I have an opportunity, looking for feedback

[umc]

Locally we have some new bridges being built. On one side lies a big city with lots of people and things to do. On the other side lies some much smaller cities that feel more like disparate suburbs of the main city. People in the main city often view those across the bridge as though visiting is going to another country. With that said, plenty of bridge crossing happens and the suburb side has lots of retail and restaurants just like the main city.

The new issue is that tolls are coming. So anyone that comes to the suburb side will pay $4 just to come over round trip. Certainly $4 isn't the end of the world, but it adds up.

People in main city are freaked out and declaring the end of visits to the suburbs. People are literally moving across the bridges to save a little money like people paid tens of thousands to drive a Prius when gas got expensive for a little while.

So the opportunity that presents itself to me is incentivizing people to cross to suburbia so as not to hurt local businesses in suburbia. My ideas are discounts equal to tolls but you as a small ice cream shop can't afford it. Then there is the issue of how to track if they came from main city over one of the tolled bridges (two are not tolled but harder to get to and out of the way). Where there is fear there is opportunity. Any ideas?

[ShayB]

How about getting a number of the local suburbia businesses together and offer some sort of discount card?

 

If you can save money from 20 different businesses by spending $4, wouldn't that be worth it?

[Art Moran]

I think Shay's idea is actually pretty straight forward, use the "pain points" - the costs, hassle, impact, etc.. etc.. and get local small business owners to 'rally together' on an ad spend (maybe local times newsletter, mailer, etc...) that gives them ad exposure, offers discounts, and 'incentivizes' people to see the greater value they get by supporting the smaller shop owners.

 

Honestly, it's like looking at Walmart, whereas, a large portion of those who shop there understand the impact that these 'super stores' had on smaller businesses and mom and pop storefronts, and they'll bitch about Walmart...yet, they still shop there! (*Becuase no one has given a strong enough cause, not to!)

 

If you use the power of fear, pain, and laser target the local shop owners of their potential losses, you have an easy sell, and can help them bridge the otherwise potential death of their business, which makes for a win/win.

 

I, wholeheartedly agree with Shay, and definitely see your concern for the small business owner(s) and local economy. Having lived in Orlando, Florida nearly any direction you travel was a toll road due to the tourist appeal of Disney, Universal Studios, etc...

 

Therefore, I too am all for the 'underdog prevailing' mindset. Your idea is great, as it encourages and stimulates economic growth in an area of "mom and pop" business owners that without more exposure will likely get swallowed up by corporate giants who will capitalize on any weakness they can to inherit sales from smaller competitors. (Again, like Walmart has done.)

 

Best of luck... if you succeed, then so do the smaller business owners, maybe use that to lead your marketing revolution!

[ShayB]

As an example:

 

Let's say (for easy math) you have 10 businesses. 5 on the front, 5 on the back. (Or they are all on the back and the card is sponsored by you or another business.)

 

Each business pays $X to be included on the card. (Go to Vistaprint or elsewhere to find the cost of 500/1000/5000 cards, for example.) Have them pay enough to make a profit for you. If you have a local biz, advertise on it, too. (Free advertising for you.)

 

The cards are given to potential customers for free. The advertisers pass them out to customers (to get them to come back), plus have other places give them out. They can be a nice "gift" for businesses to give to clients.

 

Lots of ways you can do this.

[umc]

First let me say up front that I'm an overthinker and I tend to complicate things, but on the positive side I tend to see lots of different angles.  Second, thanks for the good input already.    I had thought about cards, websites, apps, etc.   

 

So the main city is on the Kentucky side, and the suburbs are on the Indiana side.  It is the Indiana side that may see a negative impact (though maybe it keeps more locals on the Indiana side of the river instead of them going to Kentucky for dinner or whatever).  If nothing else, I would think the Indiana side is the one that would be the most vulnerable to such a shift in the market.

 

The discount cards are a good idea, but there would have to be some way (may check driver's licenses) to give out the cards to just those crossing from Kentucky.  Otherwise they'd be losing money on customers from Indiana unnecessarily.  Cards would make it tough to change merchants as well once printed.  Maybe that's not much of an issue though (I've never done cards).  I guess it could be some sort of card that points to a website where the members of the group or offerings can change over time.

 

I thought from a business owner's perspective that they may be worried about people utilizing the card at one place on their trip over, then another, then another, though I guess that doesn't ultimately matter much if they're coming over anyway.  It might upset those on the Indiana side that they aren't getting the same discount though.  

 

Also, those people that got whatever card would want to save at least $4 on their trip over.  That might be a 40% discount on a $10 meal for one, or nearly free ice cream cone at the local ice cream place.  So I guess it would have to be a number of discounts across different industries.  If it is just 20 restaurants and they're just coming over for one meal and the restaurant is offering 10% off it may not pay for the tolls.

