Category Archives: Small Business Advertising

Weathering the Recession: New Tools for Vermont Businesses

Posted on Monday, March 30, 2009 by • No comments yet

Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility is pulling together another dynamite conference this spring… On the Long Trail: Sustaining Success… May 5, 2009, at the Hilton Hotel on Battery Street in Burlington.

I’m thrilled to be leading a session with a great panel.  We aim to draw a knowledgeable and questioning crowd to assure a lively discussion.  Register here.

Weathering the Recession: New Tools for Vermont Businesses
Amy Kirschner, Vermont Sustainable Exchange
Jesse McDougall, Chelsea Green Publishing
Glenn McRae, Intervale Center’s Food Hub Program
Linda Rossi, Vermont Small Business Development Center
moderator: Michael Wood-Lewis, Front Porch Forum
The economic downturn sweeping the globe is not sparing the Vermont business sector. However, small and micro businesses in Vermont are far from powerless in the face of this recession. An emerging crop of new tools, many of them internet-based and developed by Vermonters, are providing new ways to cut costs, generate revenue, form partnerships, raise capital and weather these tight times. You’ll hear about services that match workers and jobs, buyers and sellers, and barter partners; give away unwanted inventory; raise capital; and more. Join the discussion, and take away concepts and tips for keeping up and getting ahead.

Local online is about local offline

Posted on Tuesday, February 17, 2009 by • No comments yet

From Greg Sterling today…

Here’s a general article on the local market from Business Week. Many people have seen it and emailed me about it.

It bothers me because it’s pretty superficial…

Here’s the reality, which BW either doesn’t fully “get” or seem to want to explore in sufficient depth:

  • Local is about offline — money spent in physical places.
  • E-commerce is <4% of retail; 95%+ percent of product purchases happen offline. Increasingly those purchases start online.
  • 99%+ of service business transactions happen offline/locally (yet online is the place where more and more people go to find service businesses).
  • People may communicate via Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook to others around the globe but they live in physical places and when they travel they’re also in physical places, where they stay, eat, shop.
  • SMB advertiser acquisition is hard, yes — no dispute there (see the last two years of blog posts)
  • The central barrier to more geotargeted and local advertising by nationals has been the challenges of offline tracking in any given campaign

Local businesses and online advertising

Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009 by • No comments yet

From Google disiple, Jeff Jarvis…

The promise of local ad support for news will come only if a new population of very small businesses can be served in new and effective ways – before Google beats everybody else to it. That’s apparent in the results of Webvisible and Nielsen surveys reported by MediaPost (via Marketeting Pilgrim and Frank Thinking), which show that local marketers are leaving newspapers and the yellow pages but are still dissatisfied with – and don’t pay enough attention to – internet marketing. Factoids:

* 42 percent of small businesses say they use the local paper less and 23 percent use yellow pages less – while 43 percent use search engines more.
* “Though 63% of consumers and small business owners turn to the internet first for information about local companies and 82% use search engines to do so, only 44% of small businesses have a website and half spend less than 10% of their marketing budget online.”
* “Only 9% are satisfied with their online marketing efforts.”
* Mediapost found a disconnect in how small-business owners act as business people and marketers vs. how they act as consumers. That is, as consumers, they use and are satisfied with the internet and search to find other local businesses, but as marketers themselves, they use online less.

The more creative and forward-thinking local small businesses keep finding Front Porch Forum in our pilot area.  Most buy ads and report back remarkable results.

StrayCat, Valentine’s and Reaching People

Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2009 by • No comments yet

News flash… Valentine’s during a recession can be an important event for retailers and restaurants.  Or maybe that’s obvious.  We’re seeing a rush this week of free postings and paid advertisements coming into Front Porch Forum.

In fact, I just called one of our advertisers, StrayCat Flower Farm, to place an order for my own sweetie (hope she’s not reading this blog!).  And the owner, Diana Doll, enthusiastically shared this quote with me…

“We’ve received more business from our Front Porch Forum ad than from any other media.”

Glad to hear it!  We love to help.  In fact, we’re getting more and more micro-businesses buying ads.  However, the small and medium-size businesses are more limited.  Those that do advertise with FPF also report remarkable results.  Still others are not yet interested in testing the waters… I guess changing old habits and understanding new opportunities aren’t easy.  Here’s a list of some of our advertisers.

Save Money on Telecom through FPF

Posted on Friday, January 16, 2009 by • No comments yet

We’re proud to announce a new set of telecom specials made available to eligible Burlington Front Porch Forum members via Burlington Telecom.  If you live in Burlington in an area served by Burlington Telecom and are interested in top-of-the-line internet/cable TV/telephone service options, please check this out.  Also, existing BT subscribers can get special discounts via FPF on various upgrades.

As a recent FPF member said… “I can think of no reason not to sign up with Burlington Telecom as soon as possible… and now it’s even cheaper through Front Porch Forum.”

