How local is local?

The question reminds me of a similar question I faced as a gardening enthusiast.  I concentrated on growing native plants, but the question arose: how native is native?  On one end, some gardeners would argue only plants that our first settlers would've found growing in what is now the garden is native.  On the other end, as long as the plant could be found in the state, it is native.  Most gardeners fell somewhere in between, usually narrowing the definition to a smaller geographical area such as the county or a hundred-mile radius where the garden was located.  Purists, however, argued there was no such thing as a native plant since most of our native plants have the genes of non-native or hybridized cousins. 

The same range of thought exists with what one defines as a locally owned and operated business.  Some argue that only businesses within or very near one's town is a local business.  Others argue that businesses founded in the state are a local business.  Most people fall somewhere in between.  Purists, however, argue there is no such thing as a locally owned and operated business as most businesses require the services or products from outside of the region in order for the owners to conduct their business.

The answer to what defines a locally owned and operated business if further complicated by other factors.  Some would argue that a locally owned franchise is a locally owned and operated business.  Others would argue that a business, whose owner has moved out of state but still maintains the business locally, is a locally owned and operated business.

Now here is a trick question.  Is Target a locally owned and operated business?  Most people would argue that no, it is a national chain, the kind of store shop local enthusiasts avoid.  People in Minneapolis, MN, however, might argue that, for them, Target is a locally owned and operated business as the original Target began there in 1902 as the Dayton Dry Goods Company.  Just because the store changed its name to Target doesn't make it any less local.  Others would argue that despite its history, Target is now a publicly owned company with no shareholder holding more than 9% interest in the company, and the shareholders are spread out all across the country so it can no longer be considered a locally owned and operated company.

Now, here is another trick question.  Is Walmart a locally owned and operated business?  Like people in Minnesota who might argue Target is a locally owned and operated business, people in Benton, AR might argue that Walmart is a locally owned and operated business.  Unlike the people in Minnesota, though, the people in Arkansas could arguably be more correct in their claim.  The Walton family, founders of Walmart, hold a 48% stake in shares of the company, making them the majority owners.

There are probably as many definitions to "locally owned and operated" as there are people who try to answer the question, how local is local.  Shop Local Delmarva considered all the ranges of thought on the subject, but discovered the definition came down to two key questions: what sort of business keeps most of its money circulating within the local community and what is the "local community"?

With those two questions in mind, Shop Local Delmarva first defined "local community" as all of Delmarva.  The reasoning was based on the fact that most of Delmarva is rural in nature and one couldn't expect to find everything he/she would need in his/her local town.  One may need to travel thirty miles or more to the next nearest town, but he/she could still support the local businesses there instead of relying on the national chains.

Defining what sort of business keeps most of its money within the local community was a bit trickier to define.  Operating on the statistic that for every $100 spent at a locally owned and operated business, $68 remains in the community as opposed to $13 that remains out of the same $100 spent at a national chain, Shop Local Delmarva defined "locally owned and operated business" as one that is most likely to meet the $68 statistic.

Shop Local Delmarva decided that locally owned and operated franchises should be excluded.  The operation of the franchise is still governed by people outside of the local community (loss of community identity), products sold to consumers or products used in a service based business or usually dictated to be purchased outside of the community (no flexibility to purchase locally produced products), and a sizable portion of the franchise's profits go to another state in the form of royalties and licensing fees. 

Shop Local Delmarva also decided to exclude businesses with absent owners, that is, owners that may have started the business while living in the community, but have decided to move or semi-retire to another state while maintaining the operation of the business.  Like the profits of a franchise, the profits of a business with an absent owner are going to another state to maintain the owner's residence and lifestyle in that state.

Ultimately, the definition of a locally owned and operated business is up to the individual to decide for him/herself.  Whether one only considers shopping local in his/her immediate community or a larger geographical area, the important thing is shop local, Delmarva!  If everyone made a ten percent shift in their spending habits towards locally owned and operated businesses, the local economy would see huge benefits. 

