How We See It: Merchants Seize Chance For Promotion

It may come as no big surprise that an editorial board in an advertising-reliant industry would be a strong advocate for businesses getting their messages to potential customers. Rare is the business that can simply open its door to a flood of paying customers. It takes work and an intentional strategy to get people's attention and give them a reason to walk through the door.

For small businesses, that's even more critical and, sometimes, more challenging. It's amazing how many new businesses or entrepreneurs set up shop and presume that customers will simply show up. A retailer may offer of the most exciting product available in their niche or a restaurant may prepare the absolute best steaks known to man calendar, but unless word spreads, their future will be in question.

What’s The Point?

Merchants in sections of Rogers and Fayetteville are taking strong steps to create new identities for parts of their towns that have much to offer local shoppers and visitors.

Our world today has a lot of noise when it comes to getting messages out, and simple seems to work pretty well. That's why a couple of recent merchant-driven efforts in two Northwest Arkansas communities caught our eyes.

In Rogers, home of a renewed drive to breath new life into an outstanding downtown area, a collection of shop owners have formed the Downtown Merchants Association. In doing so, these merchants have set out to do what nobody else can do as effectively: Tell their stories and tout what they have to offer.

"We all have different skill sets,"said Mary Schopp, co-owner of The Rabbit's Lair. "By combining our skills sets and money we can better represent our interests."

Smaller shops can find it challenging to be seen and heard in the cacophony of today's media messages. They hope to become a front-of-mind destination by focusing attention to their presence and collective strength downtown while also embracing the unique aspects of every venture.

Likewise in Fayetteville, a group of merchants and the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce are marshalling their forces to create a new brand. They hope they can convince people to view as "midtown" the shopping opportunities on and around College Avenue and between downtown and "uptown," another branding effort to describe the retail area around College and Joyce Boulevard.

It's tough to package such a diverse collection of shops in the area they consider midtown. Economic development officials say it's home to about 600 businesses. As the city grows, being able to identify "midtown" as a location and market it will become more important.

Rogers' downtown and Fayetteville's midtown are both areas under challenging circumstances. It's easy for them to be overlooked when people consider destinations for shopping. These marketing efforts stand a good chance, if executed with gusto, of redefining these areas in the minds of shoppers and in extending the reach of the two key messages: "Welcome" and "Open For Business."

Individual businesses can find it hard to make a big splash in today's promotional pond. These collective efforts can be strong measures in giving locations a better senses of identity, and in making those identities work in a promotional sense.

We hope the efforts are successful in helping people see all downtown Rogers and midtown Fayetteville have to offer.

Commentary on 09/17/2014

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