The 1st Step in Re-Urbanization - Ahead of the Sharp Curve - Buy Local

Part of the re-urbanization of this country is going to be driven by the Buy Local initiatives happening everywhere.  Buy Local initiatives will eventually emphasize a "Net Better" - Price competitive, better service and better products.

Buy Local will take much more than just saying "buy local"; it is much more than a lip service trying to get locals to stay in town rather than going to the malls or online. It is going to take collaborative efforts by local commerce and local politicians working together as well as educating their community.  Buy Local must become a destination. Buy Local must be price and service competitive.  Buy Local will require an online presence of products and services like many grocery stores are trying today.  As a matter of fact, a good Buy Local model will require all the exact products and services that a shopping mall provides to ensure success - plus more - educating the community on why Buy Local is good for them.  This is not an option, this is a must and will happen - it is just going to be a matter of who recognizes this first and takes advantage of the opportunity most.

SOURCE: Civic Economics - "Local Works!".
Commissioned by Local First.
According to an independent study commissioned
by Local First and conducted by Civic Economics,
approximately 73% more money stays in West Michigan
when consumers choose locally owned and
independent businesses.
By supporting locally owned businesses over their
national competitors, we are supporting our community:

Buy Local initiatives will require:

• Collaborative Advertising
• Collaborative customer sharing (being close together or easily cross accessible).
• Being price competitive with the Internet retailers.
• Collaboratively educating the community on "Local".
• reduced energy
• local jobs
• higher and broader tax base
• better schools
• better roads
• a safer community
• face-to-face service
• less travel time - more leisure time

Even the United States Postal Service (USPS) is getting into the Buy Local game; it's EDDM program and service, possibly its final encore, favors local business and does such at both a price and service level that its competitors cannot match.  EDDM targets local; as finite as an individual mail route (imagine real estate agents, the 500 homes around the one you are selling). - I have wondered if the USPS knew this upfront or was it just an unexpected by-product of their initiatives..

It takes collaborative efforts in development, entertainment and advertising. This makes "Local" a destination; it makes "Local" the mall.  Some places were created with this in mind (though upscale) like West Palm Beach, Florida's CityPlace.  Some places were converted such as Boulder, Colorado's Pearl Street Mall.

What we will end up with is "self sustaining communities" - a topic in vogue in both political and academia worlds.

Collaboration: Localization: Is Buy Local a Collaborative Effort?

Collaboration is an "in vogue" topic these days.  "Buy Local" is equally, if not more so, in vogue.  But we really need to understand that these efforts did not begin yesterday.

A newspaper is a collaborative effort being managed by the newspaper company local to the area the newspaper is delivered with each of the advertisers sharing in the cost to produce the newspaper leaving some extra money as profit for the newspaper.


A strip mall (or any mall for that matter) is a collaborator in that the businesses, through a management company / owner / landlord, share costs. From the parking lot, to the signage, to the walkways (common areas) - a cost sharing collaborative is taking place.  The businesses share more than that, they share customers; the customer may come for one specific purchase, but see all the other "opportunities" (other stores).  It is why businesses like to rent where there is a popular "anchor" store (like a large grocer); because they can ride the coat tails of the anchor and collaborate as a larger force.

Collaborating is much more than good business, it is business.

~B

Buy Local - Ahead of the Sharp Curve - The 1st Step in Re-Urbanization

Part of the re-urbanization of this country is going to be driven by the Buy Local initiatives happening everywhere.  Buy Local initiatives will eventually emphasize a "Net Better" - Price competitive, better service and better products.

One of many Buy Local initiatives
in Maine near the Time4 offices.

Buy Local will take much more than just saying "buy local"; it is much more than a lip service trying to get locals to stay in town rather than going to the malls or online. It is going to take collaborative efforts by local commerce and local politicians working together as well as educating their community.  Buy Local must become a destination. Buy Local must be price and service competitive.  Buy Local will require an online presence of products and services like many grocery stores are trying today.  As a matter of fact, a good Buy Local model will require all the exact products and services that a shopping mall provides to ensure success - plus more - educating the community on why Buy Local is good for them.  This is not an option, this is a must and will happen - it is just going to be a matter of who recognizes this first and takes advantage of the opportunity most.

SOURCE: Civic Economics - "Local Works!"
Study, 2008. Commissioned by Local First.
According to an independent study commissioned
by Local First and conducted by Civic Economics,
approximately 73% more money stays in West Michigan
when consumers choose locally owned and
independent businesses.
By supporting locally owned businesses over their
national competitors, we are supporting our community:

Buy Local initiatives will require:

• Collaborative Advertising
• Collaborative customer sharing (being close together or easily cross accessible).
• Being price competitive with the Internet retailers.
• Collaboratively educating the community on "Local".
• reduced energy
• local jobs
• higher and broader tax base
• better schools
• better roads
• a safer community
• face-to-face service
• less travel time - more leisure time

Even the United States Postal Service (USPS) is getting into the Buy Local game; it's EDDM program and service, possibly its final encore, favors local business and does such at both a price and service level that its competitors cannot match.  EDDM targets local; as finite as an individual mail route (imagine real estate agents, the 500 homes around the one you are selling). - I have wondered if the USPS knew this upfront or was it just an unexpected by-product of their initiatives..

Buy.Eat.Live.Local.

This is what Time4 / LightsOn's Buy.Eat.Live.Local. publication helps to address. The theme / affinity is your hometown.

It takes collaborative efforts in development, entertainment and advertising. This makes "Local" a destination; it makes "Local" the mall.  Some places were created with this in mind (though upscale) like West Palm Beach, Florida's CityPlace.  Some places were converted such as Boulder, Colorado's Pearl Street Mall.

