Plan your Shop The Neighbourhood event
Get more people to shop local, more often! Use these resources to run your own
Shop The Neighbourhood event.
Set your goals
What kind of event do you want to run? Who do you want to have help you? What’s your budget? What reward do you want from your investment? Set your event-planning goals and start mapping out how you’ll have the successful Shop The Neighbourhood event you want.
Plan your outreach
If your event is going to have the impact you want, you’ll need to let people know what you’re all about! Plan the content you’re going to share—and which businesses or neighbourhood influencers are going to help you share it—in advance. Six weeks before your event, get all your marketing swag, content posts, and social media prepped, and organize a team who will support your outreach.
Get people talking
It’s a month before the event! Promote it across your social media channels, email your newsletter list, cross-promote with other businesses in your neighbourhood, and let all your customers know that you’re hosting a Shop the Neighbourhood extravaganza. Chances are, your community already cares deeply about supporting local—you just need them to talk about shopping local with you.
Do your final checks
Did you amp up your social the week before? Do you have all the awesome swag you want to share with your customers? Are you displaying the Shop The Neighbourhood cling and posters with special deals for the event on your storefront to grab the attention of passersby? Have you confirmed attendance with local influencers? The week before an event can be the most stressful, but remember to take the time to check in with yourself—it will make the big day a lot more enjoyable.
Host your event
Open early and revv up your team—it’s time to celebrate local shopping! Remember to take lots of photos and videos to post on your social accounts, and use the #shoplocal hashtag to celebrate with other business owners. And, most importantly—make sure you have a great time!
These five simple steps will get you started. And if you’re raring to go, you can download our Event Planning Workback Schedule for some granular, interactive help!
Small Business Events Toolkit
It starts with 5 simple steps, but it ends with what’s in the details. That’s why we’ve put together this toolkit! We’re giving you digital banners, print assets, interactive planning documents, and handy articles to make sure you’ve got everything you need for a fantastic Shop The Neighbourhood event—down to the very last part.
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