 

For a complete, formalized definition of "locally owned and operated business" as defined by Shop Local Delmarva, please see our "Get Listed" section and remember, if you own a business on Delmarva and your business meets the definition, you can get a basic listing that is, and always will be, free.

Make the 10% shift

Here's the biggest obstacle for many to shopping locally: Why should I pay $1.09 for a widget at a locally owned and operated business when I can get the same or equal widget for $0.99 at a Big box Store or off the Internet?   

The shop local message is directed at two audiences: one with disposable income and one who budgets from paycheck to paycheck.  For those who have disposable income, the message of why one should shop local rings loud and clear and are, most likely, shopping local as much as they can.

For the majority of people who are living from paycheck to paycheck, budget is important and no matter how many stats one posts about the benefits of shopping local, the shoppers' bank account determines where one shops.  Invariably, these consumers will opt for the widget that is ten cents cheaper.

Getting people to shop local, or at least thinking about breaking their routine and visiting some locally owned and operated shops, is a three-pronged effort.

First, educate the average shopper on the benefits of shopping local.  The benefits one would see in their community if everyone shopped local is a bit intangible to most people, yet immediately conceptualized by most  regardless of their budget.

Second, show the average consumer that not everything is "overpriced".  Sure, one could save by buying some "necessities" at a big chain store, but there are plenty of locally owned and operated business that offer competitive pricing, and, yes, cheaper pricing than the big box stores.   Not only offering the competitive pricing, but locally owned and operate businesses also offer a variety of products, often locally produced or in a "niche market", that one would never find a big box store.

Third, offer an opportunity to encourage the average shopper to shop local and discover what the big box stores don't offer.  Big box stores want you, your family, your neighbors, and friends to have everything the same because mass-produced items can be sold cheaply.  Your locally owned and operated businesses offer a variety the big box stores can't.  (Please read Shop Local Delmarva's article, The Homogenization of Rural Town, USA, for more information.) 

Some studies suggest that a 10% shift in spending habits aimed towards our locally owned and operated businesses would result in $140 million in new economic activity, create over 1,600 new jobs, and   provide $50 million in new wages.  No matter how tight one's budget is, making a 10% shift in spending habits is a doable goal for most people once they fully understand the importance of shopping locally.

Shop Local Delmarva created Shop Local Delmarva Day to help the average consumer learn more about why it is important to shop locally and to help achieve the 10% (or more) shift in spending habits.  By designating the second Saturday of every month as Shop Local Delmarva Day, the average consumer, regardless of their budget, can decide the best way to support his/hers local community by supporting his/hers locally owned and operated businesses. 

Let's say a couple spends $1,500 per month in all the major areas of expenses such as food, clothing, household, home improvement (including yard and gardens), and entertainment.  To meet the 10% goal, the couple could choose to spend $150 all on Shop Local Delmarva Day in several different locally owned stores or spread the spending out over the entire month (about $34 per week), depending on the couple's budget. 

With the numbers broken down, the couple can easily make conscious buying decisions.  Thirty-four dollars per week isn't a whole lot of money.  They can decide to stop at a produce stand on their way home from work to buy fresh, local produce (food); buy a new pair of shoes and a new shirt or blouse at a local boutique during their lunch hour (clothing); stop at the local hardware store on their way to do their weekly grocery shopping for odds and ends hardware (nails, hinges to fix a cabinet, or some paint or wood finish to bring new life to a piece of furniture or room) or stop at a local garden center for a bag of mulch, pest control products, or new fencing (home improvement); and stop at a locally owned restaurant, deli, or grocery market to pick up something to eat and drink instead of going through a national chain's drive thru (entertainment). 

With little shifts like these in shopping habits, the couple would easily make the 10% shift in spending habits towards our locally owned and operated businesses.  It may not sound like much, but if everyone made the tiny shift, the economic benefits to the community would be immense.  Please read American Independent Business Alliance's informative, yet easy-to-read, article, Benefits of Doing Business Locally, to learn how immense that impact can be. 

