Up to $5,000 to Promote Local Businesses and Strengthen Your Community
Turn your local ideas into practical promotional activity that supports businesses, attracts visitors and strengthens your local economy.
Every regional town and community has a story to tell.
It might be a collection of unique local businesses, passionate business owners, distinctive products, visitor experiences, community events or emerging opportunities that could bring more people into the area.
The challenge is often not finding good ideas.
It is finding the resources and capability to turn those ideas into action.
VisitReady Co Can Help…
Through funded promotional programs, up to $5,000 may be available to support eligible community organisations, business associations and trader groups to develop projects that promote local businesses, encourage visitation and strengthen the local business community.
Best of all, these programs can be delivered at no cost to your organisation, subject to funding eligibility and program scope requirements.
What Could your Community Do with this Support?
The possibilities are wide-ranging.
The funding can potentially be used to develop practical promotional programs and activities designed around the specific needs and opportunities of your local area.
1. Promote Local Businesses
Your town may have fantastic retailers, cafes, restaurants, tradespeople, accommodation providers, professional services, producers, attractions or tourism operators that simply need greater exposure.
A targeted local business promotion campaign could showcase what your community has to offer and give residents and visitors more reasons to shop, eat, stay, explore and spend locally.
This could include:
Local business promotional campaigns
Business directories and guides
Digital marketing campaigns
“Shop Local” initiatives
Local business showcases
Town-wide promotions
Seasonal campaigns
Business and visitor promotions.
The objective is simple: make it easier for people to discover and support local businesses.
2. Celebrate Local Success Stories
Behind every successful local business is a story.
It might be a family business that has been operating for generations, a new entrepreneur bringing an innovative idea to town, a local producer creating something unique, or a business owner who has overcome significant challenges to build a successful enterprise.
These stories are valuable marketing assets.
A “Meet Our Local Businesses” campaign, for example, could use articles, photography, video and social media to introduce the people behind the businesses and celebrate their contribution to the community.
This doesn't just promote individual businesses.
It helps build pride in the entire business community.
3. Attract More Visitors and Customers
Local business promotion and destination marketing can work together.
When visitors discover interesting places to eat, shop, stay and experience, they are more likely to spend time, and money, in the local area.
Regional destinations increasingly use coordinated marketing to showcase their businesses and experiences, with the aim of increasing visitation and visitor spending.
A funded project could therefore be developed around a particular visitor opportunity.
“Discover Our Town” a campaign showcasing local businesses and visitor experiences.
“Taste of the Region” a food-focused promotion involving cafes, restaurants, producers and retailers.
“Stay, Shop & Explore” a campaign encouraging visitors to stay longer and experience more of the area.
“Local Business Weekend” a community-wide promotion designed to generate activity and encourage people to visit participating businesses.
The key is creating a campaign that gives people a reason to come, something to do and more reasons to spend locally.
4. Develop Promotional Campaigns and Community Activities
Sometimes the best way to promote a business community is to create something people can participate in. That could be:
Local business festival
Shopping promotion
Food and produce trail
Business open day
Seasonal event
Local business awards
Town-wide competition
Business passport program
Visitor campaign
“Discover Local” weekend
Community activation.
These activities can bring businesses together while creating greater participation from residents and visitors.
And importantly, they can help shift local promotion from simply telling people about businesses to giving them a reason to actively engage with them.
5. Strengthen Your Business Association
For many trader groups, chambers of commerce and business associations, the challenge isn't simply promoting members.
It is having the resources, skills, systems and confidence to consistently deliver valuable services to members.
A funded program could potentially support activities that strengthen the organisation itself.
This might include:
Member engagement initiatives
Business networking activities
Promotional resources
Digital capability
Marketing training
Business workshops
Member communication programs
Promotional planning
Business community research
Development of new member services.
The goal is to create a stronger organisation that is better equipped to represent and support its members.
This type of organisational capability building is consistent with Australian business-support programs that focus on collaboration, skills development, digital activities and business promotion.
6. Build the Capability of Local Businesses
Promotion is only one part of the equation.
Local businesses also need the capability to take advantage of new opportunities.
A project could incorporate workshops, information sessions or practical training covering areas such as:
Digital marketing
Social media
Google Business Profile
Tourism marketing
Customer experience
Website optimisation
Content creation
Business planning
Visitor readiness
Building stronger local partnerships.
This can help businesses become better equipped to participate in future promotional campaigns and make the most of increased exposure.
From an Idea to a Community Opportunity!
Every community is different.
A campaign that works in a coastal tourism town may not be appropriate for an inland agricultural community. Likewise, a promotion designed for a busy regional centre may not work for a small rural township.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution. The starting point should be understanding the local business community:
What are its strengths?
What challenges are businesses facing?
What opportunities exist?
What could attract more visitors?
What would encourage locals to spend more locally?
Which businesses should be showcased?
What activities would encourage greater community participation?
What does the business association need to become more effective?
From there, a practical program can be developed around the opportunity.
This is Where VisitReady Co Can Help!
The VisitReady Co is a specialist regional development and destination marketing partner helping towns and communities design and implement sustainable growth programs.
Our work brings together regional development, tourism strategy, destination marketing, business promotion and community engagement to help communities turn opportunities into practical action.
We help communities attract more visitors, support local businesses and build stronger local economies.
Have a Community Promotional Idea?
You don't need to have the entire project worked out before starting the conversation.
Perhaps your business association has been discussing a local promotion. Maybe your town needs a campaign to attract more visitors. Perhaps you want to celebrate the businesses that make your community unique.
Or, maybe your organisation simply needs help developing the capability to better support its members.
Why not invite the VisitReady Co to your next committee meeting?
We can discuss the challenges and opportunities facing your business community and explore how these no-cost promotional programs could potentially work for your area.
Your community already has the businesses, people and stories. The opportunity is to turn them into a campaign that gets noticed (and it doesn’t cost you anything)...
The VisitReady Co Helping Regional Towns to Thrive!
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Excellent program