The Shop Locals First Card is the first, Single Gift Card that is actually a Multiple Use, Multiple Merchant card.  In other words, the Shop Locals First Card can hold 100’s of separate and independent gift, loyalty and reward card programs from 100's of different Owner Operator businesses— all at the same time!  And all on the same card!
Let me elaborate.

Suppose you were the owner of a small, custom frame shop located near a strip mall on the outskirts of a residential neighborhood.  Market research has indicated that 78% of your customers drive less than 7 miles to visit your store.  You are looking at expanding your advertising for the next year, but are unsure on exactly what advertising vehicle would serve your needs the best.
Let's look at your options.

Discount, Sale, Specials Flyers

You know, the ones you have printed at the local Office Depot and give to your current customers in their shopping bags after they visit your store and make a purchase.
Pros:  They're cheap to produce.  No long-term contract. 
Cons:  They do nothing to drive new business to your store or increase sales to new customers.  All they tend to do is reward your current customers with sales, discounts or custom rewards programs.

Penny Saver (or small, local, shop-wise) Type Ad

These are the low circulation, tabloid-type papers that are found in bins in the foyer of grocery or 7-11 type stores.
Pros:  Not too expensive, compared to city-wide newspaper advertising.
Cons:  Not well read.  Low circulation.  Not too effective, hence, the low cost.

Local Newspaper Advertising

This is the most common form of Owner Operator advertising.  Primarily, it consists of a small, 1/8 to 1/16 page ad to run in the B or C section of the local newspaper for a week, weekend or single day.
Pros:  Wide readership.  High local circulation. 
Cons:  You will advertise well beyond what your market survey indicates as your primary target market.  Therefore, your advertising dollars are wasted on people who may see your ad but not drive the 25 miles or so, and pass 3 other frame shops, in order to visit you.  Also, this form of advertising is very expensive but very limited in its exposure.  After all, if your potential customer fails to read your page of the newspaper on the day in which you run your ad, your advertising is wasted.  Plus, your ad is positioned among dozens of others making it unlikely yours will stand out from the rest.  We call this advertising noise and clutter.

Local Radio or Television Advertising

This type of advertising consists of a 15, 30, 45 or 60 second blurb on the radio / TV about your business.  It can run once, or several times a day for a single day or specified period of time.
Pros:  Professionally done.  Extremely large potential listener / viewer base.  Maximum media exposure.
Cons:  This type of advertising is extremely expensive, often prohibitively expensive.  Like the local newspaper, it also advertises well beyond your target market and thus wastes the effectiveness of your advertising dollars.  It also suffers from advertising noise and clutter and your ad often becomes just another voice nobody pays attention to. 
Ask yourself, how much time do you spend listening to radio and TV ads?  Don't you have a tendency to tune them out or change the channel? 
So will those you are trying to reach.

Shop Locals First Card

Now suppose that you printed up an advertising flyer or coupon that offers 15% discount on all custom frame packages for the next 30 days.  How would you get the flyers into the hands of the potential customers that live within the 7 mile radius of your store? 
You could stand on the street corner and pass them out.  Doesn't sound appealing.
You could go and put them on the windshields of all the cars that parked around your shop.  Don't think so.  Seems tacky.
Maybe you could drive by and just drop them off door to door.  Uh, bad idea.
I know.  They all seem like bad ideas.

Question:  So, how would you distribute your discount flyer to those who live within your target market range?

Answer:  How about an innovative solution?  How about this?

What if you could get another local business, say a dry-cleaner across the street, to hand out your coupons to all of their customers?  After all, you share the same customers with the dry-cleaners even though you don't sell the same products or service.  That would, in effect, double the number of advertising flyers you could get into your potential customers' hands.  And the more flyers, the more effective the advertising and the more sales you make.
What if you could convince the Chinese restaurant next door to do the same?  And the Hardware Store around the corner?  How about the Auto Repair Shop two blocks away?  Or the Consignment Shop at the intersection?
What if you could get 100 to 125 businesses in and around your Custom Frame Shop to distribute your advertising flyer to all of their customers?
Can you see the potential?  Can you see the cross-promotion?

That is exactly what the Shop Locals First Card does— only much more!

Remember, the Shop Locals First Card is the first, Single Gift Card that is actually a Multiple Use, Multiple Merchant card.  In other words, the Shop Locals First Card can hold 100’s of separate and independent gift, loyalty and reward card programs from 100's of different Owner Operator businesses— all at the same time!  And all on the same card!

The beauty of the Shop Locals First Card is that it puts together 100 to 125 different Merchants to form a local, cross-promoting Community.  One store’s customers can receive coupons, specials and discounts at all the other stores within the Community.  A Gift Card used at one store will then serve as a loyalty or reward system at that store. The customer can go on-line at any time and see all the other specials, discounts and reward programs of all the businesses (100 to 125) in that Community.  The cross-promotion and viral marketing between participating Merchants within the Community is unlimited and will increase floor traffic far beyond what is feasible with conventional advertising alone.

Think about it.  Why go to the corner dry cleaners out of habit when you can receive a discount and earn reward points by going to a dry cleaners just down the street who is a Community participant? 
This is the future for all Gift Card Programs!

And the key is building and promoting the local Owner Operator Communities.  This is the heart and soul of the David vs. Goliath Marketing Plan.

Does it all seem to make sense?  If so, read on...

To find our more about the David vs. Goliath Marketing Program, click - HERE

What Others Are Saying About the Shop Locals First Community Card

"Every time we plan to go out to eat, we first check all the specials and discounts offered on our Shop Locals First Card.  I can't begin to tell you all the money we saved.  Thank you for making it easy for our family to go out to eat more.  My granddaughter loves it!"

To Request  More Information

To find out more about the Shop Locals First Card and the
David vs. Goliath Marketing Program, please complete the form below.

When you look at your direct competition, have you ever felt like this?

If so, let us tell you how to encourage your customers to Shop Locals First.

Shop Locals First
888.713.2843 • 888.776.4549 (fax)
info@shopocalsfirst.com

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