JEM Lumber to announce Shop Local Delmarva Day special

July 13th is our next Shop Local Delmarva Day.   JEM Lumber & Building Supply, LLC in Bridgeville, DE is celebrating the day by offering a week-long special!  If you have a major home improvement project to do, you'll definitely will want to stay tuned for the announcement of JEM Lumber's planned special exclusively for supporters of Shop Local Delmarva!  Be sure to tell your friends and contractors you know about Shop Local Delmarva Day so they don't miss out on JEM Lumber's support for our locally owned and operated businesses. 

The fine print: Announcement of JEM Lumber's promotion will be on July 5th and will be valid for the entire week leading up to Shop Local Delmarva Day.  Announcements will be made on the Shop Local Delmarva website, the Shop Local Delmarva FaceBook page, and the Shop Local Delmarva blog.

Today is our fourteenth Shop Local Delmarva Day!

Today brings us beautiful spring weather to enjoy the day exploring our locally owned and operated businesses!  If you're staying home because there's spring yard work that needs to be done, why not take an afternoon break and run down to the local sandwich shop for lunch or call a locally owned and operated pizza shop and have lunch delivered? 

And don't forget, you can support our locally owned and operated businesses from the comfort of your home.  With two new stores added, Shop Local Delmarva Virtual Mall is always open.  All the businesses in the Mall offer at least some of their services or products to all of Delmarva!

In the last couple of weeks, I have fallen a bit behind in my normal upkeep of the Shop Local Delmarva website. A combination of training for a new job, which requires a lot of time in Baltimore, and helping a local busines...s (who had served Cambridge for over fifty years) re-establish itself after being forced to close during the height of the recession has slowed me down a bit. As an update, here is what will be coming up by the end of the month:

A formal welcome to Candra's Secret will be coming. Candra's Secret is listed in the Shop Local Delmarva directory as "in Sussex" and serving all of Delmarva. Candra's Secret will also soon be featured in the Shop Local Delmarva Virtual Mall. Please visit their website at http://www.shoplocaldelmarva.com/content/listing/sussex/candras-secret

A formal welcome to Jem-Mor Florist will be coming. Jem-Mor Florist is listed in the Shop Local Delmarva directory as "in Kent (DE)" and will be soon linked to serving all of Delmarva. Jem-Mor Florist will also soon be featured in the Shop Local Delmarva Virtual Mall. Please visit their website at http://www.shoplocaldelmarva.com/content/listing/kent-de/jen-mor-florist-inc

Perennial Roots Farms will soon be listed as "in Accomack" and serving Northampton. Please visit their website at http://www.perennialroots.com/

Raffie's Warehouse will soon be listed as "in Dorchester" and serving all of Delmarva. Up until about two years ago, Raffie's Warehouse had two locations, one in Cambridge and one in Easton, before being forced to close during the economic downturn. I am helping Raffie's Warehouse establish a virtual store through eBay to help the owner sell his inventory that is currently sitting in storage. He also wants to move his jewelry business, which he currently has offered in a couple of leased spaces in other stores, move completely to the virtual store. At 92-years-old, the owner has decided to forgo the traditional brick-and-mortar store and has embraced the new technology of a virtual store! Hopefully, I can help him make the transformation a success. Once I get Raffie's Warehouse established in the virtual world, they will be listed as "in Dorchester" and serving all of Delmarva. They also will be featured in the Shop Local Delmarva Mall.

Our next Shop Local Delmarva Day is April 13th! If you want to run any specials, sales, or coupons for the day, please email or message me with your request by March 31st. All businesses, even those with a free basic listing, can run one simple text ad that will be promoted here and on the Shop Local Delmarva website. I can include your business logo with the text ad.

If anyone has any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to post them here or message or email me. I apologize to the businesses who are so patiently waiting for me to catch up. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to hire help, but I am trying my best to keep up with the recent influx of requests. I appreciate your patience.

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.

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!