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How in the world do you promote your business in the middle of a pandemic? Honestly... we are all still figuring it out. Business 101 courses never covered this topic and we all are navigating some unchartered territory here.
There are a variety of organizations and Quad Citizens that have stepped up to offer some solutions. We wanted to pass along a few of our favorite promotional opportunities we have seen thus far.
Need more eyeballs on your stuff?
Trying to keep up with all of the new places you can promote your business? Here's where we are seeing the largest audiences and places where you can make the most impact for FREE:
• Virtually Shop QC Facebook Group
Visit Quad Cities launched this group late last week and we're already seeing a ton of engagement. This is a great opportunity for all retailers, makers, restaurants, really any small shop to promote shopping local. Keep your eye on this group and get involved!
• TapOnIt Local Lists
TapOnIt created Local Lists as a free resource for people to find current hours, purchasing options and ways that everyone can help support local during the COVID-19 Pandemic. It's completely free to join the list and it's a really nice one stop source to stay updated and support all of our local businesses.
Check it out here: https://taponitdeals.com/locallists/
• Emergency Take-Out and Delivery Facebook Group
If you are a restaurant or bar that is still open and haven't stumbled upon this group (created by our friends at TapOnIt), with 24K+ members, this is an awesome place to push out your message.
*Friendly marketing tip - make sure when you post your graphics you make it easy for customers to see your location, hours and how to order. You want to make it super easy for the end user to find all of the information in one place. New to creating graphics? Canva.com is a free tool and user friendly with templates to work off of.
Need Help Selling Gift Cards?
Quad-City Times - Buy Local gift card directory
The Quad-City Times launched a new online marketplace to help drive support to Quad Cities businesses during this difficult time. Businesses, including those temporarily closed due to COVID-19, may join the Buy Local gift card directory for free by filling out this form.
The Times pledges to drive its readers to the site through continual print and digital ads, emails and social media messages.
The Downtown Davenport Partnership teamed up with Downtown Bettendorf Organization and the Quad Cities Chamber to partner on this effort.
TapOnIt Marketplace
TapOnIt is promoting gift card sales for businesses to 70,000 Quad Cities area residents by text, stressing the importance of supporting locally owned establishments.
Did you know TapOnIt is a small business that was started here in the Quad Cities? Their team is still located and continues to grow here. DDP, the Chamber and Downtown Bettendorf Organization are partnering on this effort as well to support the cause and help promote shopping local.
Contact Jennifer at TapOnIt to feature your business in these promotions. Downtown Davenport businesses get an exclusive discounted $50 rate. Download the flyer with all the details and benefits.
Raise money for your business through t-shirt fundraisers
Classical Graphics is partnering with local businesses to launch merch stores at no cost to the business. They'll build the design, set up the webstore, do the printing, shipping and then send you a check with proceeds.
You'll see a few downtown neighbors with merch up now. Check out the store here: https://www.classicalgraphicsllc.com/
Want to launch your own? Drop a line to krista@classicalgraphicsllc.com or call 563-332-9088
ICYMI...
A new interactive resource guide to help businesses, entrepreneurs and nonprofits during the COVID-19 pandemic is live on the Chamber's website.
The guide, which has numerous categories and a search function, will be updated regularly with reliable and accurate information as new resources are announced.
The Chamber blog also will continue to be updated daily with the latest local, state and federal COVID-19 news and information for businesses, including details about upcoming virtual events.
The Chamber strives to be your one-stop business resource, providing you the latest updates to help you protect the health of your workforce and operations.
More than $24 million in grants announced for Iowa businesses
The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) this week announced more than $24 million in grants for 1,000-plus businesses through the Small Business Relief Program.
As of Friday, April 10, 110 businesses in Scott, Clinton and Muscatine counties had received grants in the state’s first four rounds of funding. Additional funding is expected to be available soon, pending availability of funds. Future awards will be granted to businesses in the current pool of nearly 14,000 applicants, the IEDA reports.
• Round 1 grant recipients
• Round 2 grant recipients
• Round 3 grant recipients
• Round 4 grant recipients
Stay in Touch
We have no doubt that more creative ideas are cooking throughout our community, in fact our own team will be launching a new Support Local initiative we've been working on this week! We'll share more details on that soon.
In the meantime, if you have an idea on how we can help or if you've seen something cool that you think we should know about - give us a shout.