Thursday, Dec, 2nd
Derita Business Association Meets
9am, Maria's Grill in Derita. Open To All, No Membership Fee.
Our goal is to help spread the word about local business, the services that you offer,
the greater values that the community will receive in shopping closer to home.
Each meeting always includes time for exchanging business cards and Networking,
a variety of self-promotion ideas and co-operative advertising ideas
"Our Goal is to Promote Local Businesses and Service Professionals Serving Our Area."
--- Bernie Samonds 704 806-3813 Leave Msg deritarep@aol.com
====================
BLACK FRIDAY SALES
Headed out to my Print Shop early Friday morning, but I was the
only one there. Guess people really don't rush out to buy printing
on Black Friday.
I asked Frances Keziah if they planned to open early on Friday, but
she said Keziah's Furniture would open at 9:30 am, the usual time.
"Most folks," she said will rush out to the chain stores and big box
stores at those crazy hours, then stop by here in the afternoon."
I have to agree. You really have to offer some great deals to attract
the morning crowd. A lot of those deals will be "lost leaders" that
are provided by manufacturers to help get their products moving in
the retail stores. My Mom & Dad used to see a lot of that in the
grocery business, but you generally had to buy into those promotions
months in advance.
Right now in my business, printing orders are remaining pretty flat.
The regular customers are still purchasing just what they need to replenish
cards, forms & letterheads that have run out. The newer ones are
price-shopping, then calling back to see if they can get the same low
pricing if they need to order smaller quantities? We try.
SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY
Jack Brosch sent in the links this week and wanted me to write something
about a new campaign to create a once-a-year emphasis day for small,
local businesses between Black Friday & Cyber Monday.
Neither the local or the national media have made much about it until this
past weekend, other than run the American Express TV ads. That pretty
much defeats the purpose, but the media says that's okay because it's not
so much for this year as it is for the future.
Still, American Express & a few retailers did sink some coins into it.
Basically, if you used your American Express Card to shop at small,
local business on Saturday, you could receive a $25 discount on your
purchases.
Of course, that assumes that you have an American Express Card
(or are willing to get one) and that the store where you shop will accept
it. Most small stores accept only Mastercard or Visa.
A quick check by one of the local TV stations found that many Charlotte
stores had not even heard of the promotion --- including one well-known
jewelry store.
Obviously, it would have been a boon for American Express, who are trying
to increase their customer base, but how many people shop with a credit
card which needs to be paid off in full every month.
LINK:
http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/innovation/video/small-business-saturday-shop-local
You may recall when State Legislature Candidate John Annerella stopped
by for breakfast recently. He said that he was making the rounds on local
business support groups like ours. . . Yes, there are lots more of us out
there who realize that no one is going to toss any stimulus money our way
to help small businesses. If we want to see the local economy improve,
we've got to work on that ourselves.
Most of us don't have an extra $400 to buy a spot on the local Chamber of
Commerce, or $200 to join North Tryon Partners. We just need to get our
company name out there in front of the public on a regular basis as
inexpensively as possible . . . and in a positive way. That's what our Derita
Business Association is all about.
3/50 PROJECT
With that in mind, let me turn to some facts that The Charlotte Observer
did publicize last week. National retail consultant Cinda Baxter shared
the results a study about how local businesses give back to and improve
the community.
---- Nearly $70 of every $100 spent in locally-owned stores (or businesses)
stays in the community. We're talking jobs, salaries, rent, re-investment
in the business. We're talking "above/beyond the cost of the merchandise."
---- Only $43 of every $100 spent in chain stores remains to benefit the
local economy.
---- Nothing, or next to nothing is returned to the Community when folks
shop on-line.
Baxter suggests that for the good of the Community and to shore up the
local economy, we need to look at the way we shop and where we shop.
I think this is pretty much the same message that the Derita Business
Association has been saying for the past several years:
--- Locally, you can get better service, faster service, and quality work
from people that you know. Their prices may not be as low as the major
players, but have you asked about a compromise?
====================
"EAT FREE" Promotion Gets A Reprieve
Yes, I know I told everyone it would end now and resume any the Spring,
but I didn't expect your replies. I was concerned that fewer people would
be eating out (and signing up for the free drawing at Maria's Grill) during
the holidays.
But apparently quite a few of you like the idea of accumulating 80 - 100
new email addresses every month (sometimes more) for your own mailing
list. That's still roughly 10 cents each (plus postal mailing addresses & phone
numbers included free). It also helps that we follow up by sending each week's
entrants one of your business cards on-line as we write everyone to announce
the weekly winner.
I can't really say that I object either. That means the DSRCO Newsletter
adds the same number of new subscribers to all of our future mailings.
We haven't seen such a regular increase of addresses since we fought the
Hubbard Falls rezoning. We have only had four UNSUBSCRIBE's since
the promotion began.
We will carry-over this week's drawing since Maria's was closed for
Thanksgiving. Still the drawing entry bowl did have a good layer of slips
when I stopped in for lunch on Sunday.
Let me know if you'd like to join in, or if you prefer to opt out. Still at
only $10 per month. deritarep@aol.com
====================
DERITA BUSINESS ASSOCIATION Facebook Page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Derita-Business-Association/130876140304394
Up and ready to grow. We invite you to jot down a few paragraphs about
your business that you can post on our Wall. I'll begin sending out this week
a scanned image of your business cards, so that you can use it when you
do your post.
We will re-post the card image & your business description to a new
Business Card Directory which can be found among the photo albums,
so that your entry won't disappear as the Wall continues to grow.
I can foresee Call_Paul posting some of his "Before" and "After" projects
on the Wall from time to time. Monique will probably post that scrumpous
photo of her Baked Chocolate Pies fresh from the oven. One of our
handymen might show a recent home repair project and Theresa might
post a pic of one of her best local listings. Wesley may offer some
home security tips and Ramon could offer advice to folks about training
their pets.
We'll begin promoting this Facebook page in the next DSRCO Newsletter.
We'll still keep the other Business Card Directory available on Webshots,
but that site is so crowded with users that it is often slow to load.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/564074079xONVEq
====================
As always, I had some more thoughts to share, but we can kick those
around at the Breakfast Meeting this coming Thursday, 9am at Maria's.
Thanks,
Bernie Samonds
Derita Reporter Printing Service
2600 Allen Rd South -- Charlotte, NC 28269
704 806-3818 Pls Leave a Msg deritarep@aol.com
