January 19, 2006

By Diane Chiddister

Yellow Springs retail businesses should know that the village already has an attractive image. But to draw more out-of-town customers, business owners need to do much more to get that image out and to keep it in the forefront of shoppers’ minds.

That message was delivered on Tuesday evening at a retail marketing seminar sponsored by the Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce and the Community Information Project. Karl Koehler, longtime Yellow Springs and Cincinnati advertising executive, presented “Marketing Ideas that Really Work” to about 15 Chamber members at the Antioch Inn.

The presentation was the first of three marketing seminars sponsored by the Chamber and the CIP. Next Tuesday, Jan. 24, a panel of local shop owners will discuss “I’m Singing but Is Anybody Listening?” On the following Tuesday, Jan. 31, a panel will discuss the results of the CIP’s External Perceptions Survey in a talk titled “What’s My Niche? Marketing to Special Buyers.” Both take place at 7 p.m. in the Antioch Inn.

During his presentation, Koehler said shoppers already like coming to Yellow Springs.

“What you don’t know is you have fabulous branding already,” he said. Many people view the village as “a place you come to, and you feel so good that you think, how can I find a way to live here?” he said.

But local businesses, and especially downtown retailers, could do much more to keep reminding area shoppers about Yellow Springs, he said. Essential to that goal, Koehler said, is coming up with a clear “brand,” or image, of Yellow Springs that shoppers repeatedly see. Branding doesn’t mean trying to change Yellow Springs or make it into something it’s not, he said, but rather highlighting the strengths of the community in an easily recognizable way.

Yellow Springs’ current branding could be described as “bikepath, beads and beer,” Koehler said, adding that out-of-towners view the town as “cutting-edge, small and kooky,” a place that offers “the very best in a narrow offering” of shops and restaurants. Koehler suggested “the whole town is an art gallery” as an example of a brand that could draw on Yellow Springs’ strengths and stick in people’s minds.

Business people should not try to homogenize the Yellow Springs image, he said, but instead highlight what’s unique about the village.

“Be brave, step out and be a little bit off the wall,” he said.

To convey the Yellow Springs brand, downtown store owners might consider 10-second spots on television, Koehler said, or underwrite programs on WYSO, which has as listeners the type of people who shop in local stores. Newspaper ads and flyers are less expensive and also effective, he said. Most important, he said, is that within a clear budget store owners present “a line of advertising all year long,” to continually remind shoppers about Yellow Springs.

Such a consistent advertising campaign has worked for Mr. Fub’s Party, according to the store’s owner, Priscilla Moore, who said she runs ads twice a day on public television, along with newspaper ads and special events.

“I spend a lot,” Moore said, and her advertising efforts have “helped me to be branded big time.” In a recent Dayton area readers’ poll of favorite toy stores, she said, Mr. Fub’s came in second to Toys R Us and ahead of Wal-Mart.

But an effective advertising campaign takes cash, and Yellow Springs businesses will be better off if they work together, Koehler said.

“If I have a notice, it is that you are collectively stronger than you are individually,” he said. “With the high cost of media, if we’re trying to build a baseline to establish a media program, it’s not something you should have to shoulder alone.”

Others present echoed Koehler’s emphasis on the need for collaboration between local businesses, and some expressed frustration that merchants in the past have often resisted group efforts.

“It’s not the overall understanding that what benefits Village Artisans also benefits the Springs Motel,” said Phyllis Schmidt. The health of downtown businesses is essential to all, Schmidt said, because downtown is “the face of the village. If that is unhealthy, it affects everything. It’s a mystery to me why everyone doesn’t understand the symbiosis.”

Those who attended the seminar expressed interest in collaboration, and discussed a variety of ways to work together.

Business owners could create a village-wide Web site where tourists could easily access local events and businesses, Patti Dallas said.

Ron Schmidt of the CIP agreed that currently there is “no place people can get everything about Yellow Springs,” and said that “one initiative of the CIP is to create such a site.”

Store owners could increase business by staying open during the evening, said Terre Pope, the manager of Global Gallery, but a critical mass of merchants is needed to make such a move profitable.

“There is tons of evening traffic in town, all going to restaurants and not retail because retail is not open,” he said, adding that visitors at night attend the Little Art Theatre and restaurants. He suggested that a group of retailers try staying open in the evenings for a six-month period to gauge the results.

Phyllis Schmidt said that whether or not stores are open in the evenings, they need to have “consistent hours, consistent days.” Last summer, she took several informal surveys of Sunday shoppers, Schmidt said, and many expressed confusion about why some stores were closed.

“To come some big distance to Yellow Springs to find some places not open is a disincentive,” she said.

Koehler suggested that businesses build on the successes that Yellow Springs already has, such as the Street Fairs.

“You push the highs,” he said. “Street Fair should be two days long. Piggybacking on Street Fairs is a logical exercise for businesses.”

Participants also discussed the possibility of merchants collaborating with organizers of other events that draw in tourists, such as YS Kids Playhouse in the summer.

Relatively simple steps that could be taken to enhance downtown include increasing and improving lighting, especially on Dayton Street, and cleaning up the overall appearance, several participants said.

Ideas presented at Tuesday’s meeting were recorded and will be presented to the participants of next week’s meeting, said Don Hollister of the Chamber. The Chamber and the CIP hope that the three seminars lead to action steps that will help to create collaboration between business owners, Hollister said.

Contact: dchiddister@ysnews.com