What we will end up with is "self sustaining communities" - a topic in vogue in both political and academia worlds.

Localization - It's about Much More Than Printing.

Let's make this country a better place and there is no better place to start than in our own hometowns.

As anyone who follows this blog or knows the Time4 and LightsOn initiative; it is quite simple: Make Our Customer Succeed.  We are all about recreating local in a world that knows more about a Jersey Shore celebrity than their own neighbor.  Lets fix this by starting in our own home town.  The following three past articles give some background to this idea.

• Collaborative Marketing Efforts Make The Impossible - Probable. 
• Followup on "Who Me, Who Three - Fixing the Local Print Business" Can the Local Printer Survive?
• The Post Offices (USPS) Encore or the Beginning of the End

Over the last couple months we have been testing our "Buy. Eat. Live. Local." concept with the purpose of moving "Buy Local" from a lip service to a way of life - our lives and our future.  We have made the objective of "Buy. Eat. Live. Local." a product (evolving as it is) to help communities across the country by providing it to local entrepreneurs who, most importantly, live there, work there and buy there.  Have you ever been there?

"Buy. Eat. Live. Local." is the coming together of many environmental, business, social and economic factors.  One of the biggest factors is the forth coming re-urbanization of America over the next 20-30 years which I will be writing about extensively.  For those as old as I, think about it as Megatrends 2013.

How well grasped is this concept?

Here is the Town of Windham Maine's ad - a paid ad - giving 10 reasons why this just makes sense.  So Shop Smart and Shop Local.

 ....and here is what we say:

”Natural Communities Form Around Community and Commerce Centers”.

Buy. Eat. Live. Local

In almost all cases your Windham merchant will provide
Better Service at a Better Price with Less Hassle.

Why?  You know them – They depend on Windham people and they live in Windham.

Buy. Eat. Live. Local and watch Windham grow.

 This is not a concept coming to your home town, it's already there !!!

 

Identifying Potential Clients - Those That Have "Bad" and "Really Bad" Web Presence

The "Who's" have been identified.  For the local printer there seems to be only two types of web sites; "Bad" and "Really Bad".  The classifications are limited to printers, but since that is the subject of my white paper / business plan, it is here.  This is obviously going to sound self serving to LightsOn's business model, but identifying these weaknesses and niche / cracks in the market are part of any business and execution plan.

The "Bad"
Several large trade printers provide local printers with branded websites at little to no cost.  The local printer gets a good site that brands themselves.  The trade printer gets many local representations of their products. Why don't theses "Bad" websites work?

• Products are limited to what the trade printer supplies (the trade printer that provided the branded site for the local printer).
• The local printer has limited price control (None IMHO).
• Local printers buy from multiple trade printers.
• Branded sites do not help to promote service nor foot traffic to the local printer.
• Branded sites have failed for the local printer in the market place. 

The "Really Bad".
This one is kind of funny to me because many of these sites are only for the purpose of being able to say: "yea we have a website too" (IMO).  Actually, they are much more, but the much more in about preservation of business rather than growth and new business. Regretfully, when you are in defensive mode, and your competition is on the offense, there is only one direction for the ball to go (there are very few interceptions in business).

Sampling of their customer sites:
A PostNet Site

I am not sure where to begin - what I do know is, the printers that use this product are our target.  They so obviously want more.  I always tell them to ask themselves - Have you ever received an unsolicited online order?  - Not one where you told the customer to go there and upload their files.  Some local printers actually pay for this ....  and wow, I will be asking them all... "who owns your domain name?"

No wonder Vistaprint is winning.

bob

Collaborating - Part One - Why Pay Twice - Getting Started

Just a note - if you want to leave a comment, there is a problem with Firefox, use IE or Chrome or Log-in to your G-Mail account and post anonymously (if necessary).

The easiest form of collaboration comes in being able to share assets and ongoing resources.  What makes this easiest is that it requires the least level of trust with your collaborator.  You and your collaborator provide different services to different customers - the collaboration is on the back end; a shared office, a shared receptionist, even a shared lunch room or gym in the case of business with several employees.  The best example I ever saw of this was a shared kitchen between two totally different restaurants owned by two different restauranteurs; a high-end American Cuisine and a high-end Oriental Cuisine.

There have always been businesses organizing, managing and being made on this concept:  Executive Suites has always allowed for shared traditional business resources and common office areas.  "The Cloud" is probably the latest version or organized collaboration made into a business.

There are several stages to collaboration depending on what stage your business is in.  A start-up wants to conserve cash thus looks for shared assets and resources.  A more mature business may have empty office space, excess Internet/Telephony bandwidth or a receptionist they can share.  This form of collaboration is all about cost awareness and in many cases the first step in forming relationships that can go beyond cost awareness.

The key thing here is to remember that you should not go looking for these opportunities, as this is not what your business is nor is it what will make it successful (even though it will make it more successful), just have your eyes open and know they exist everywhere - and then take advantage of them when the occur - which they do all on their own.

The Time4 and LightsOn businesses are great examples of this as they have shared knowledge, assets and resources between the different companies - one of the reason we each can be so price competitive in the advertising, printing and technology businesses.  I believe this is actually the future of these businesses as the "McPrint" players can collaborate within themselves.  The Time4 and LightsOn offices match and beat the pricing of the "McPrint" players and more importantly, provide an expertise that benefits the buyer.  This is cost collaboration in its finest form.


Collaborating Part Two will be something I consider much more fun - about making more money by creating collaborative relationships that create more sales opportunities and sales.

 Back to "Collaboration and Collaborating; You Should Be" .

Stay Tuned for Collaboration through Collaborative Relationships.

B