As a small business owner in an obviously challenging economy, I’m always trying to find new and cost-effective ways to let the community know about my business.  From email to postcards to in-store referral marketing, it’s all about maximizing how we spend our dollars in promoting the business. 

I’m working on a new web site and advertising co-op concept for businesses in our neck of the Capitol Hill woods and calling it ‘SoCapHill’ in reference to our location on the South end of the hill near Madison.  The goal I’m working toward is developing a destination web site that highlights all of the participating businesses in one place, organizing a specific day of the week where the businesses all offer an extra incentive for people shopping/eating/drinking/etc. on that day each week, and pooling some advertising dollars to run ads on CHS, in the Stranger,  and in the local printed monthly magazines like Seattle Magazine and Seattle Metro.  Many of these publications even have cheaper rates for non-profits, so maybe that is the route we take in forming this co-op so our joint spending goes further.  Not sure yet, but what I do know is that most early stage small businesses by themselves cannot hope to afford the rates for print publications like the ones above (some are around $3000/month!) but when you get 15 businesses to participate, you can see how the affordability factor kicks in.

The web site will be at www.socaphill.com and I will be hosting an open house in the next week or two for any business owners and managers who are interested in helping guide this effort and getting it off the ground.  There are a lot of new businesses open in our SouthEast corner of Capitol Hill and I want to see us all succeed and thrive so we are still around when the economy bounces back.  The reception we’ve received so far in our new location has been amazing – customers are excited about all of the new life coming to this part of the hill and we just need to get the word out in a cost-effective way to people who aren’t as savvy and in the know about this growing micro-hood.

If you are interested in the concept and want to help or learn more, please email me:  [email protected] 

Thanks!

David

We are happy to announce that we are now open in our new store here on the hill!  We are in the Pearl next to Healeo and Anchovies & Olives.  We met a ton of people over the weekend here at the store and look forward to seeing old and new customers here in the new location.

Come say hi!