Every person who mentions Front Porch Forum when signing up or upgrading with BT will get their special deal and will earn a referral fee for FPF that will help keep our community-building service free of charge.

Nine Words for 2009 – Enter FPF Raffle

Posted on Monday, January 5, 2009 by • 58 comments

You can say a lot with a little.  Witness Hemingway’s short, short story:  “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

To celebrate 2009 and have a little fun, we invite Front Porch Forum members (any resident of Chittenden County, VT is eligible) to submit postings to their neighborhood forum between now and Jan. 9, 2009.  Any message that has EXACTLY nine words will be entered into a raffle for the following 22 prizes…

Don’t delay!  Post your “car for sale,” “seeking snow removal” or “lost cat” message today… or share a neighborhood resolution, poem, joke, hope for our nation… you decide.  Any nine-word posting received by Front Porch Forum between now and Jan. 9 will be entered in the raffle!  An individual may enter the drawing up to twice a day.

UPDATE 1: Posting a comment to this blog will NOT enter you in the raffle! You must post to your FPF neighborhood forum to enter the drawing.

Thanks to our raffle sponsors and happy 2009!  -Michael

P.S.  Thanks to Champlain College Professor Tim Brookes for inspiration (hey, that’s nine words!).

P.P.S.  Trouble posting?  Read this.

UPDATE 2: Here are some of the entries that are flooding in.  And more.  And here are the winners!

Using FPF to reward good service

Posted on Monday, December 22, 2008 by • No comments yet

Myra Mathis-Flynn reported a story from Front Porch Forum today for the Burlington Free Press…

Michigan family quickly learns the Vermont way
By Myra Mathis-Flynn
Burlington Free Press
December 22, 2008

Much can happen in the process of a move, but when Patrick and Juliet Halladay decided to pack up their three kids and move from Michigan to Burlington, they did not anticipate someone almost losing a finger.

When Juliet Halladay was hired as a professor in the University of Vermont’s Elementary Education program, the family packed its belongings for the trip East. During the moving process, the Halladay’s couch dropped onto Juliet’s finger. The appendage was spared only because of her engagement ring, which took the brunt of the impact. As a result, the ring was a wreck.

Patrick Halladay ventured onto the Church Street Marketplace to find a local store to fix his wife’s ring. Enter Lippa’s Jewelers.

“This is a Christmas of some fiscal austerity,” Patrick Halladay said. “I decided to spend a bit of money to get the ring reshaped and thought that I would like to use someone local. I stopped at Lippa’s because it looked local. They said bring it in, it will be $20.”

When Jeff Berger, owner of Lippa’s came back, he told Halladay he owed nothing for the repair, and to have a happy holiday. Halladay immediately posted a story on the gesture on his neighborhood, Front Porch Forum so others could hear of the good deed.

“What really surprised me is that I have never been to the store; I’m not a regular; he had no idea who I was,” Halladay said. “It made me feel positively inclined to not have a good deed be unrewarded. It’s consistent to what we have found here in Burlington, people have a human aspect of doing business, which is a smart outlook.”

“These are things, you do them because you can,” Berger said. “Sure it’s my time and my expertise, but you just do them. I grew up in this business and one of the things I remember my grandfather telling me: ‘If you do something good for a client, they tell 10 people, something bad and they tell 100.’ They are acts of kindness. It takes a little bit of time sometimes, but that’s OK.”

Eleven years ago, Patrick Halladay proposed to Juliet with that ring on her birthday, Dec. 29. He will give her the repaired ring as a gift on their anniversary.

Lippa’s Jewelers is located at 112 Church St., or call 862-1042.

“Local social networking communities will thrive”

Posted on Friday, December 19, 2008 by • No comments yet

From Scott Heiferman…

Forbes: “The Watch List: Meetup.com. The bartering economy will expand. Local social networking communities will continue to thrive and help people connect to information, resources, ideas and employees. Meetup.com groups will be at the center of the burgeoning part of the economy. Entrepreneurs will tap these groups for goods and services and to form new partnerships.” (Maureen Farrell via Greg)

We certainly see high volumes of business being done through Front Porch Forum… and it seems to be increasing as the national economy sours.

Backdoor Bakery and Front Porch Forum

Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 by • 1 comment

Quote seen on the website for the Backdoor Bakery in Huntington, VT…

“Also on my mind — the best almond croissant I’ve ever had in my life — last Saturday — hot out of the oven from the Backdoor Bakery (my stomach thanks Front Porch Forum).”  -Catherine

This is a “community supported bakery”… locals buy shares in advance and get regular doses of fresh baked yum yums… reduces the risk for the mom and pop owners of this treasured local small business.  Suzanne Podhaizer of Seven Days wrote about it recently.

Front Porch Forum in Two Slides

Posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 by • No comments yet

Here’s Front Porch Forum boiled down to two slides…

About Blog

Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum (FPF). My wife, Valerie, and I founded FPF in 2006... read more

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