You’ve seen it before: a chain link fence right in the middle of a downtown. Usually there’s barbed wire at the top. Let’s face it, barbed wire is not the friendliest look for a downtown. We can do better. Why chain link in the first place? When a business ends up with an empty lot […]
How restaurants can market each other in small towns
I loved this restaurant marketing idea from the Texas Downtown Association: Collaborative Marketing for Local Restaurants In order to compete with new chain restaurants, a group of Longview restaurateurs decided to band together to form a local marketing collective to help encourage people to “Chews Longview”. The marketing campaign urges people to support local […]
Want more young families to shop downtown? Consider family parking
We want our downtowns and our retail stores to be welcoming for all kinds of customers. We’re especially interested in bringing young families downtown for shopping and for special events. To do that, we have to think from their perspective about what keeps them from coming downtown. Their answers might surprise you. Jennifer Carlson […]
Keep Doing Things That Worked
Small Business Saturday has come and gone. What worked? What did you do? And what do you wish you would have done? Now is the time to answer those questions. Yes, I know that for many of you it is also the holiday shopping season and you have just run the gauntlet of getting the […]
