Strength in Numbers - Lessons Learned

The studio sale was rather successful.  Not only was it a lot of fun for me and hopefully all or most of the visitors but it was fairly profitable.  Of course I didn't have to pay a fee to enter this event so that saved me some money but I did have to do a good bit of the advertising myself.  I advertised on my Facebook page and my Twitter feed, and The Buzz, I sent a press release to the local newspaper and the East Atlanta Patch.  I cleaned up the signs that some politicians left littering vacant lots near by, repainted them and made them into advertising posters and I brought fliers around to many of the businesses in the village.

It seems though, that the best advertising was the brain child of another East Atlanta Business.  We have a local deli and specialty grocery store in East Atlanta named Urban Cannibals, the owners wanted to take advantage of Small Business Saturday but didn't like that Amex (who is very instrumental in orchestrating this initiative) is now only giving registered card holders $10 back when last year they gave $25, and many small businesses can't afford to accept American Express cards because the fee is higher.  So they started an initiative within East Atlanta Village that for Small Business Saturday participating businesses would give a 15% discount to anyone who had a receipt from another participating small business from the village.  So if someone had lunch at Urban Cannibals they could take that receipt to Bound to Be Read Book Store and get a discount.  People seemed to love this idea and it really did help my sales.  It seems like it was good for the businesses in East Atlanta Village also.

Other nice factors are that, similar to an art festival, multiple businesses advertising helped build up interest for other area businesses.  And keeping the money in the local businesses keeps the neighborhood vibrant and makes it a place we want to live, work, and play.

Check out the gallery page - Future Relics Gallery by Lori Buff