Businesslife

ILLUSTRATING DUO 52 | CRAFTY CREATORS 58 | NOW OPEN 64 worklife

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MEET THE MOVERS, SHAKERS AND BUSINESS MAKERS

WORKLIFE | COMMUNITY

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WITH SHAUNA QUINN

Airdrie has long been revered as a connected and caring community, proven time after time with rallied support when hard times befall us.

There is no question the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has deeply affected our small business community, their owners and employees. These shops, restaurants and services are the foundation of our local economy, a backbone, relentlessly supporting our social, cultural and environmental well-being.

In a time where the plight of our economy discourages travel but welcomes localized tourism, this poses an evolving ebb and flow to the visitor economy that often subsidizes our own summer vacationing. This tourism and economic leakage can cause an irreparable offset to the delicate balance of our bricks and mortar survival.

Solely purchasing online fulfilment, importing goods, or using foreign-owned services can have cumulative effects to the net economic benefit of the community, especially when increasing revenues, customer base retention or spontaneous point-of-purchase sales have diminished.

Put Your $ Where Your Heart Is focuses less on attracting visitors to spur outside revenues, but rather on reducing the leak, and raising awareness of the plentiful goods and services closer to home. The campaign pulls at the emotional and sentimental connection we have with our local business community, and reminds the consumer how easily the reciprocation of support can be.

The campaign introduces a social media and online marketing platform ‘EatStayPlay Airdrie’ to engage residents to post what matters the most, outside of their families, within the community. For local businesses, as the social feed grows with tagging and commenting, so will their presence in the digital world.

By fall, Put Your $ Where Your Heart Is will merge into a return-on-investment opportunity. As 2020 creeps its way back to winter, and consumers start to focus on holiday spending, the ideals of giving and sharing emerge. From Oct. 3 to Nov. 21, each week with the online proof of purchase of a local item or service, participants will vie to win back up to $500 of their recent spend. This weekly contest preludes Shop Small Saturday, a marketing drive nestled conservatively between the bold Black Friday and savvy Cyber Monday.

Each entry automatically casts a ballot for both the participant and the local business to win a grand prize draw on Shop Small Saturday, Nov. 28. A sweepstakes of $5,000 worth of local business gift certificates, product and services are up grabs, right in time to start stuffing the stockings for family and friends.

One local and independently owned licensed Airdrie business will also be drawn from the screened submissions to win a $10,000 marketing package to help them move forward confidently into 2021.

Everyone is encouraged to participate, to think twice about the benefits of localized spending, and to always continue to Put Your $ Where Your Heart Is, here in Airdrie. life

More information on Put Your $ Where Your Heart Is can be found at EatStayPlayAirdrie.com