{"id":119,"date":"2013-06-07T17:00:45","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T16:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/totallylocallydunbar.co.uk\/?p=119"},"modified":"2013-12-07T18:01:48","modified_gmt":"2013-12-07T18:01:48","slug":"an-independent-revolution-what-a-totally-locally-campaign-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/totallylocally\/?p=119","title":{"rendered":"An independent revolution: what a totally locally campaign is"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"walkinthatdoor623\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A Toolkit not a magic wand<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a magic wand where you just fill in & print out some flyers and banners, and your town will get busy. It\u2019s a tool kit. And like any tool kit, it\u2019s only as good as the people using the tools.<\/p>\n

THIS KIT WON\u2019T FIX OUR TOWN\u00a0(BUT WE CAN)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Framework not the finished thing<\/h3>\n

This kit underpins what you do, it isn\u2019t the finished article.\u00a0Look at it as a framework to hang things on. It is a kickstart for getting things going in y<\/del>our town.<\/p>\n

Independents not chains or franchises (sorry)<\/h3>\n

Totally Locally is made specifically for INDEPENDENT shops. It is a branding project with a marketing strategy. It isn\u2019t for use with national chain stores and even franchises.<\/p>\n

Why not? Because Specsavers and McDonalds, although usually owned by and employing local people, have their own marketing budgets, campaigns and advertising. They are linked to a big machine. Everyone knows about Specsavers (not singling this company out) and what they stand for, but probably don\u2019t know about that 3rd generation family run optician at the bottom of the street.<\/p>\n

If you add well known high street giants to the campaign, it de-values what people think about Totally Locally. A good definition of brand is the \u201cThe gut feeling that someone gets when they think about you, your organisation or what you do\u201d. If that gut feeling is confusion (Why is Thorntons in the Totally Locally campaign, but not that little sweet shop) you fall at the first hurdle.<\/p>\n

BUT, if someone running a franchise understands this, they can still get involved by helping. In Retford this happened. The wonderful lady running Specsavers helped tremendously by working with businesses, helping with the launch day etc. But she can\u2019t be on the publicity. Sorry, it will lose credibility in people\u2019s eyes, and WILL cause the campaign to stumble.<\/p>\n

About everyone not about you<\/h3>\n

Totally Locally isn\u2019t about you! It is about y<\/del>our town.\u00a0Don\u2019t ask to be on posters, don\u2019t push your business, don\u2019t go to meetings with the express purpose of giving out your flyers to get business from others. (This happened, on one town meeting, and the guy was met with so much hostility, and people were openly saying \u201cWell I won\u2019t be using him!\u201d).<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t about \u201chow do I promote my business?\u201d\u00a0It is about \u201cHow do we work together to get people to understand what our town has to offer\u201d.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/h3>\n

Will people drive into your town, pay parking, risk the rain, risk you not being open, just to see your shop? Not really, unless you are REALLY good (anyway you can run an advert in your local mags for this).\u00a0BUT if people think \u201cI\u2019ve hear there\u2019s loads of great independent shops in X town, I\u2019m not sure what they all are, but let\u2019s go and find out\u2019, \u2013 now that\u2019s more likely. People are now wanting to discovering new things. Independent shops and businesses are in a great position for this.<\/p>\n

Open to everyone, Not an exclusive club<\/h3>\n

Some people won\u2019t join in at the beginning (or maybe never will). But if their business is good and adds to the town, you need to promote them. They add to the experience of someone coming in to your town. If you miss them off you risk causing rifts, and an \u2018us & them\u2019 culture. The last thing Totally Locally is about. Stick them on the map, the brochure, the website\u2026. whatever. It adds to the whole offer of your town, it makes it more likely that people will want to come.\u00a0 They will possibly even thank you later.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about doing, not talking<\/h3>\n

Make a plan \u2013 then do it. It may fail \u2013 so what?! Give it another go. Loads of people talk a good talk. Not many actually get off their backsides and do it.
\nDon\u2019t wait for people to get behind you. Be a doer. The best things in Totally Locally Towns have been started by one or two person. It\u2019s only later that others get involved. Don\u2019t wait for them to get excited about your idea. Tell your town team what you\u2019re going to do, if they say \u201cgood idea\u201d go for it.\u00a0(By the way this isn\u2019t an excuse to ride rough-shod over people, be sensitive to what is going on already, offer up your idea and see if it fits. People may say \u201cNot sure if it will work\u201d but as long as it doesn\u2019t clash with other things, go for it\u201d).<\/p>\n

Great example \u2013 Brighouse Totally Locally Market. Started by one person. People said \u201cNo one will want to come to a market in Brighouse\u201d.\u00a0One year later it won Britain\u2019s Best Small Specialist Market award. Thousands of people now come to the quarterly market and it has expanded to 60 stalls throughout the town . It was the catalyst for change in the town, and now all sorts of things go on from community newspaper to street parties. Now Brighouse is recognised as one of the top 5 changed towns in the UK.<\/p>\n

One person, just doing.<\/p>\n

About sharing not keeping it to yourself<\/h3>\n

Ideas run in one town have transferred over to others. If it works in one place, it will almost certainly work in another. Don\u2019t be selfish. Share it on the Totally Locally forum. What worked and what didn\u2019t. After all, you\u2019re using a kit that someone shared with you for free. Do the same for others.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about being nice!<\/h3>\n

To your customers, your fellow shop keepers, your local council, your long standing enemies. Be nice \u2013 it gets things done!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Toolkit not a magic wand It\u2019s not a magic wand where you just fill in & print out some flyers and banners, and your town will get busy. It\u2019s a tool kit. And like any tool kit, it\u2019s only as good as the people using the tools. THIS KIT WON\u2019T FIX OUR TOWN\u00a0(BUT WE…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":255,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tw-post-no-content","tw-meta-no-icon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/totallylocally\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/totallylocally\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/totallylocally\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/totallylocally\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/255"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/totallylocally\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/totallylocally\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/totallylocally\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/totallylocally\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourlocality.org\/totallylocally\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}