Your Hometown Coin Program
(geared towards Chambers and others that could coordinate a community program)
A unique program that strengthens local business cross promotion, helps retain local customers, and providing your town with something they can call their own. As we all know the importance of keeping our locals spending their dollars in our small towns, this is a great tool to help entice “locals to shop locally”.
How does it work?
Every participating Merchant will have Hometown coins to handout to their customers. They can choose and change their offering/discount at anytime. Based on what or how much a customer spends, the Merchant will give out a Hometown coin and allow customers to use at any of the participating businesses. All Merchants will benefit by enticing people to buy something to get a coin and also to use the coin on their next visit. The natural and fun aspects of this program will cause infectious “word of mouth” advertising for all businesses.
For example, a customer could buy a latte at a coffee shop and receive a Hometown coin, then use it at a participating Hardware store to save on their purchase.
What do the coins look like?
Here is an example of the Anacortes Hometown coin (front and back):
Scribulz coins are made from real maple wood with a specially designed durable label material that is scratch and water resistant. They come in a 1.5" diameter size with a beveled edge for a nice finishing touch.
What is the cost?
The program is funded by the Merchants. The Chamber will be distributing the kits and collecting the funds. The cost per Merchant is only $70 to the Chamber every 3 months, but in order to supplement any Chamber costs, you may charge the Merchants up to $100.00 for the kit. This gives the Chamber the option to collect a 30% margin per kit sold. This would help to fund the marketing of the program, time spent running the program, and other Chamber initiatives.
A kit includes: 100 Hometown Coins, a window decal that looks like the front of the coin so that the locals know they are participating, and a 5x7 acrylic counter top sign.
We provide FREE shipping for the consolidated orders going to the Chamber every 3 months. If smaller orders are needed due to demand, shipping will be based on weight.
What is the involvement of the Chamber for this program?
We like to work with one Chamber assigned Representative to finalize the Hometown coin design, send information to for the participating Merchants, and help support the program by answering questions, etc..
The Chamber will also be collecting payment from the Merchants every three months and receiving 100 new coins per business to handout.
**You can give an incentive to the first few businesses that sign up at a lower price, if you feel this would get the “ball rolling”**
Is there any advertising or promoting of this program?
We will have your Hometown coin and participating Merchants on our website BLOG with a link to their website. This is just a little extra something we do to help with promoting your program further. We also take advantage of any other media when possible. I.e. Newspaper, Craigslist, Press Releases. ..
The main source of Marketing is from the Chamber and participating businesses. They should advertise their involvement in-line with their current marketing plan. For example, Hometown coin special this month is…20% off all merchandise! or.. Get your Hometown coin with every purchase over $25.00.
When can we get started?
We find that a minimum of 20 initial businesses should participate in order to allow for good exposure and product/service variety. Once the early-adopters have started, the word gets around quickly and additional businesses will come onboard. There is no maximum on how many can participate, the more the better for our locals to take advantage of.
Once design is finalized and payment received, your Hometown coins will take approx. 2 weeks before being shipped.
How do we get more coins when we need them?
As mentioned, every three months we will be supplying another 100 Hometown coins for each kit purchased for the same low cost of $70.00 ea. You may also purchase extra kits in advance to have them available to the new businesses that want to join in between cycles.
More questions or to get started….
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