Greetings PrintFirm community! We talked about Small Business Saturday a lot on this blog, press release, and on social media throughout the month of November. The response from you guys was very positive, especially from the PR about the Sauk Valley Shop Small coalition. I mentioned meeting SVSS co-founder Lisa Higby LeFevre on Mightybell, and I happened to see a terrific post from her a few days after November 30th on the same site. Her story really resonated with me, and her results indicate that this lady absolutely knows what she’s talking about. So I asked Lisa to do a follow up interview to share her Small Biz Saturday Success Story and inspire YOU for 2014. Enjoy!
Q & A with #ShopSmall Hero Lisa Higby LeFevre
Q1) Please give us a brief bio about you and your business.
I’m an artist and plants-person working in the horticulture industry for 17 years. My background is in horticulture, fine art, technology, and education. With my husband and partner, we operate Distinctive Gardens, a garden center in Dixon, IL. For us, it’s all about plants and people. We opened our garden center to meet like-minded individuals and share in our passion for plants and community. Our values, “Dig in, Create, Community, Connect” drive choices we make in business and life.
We offer an array of unusual annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs. Our gift shop features over 40 different regional artisans offering fine art and unique garden related items. The extensively landscaped grounds and pavilion are available for rent. We conduct classes, host project parties and partner with area elementary schools to expose children the wonders of gardening. We’re actively involved in several community projects, and put on our yearly Gardenstock Art & Music Festival. Gardenstock benefits the Sinnissippi Centers Youth Garden Program. That one project alone has grown into a huge community event.
Q2) How did you first get involved with Small Business Saturday?
Our choice to become active in the #ShopSmall movement came on the heels of our community voting us into the winner’s circle for the Facebook American Express OPEN Big Break for Small Business. One part of the win included a social media makeover out at Facebook. On the very last day of training, just before returning we were introduced to the Small Business Saturday concept.
The documented benefits of shopping small such as keeping more money local and neighborhood revitalization made it a perfect fit for our value system. Plus, our customers had already been telling us that they were coming to our shop because they believed in supporting local independent small merchants. They were primed and ready to engage and if we were to stay attuned to their interests, like any good business owner should, then we had better get on board.
Q3) What made you decide to collaborate with other local stores?
The decision to collaborate was more of an evolution versus a decision. Over the years we’ve worked cooperatively with a variety of small business owners in our area. That strategy’s success was really driven home during our Big Break experience. We learned first hand what happens when people band together. Our community, through voting, literally propelled Distinctive Gardens into the Big Break top 5 in the country. At the time, we were one of the smallest businesses from the smallest town in the competition. During that time we promised to share what we learned with our community. When we came back we held “Learn.Share.Grow” classes. That’s where we met the core people of what later became Sauk Valley Shop Small.
Q4) Tell us about your Sauk Valley Shop Small coalition (how many members, strategy sessions, etc.)
Sauk Valley Shop Small is a year-round marketing campaign to promote the values of shopping small. It kicks off each year with Small Business Saturday followed by three more Shop Small Saturdays in February, May and August. Our group currently consists of over three-dozen small businesses, cultural and community groups from three towns in our area. Each year in early September we conduct a membership drive and meet up to present the upcoming year’s campaign. Our strategy is rooted in leveraging social media, specifically Facebook, to get the word out. It also incorporates more traditional channels such as a website, newspaper ads, radio spots, billboard, rack cards, posters, and take-aways such as buttons, bags and pens.
It’s success lies in the active engagement of our members to cross promote one another and the interconnections forged. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of it as a social campaign. We’re building relationships not peddling deals. When we listen to our customers and they tell us why they come to our store, they’re coming because of the products, the friendship, the friendly smile, the personalized service, and the great feeling of pride they get from consciously choosing to do something that directly benefits their community. It’s a friends of friends thing, not a deal of the day thing.
Q5) You offer social media training for your members. What do you teach them about effective social marketing?
Beyond the basics of learning the platform we encourage them to approach it from the standpoint of developing relationships with their customers. The last thing we want to see in our newsfeeds is advertising. We want to feel a connection to the brands we chose to like. We want to get a sense that we are a part of something good and bigger than ourselves. We want to belong.
We’ve conducted classes ranging from those who have never used Facebook to providing tips to those who have become quite social savvy. We emphasize the importance of “working it”. Like most things, you get out what you put in, and in the world of social, consistency and building relationships is key.
Q6) We heard you had a record breaking year! What made this year such a big success?
November 30th was a huge surprise. For Distinctive Gardens, Small Business Saturday ended up being the biggest day of the year. Being a garden center we pull down our biggest numbers between April and May. To realize those levels in November is unprecedented.
I think the outcome is a byproduct of our community’s increasing awareness of the #ShopSmall movement and Small Business Saturday. This stems from a consistent awareness campaign conducted at both the local and national level. By doing our best here locally to align ourselves with the national message we increase likelihood that we’ll be remembered in our customers minds as they navigate making purchasing decisions.
But going even deeper, I think that all of those marketing efforts work because at its core the message promotes a constructive value system. I think that promoting one’s values, this case being to do good for one’s community, and by empowering others to feel as though they can do the same resonates much more deeply than discount marketing messages.
Q7) Is there anything you plan to do differently next year?
After each of our Shop Small events, we conduct a survey of members to understand outcomes and fine-tune message. We also engage discussion online in our group. After Small Business Saturday we had a great conversation with members on what we thought was working and where we wanted to go.
Moving forward we plan to emphasize the idea of “cultural shopping”. Many of our members host artists or musicians to make the day special. For small businesses with narrow margins, we think it’s important to place more emphasis on “value shopping” versus one-day deals. We’re attempting to persuade our community to “think small first” not compete with big box discounts.
Q8) This year AmEx and Facebook introduced the Mightybell tool for collaboration. Did you find the platform useful?
We’ve already learned a new tip picked up from the Shop Small Neighborhoods on Mightybell, the “bounce around” card. The card was simple. It listed all members’ events, specials and button deals for the day. We caught that tip and implemented it at the last minute. It really helped in cross promotion. We plan to fold that into the remaining three Shop Small Saturdays for this year.
Q9) What’s the future of the #shopsmall movement? Are you seeing more or less participation over all?
Based on our local experience over the last three years and national growth rates in the four years since Small Business Saturday inception the future looks bright for increased participation in the #ShopSmall movement.
At its core, its value structure is sound and positive. Shopping small does build community. American Express OPEN conducted a twenty-year study on the topic. Consider each dollar spent at a local mom and pop as a vote to strengthen your town and build a more solid future for your kids. #ShopSmall is a value system that encourages people to engage and empowers communities. When you build from a base like that and make future decisions that stay true to those ideas you’re on a trajectory for success.
Q10) Do you have any advice for small biz owners just getting started in 2014?
Work together. Create your own Sauk Valley Shop Small wherever you live and do business. It’s the easiest way for small businesses to gain a strong enough voice to compete. If you’re not currently organized online, create a circle on the Shop Small Neighborhood on Mightybell. There you can connect with other small business owners and groups and learn across distance what works. Operate from a solid set of base social values.
Listen to what motivates your customers. I bet you will find you have a lot in common. You’re creating the infrastructure that will grow your small business into the future and empower people along the way. It’s about influencing the mindset of your community to “think small first” and by doing so you’ll become part of the solution that holds promise for real, long-lasting and positive change.
About Lisa Higby LeFevre
Lisa is the co-owner of Distinctive Gardens garden center in Dixon, IL and co-founder/leader of the Sauk Valley Shop Small group. Connect with Lisa on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.