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Chambers with Fun Shop Local Campaigns

Some chambers have a bit of a challenge when it comes to shop local campaigns, particularly when they have box store and chain members. But shop local campaigns can be an amazing way of uniting the community as well. Here are a few chambers with some fun campaigns:

Ideas for buy local campaigns
Chambers with Fun Shop Local Campaigns

Fun Shop Local Campaigns

Ideally, shop local should be a year-round push but some chambers run special campaigns to give periodic boosts to local merchants. These shorter campaigns strike a nice balance between helping out local small businesses and supporting the entire economic community.

“Shop Lokal” Cards

The McAlester Chamber of Commerce devised a shop local program to help retain sales tax revenue. The cards are $10 for the year and provide the owner with discounts to participating stores. Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer Jeff Warmuth, told the McAlester News Capital, “We want this to be about the community; it’s about the McAlester region. The purpose is we leak $60-80 million a year to other communities. What we are doing (by shopping in other communities) is investing $60-80 million in their communities instead of ours. The Shop Lokal program is about re-capturing some of that $60-80 million.”

Get Caught Shopping

The Sheridan County Chamber of Commerce hosts a get caught shopping campaign for several weeks leading up to Christmas. Community members are urged to wear a button in support of shopping local. If they are “caught” around town wearing them (and shopping local), the chamber “elves” give them a gift card worth $25-$250.

Make it Fun

The Seattle Good Business Network created a three-year program designed to show the fun behind shopping local. They compiled hundreds of photos of people shopping local and visiting businesses. Both shoppers and businesses held up handmade signs. The Network also created a video and hosted numerous public events.

Some chambers also use local currency programs, passports, scavenger hunts, and Elf on the Shelf-type games and contests. Do you have an exciting and fun idea for a shop local campaign? Share it with other chamber professionals here.

 

By Christina R. Green

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Frank Kenny is a successful entrepreneur, chamber member, chamber board member, chamber board of directors chair, and chamber President/CEO. He now coaches chamber professionals, consults with chambers, trains staff and members, and speaks professionally. He helps Chambers and Chamber Professionals reach their goals. See full bio.

Christina R. Green teaches chambers, associations and small businesses how to connect through content. Her articles have appeared in the Midwest Society of Association Executives’ Magazine, NTEN.org, AssociationTech, and Socialfish. She is a regular guest blogger on this site and Event Managers Blog. Christina is just your average bookish writer on a quest to bring great storytelling to organizations everywhere.Visit her site or connect with her on Twitter @christinagsmith.
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