May 12

The unofficial Shop Local Delmarva Day is always the second Saturday of every month.  Our third Shop Local Delmarva Day is May 12^th.  Spread the word and support your locally owned and operated businesses!

All businesses listed in the Shop Local Delmarva directory can take advantage of offering a coupon, sale, or special for the day that will be promoted through the social networks.  This is a free benefit for Shop Local Delmarva members.  If you wish to offer something special for the May 12^th Shop Local Delmarva Day, please email me so I can start promoting your special.  If you're not listed, get listed.  Your basic listing is and always will be free!

If you have a favorite locally owned and operated business that isn't listed on the Shop Local Delmarva website, please tell them about "Shop Local Delmarva dot com".  A basic listing is and always will be free and in today's economy, nothing beats free.

How leaky is your local economy?

When our business leaders, planners, and politicians look at ways to revitalize local towns and rural areas, the usual proposed solutions are to find ways to bring more money into the community.  Typical approaches to bringing in money involve promoting tourism, agriculture, corporate relocations and other forms of inward investments.  What is often overlooked is the important concept of money flow within the community.

Think of your local economy as a bucket and bringing in money to your community is like pouring water in the bucket.  The bucket is going to have some holes in it and some of the water will leak out.  Some of the holes can’t be fixed so you will always have a leaky bucket.  The state and federal government will collect taxes, for example.  That is a hole that can’t be fixed.

Other holes can be fixed.  Residents who shop at a box store, for example, will shop at your locally owned store if the locally owned store offers the same product or service at a competitive price and with the expected customer service level offered by a big box store. 

The idea of the leaky bucket illustrates the importance of money flow through a community.  The more water the bucket holds, the less frequently you have to refill the bucket.  By the same token, the more money that circulates and stays within the community, the less frequently the community has to look for outside money to revive the local economy.

Let’s put the illustration in simple dollar and cents.  Some studies suggest that for every dollar spent at a locally owned and operated business, sixty-eight cents stays in the community.  The same dollar spent at a nationally owned store sees thirteen cents staying in the community.

Now an important concept comes into play, a concept called the multiplier effect.  The sixty-eight cents from your dollar that stayed in your community is spent by that business owner or employee at another locally owned and operated business.  Forty-six cents remains in the local community.  If the person who received the forty-six cents continues the trend of spending locally, the money will pass through eight more hands before the leaky bucket has taken it down to two cents.  At the national box store, the employee who received the thirteen cents in his pay (the rest of your dollar was exported to the owner and upper management in another state) spends it at another nationally owned business.  Only two cents remain in the community.

From this simple example, you can see how fast your community needs to find more outside money to regenerate your local economy.  Your dollar spent at a locally owned and operated business will pass through nine of your friends’ and neighbors’ hands before it has practically vanished from your community.  Your dollar spent at nationally owned businesses would only pass through one of your friend’s or neighbor’s hands before it has practically vanished from your community.

In the real world, it isn’t always practical, and sometimes not even possible, to spend your money exclusively at locally owned and operated businesses.  But you do have the power to slow the leak.  Several independent studies have concluded that a 10% shift in our spending habits to support locally owned and operated businesses would create hundreds of new jobs and tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars in new economic activity.

Reminder

Saturday, April 14, is the second, unofficial Shop Local Delmarva Day!  Discover some of your local gems.  If you can't a find a business on Shop Local Delmarva, visit your favorite locally owned and operated business or one you've been meaning to check out, but haven't found the time to stop in.  Please be sure to tell them about "Shop Local Delmarva dot com", Delmarva's directory of locally owned and operated businesses.  Remember, all locally owned businesses receive a basic listing that is and always will be free!

Top five keyword searches for March:

Your potential customers found Shop Local Delmarva with these keywords (unedited) through Google, Yahoo, and Bing:

• business doing business in queen annes county md
• dusty chaps farms md
• shop locally owned
• delmarva shopping blog
• allstate pest

Welcome Funky Feathers Fancy Poultry Farm

Shop Local Delmarva welcomes Funky Feathers Fancy Poultry to the family of locally owned and operated businesses.  Serving all of Delaware and the nine counties of Maryland, Funky Feathers Fancy Poultry Farm is the family owned farm of Richard and Stephanie Kendall.  They provide juvenile (three months or older) ducks and chickens through Internet sales or by visiting their fourteen acre farm located on the southern tip of Dorchester County.  They also run an online store where you can buy all sorts of duck and chicken related goodies and even a pictorial book of Dorchester County authored by Stephanie.  If you want a scenic adventure, call Funky Feathers Fancy Poultry Farm and schedule a visit to this remote part of the Eastern Shore.



March 10, first unofficial Shop Local Delmarva Day

Moving ahead with its plans to encourage Delmarva residents to support their locally owned and operated businesses, Shop Local Delmarva has designated the second Saturday of every month an unofficial Shop Local Delmarva Day.  The first Shop Local Delmarva Day is March 10^th. 

Since Shop Local Delmarva is still growing with only a handful of businesses listed in its directory, the theme for the first Shop Local Delmarva Day is simple – tell everyone you know about the importance of shopping locally – and visit at least one locally owned and operated business!  If you want to do more, some ideas are listed below.

If you own a locally owned and operated business:

• If you are not already listed on Shop Local Delmarva, get listed!  A basic listing is and always will be free.
• If you are already listed and want to run a special for the Shop Local Delmarva Day, please email Shop Local Delmarva with details.  Businesses with a free, basic listing can participate in this one-day special, too, at no charge!
• If your business has a website or a FaceBook page, mention Shop Local Delmarva and the unofficial Shop Local Delmarva Day. 

If you are a consumer:

• Visit at least one locally owned and operated business.  You might find surprises you would never find in a big chain store.
• Tell your favorite locally owned and operated business about Shop Local Delmarva.  Be sure to tell them their basic listing is and always will be free.
• If you run your own website or are active in any of the social media sites, mention Shop Local Delmarva and the unofficial Shop Local Delmarva Day.

As each month passes, hopefully the Shop Local Delmarva Day will generate more enthusiasm and participation.  The only way that will happen is by you telling everyone about it and you shopping at your locally owned and operated business.

Top five keyword searches for February:

Your potential customers found Shop Local Delmarva with these keywords (unedited) through Google, Yahoo, and Bing:

• black caterering businesses in worcester somerset wicomico
• buy local buy Delmarva
• http://www.taylorsfreshorganics.com/
• non profit organizations in accomack county
• talbot hunt club local