 

So I guess I'm just trying to figure out what kind of deals will make it worth the while of people, how to get the offers distributed to the Kentucky customers coming to Indiana, and how to make it good but not so good that the Indiana faithful don't feel left out.

[AprilCT]

I'm not discounting what has been stated above, but what can the burbs offer that the city doesn't have or, because of the way the buildings and streets are put together, can't compete with the burbs for "it"? Brainstorming sessions needed with burb officials, biz owners, etc. to plan something enticing and research well before sinking in any major cash outlays on the idea(s). Keep the ideas quiet so the city can't beat you out on putting something in place.

 

I assume the toll is per vehicle? Blatantly suggest people double-date in the evenings or car-pool, mini-van over and present their receipt to get special offers for whatever the businesses in the burbs are offering now. Do check the license for address, but perhaps special offers per group in the vehicle?

 

You might want to limit the offer to one or two participating businesses at a time. All special offers have limits so people don't rip off the biz. I'm thinking of special offer coupon books with offers timed over a period of time instead of all at once, again checking the addresses. You don't want the special treatment to annoy the burb residents so if you're going to do that, perhaps some kind of special offers to keep the residents happy as well--they can have a different coupon book. I've seen special offer coupon books go for a lot of money...but then the offers are pretty good if you go out a lot and I'd keep the cost down, if you charge for them at all.

 

Edited - One more thing. You didn't state whether this was a blue collar, an affluent or very mixed income area, or what do people typically do for fun. One of the things to keep in mind is if there is plenty of interest in doing things that go the opposite way away from the city and the toll bridge.

 

Sorry for the ramble, all the thinking just off the top of my head.

[umc]

Sorry for my delayed response April.  My wife's first ever birthday party was Saturday and it was a big deal and took my time away.

 

The burbs have some restaurants that the main city doesn't have, little local places.  A different feel, different parks on the river.  They can't compete on big attractions, but the truth is that the burbs are closer for certain residents of the city to find even the chain stores.  Downtown in the main city has no Wal-Mart, no Target, no grocery.  Many people come across the bridges to shop and eat because it's just closer and with the expressway and bridge is easy to get to.  

 

I too felt that there needs to be caution so as not to alienate the burbs residents because the main city peeps get a discount.  Maybe it would be prudent just to get a discount site or card or whatever together that is good for everyone with no guarantee of making that $4 toll back, but like you said encouraging people from the city to come over by the car full or even to attract people from farther away in the state with the burbs to come on down and shop too.  After all, gas and time takes money and it could prove to attract some new consumers that didn't come all the way down to the river much before.

 

The area has mixed ages, incomes, etc. especially as you consider folks coming over from downtown of the main city, people that come down from more rural areas to shop, blue collar people that work in some of the low to middle income areas, etc.  

 

Thanks for the feedback!

[Art Moran]

I too am a serial 'over-thinker' and certainly wouldn't worry too much about which side of the pond to test the market. Test both!!!

As April mentioned, the heavily populated areas generally have everything they need in a relatively close proximity.

But, if you did say; "direct mail offers" you could test the markets on both sides based on address/demographics/geo targeting, etc.

Another words, encourage city folk to offer discounts to the 'burbs'to make the fee worthwhile.

...and the target the city folk who might be willing to 'cross the bridge'for a live show with dinner, or receive incentives from the smaller (usually) quality minded small business owners who know to survive among circling sharks they have to swim faster and out-think the metro business buffet. There's a lot of angles you could work... Like "escape this weekend and enjoy a relaxing atmosphere across the pond" subsribe to the "City Escape Times"... IDK do reviews, write up some 1 page articles showcasing your featured (paying) clients and offer coupons/dicounts/rewards that target businesses close to the toll bridge.

Naturally, you can reverse engineer the mindset for both sides of the pond.

Funny story, a lot of copywriters refer to setting up "toll plaza" campaigns that make money on those coming in and those going out, same concept...different bridge.

[ShayB]

Could you use Bob Ross' 9x12 postcard system for this?

 

Sell ad space on postcards and target households on ZIP codes "across the pond"?

 

Run different specials every month?

 

Just an idea.  

[Jack Gordon]

I don't think you are solving the right problem.

 

People who freak out over a $4 toll while on their way to spend $50-$75 on dinner and ice cream aren't really freaking out over the $4. 

 

They are freaking out because they have no control over the decision to spend that $4 if there is something they want on the other side of that bridge. They are not likely to be placated by a discount card because, again, it is not about the $4.

 

Instead of trying to scrape together reparations from the local businesses (which - let's face it - just means you are robbing Peter to pay Paul the money Mary stole from him), you should focus on how can position the business community as a premium destination *worth* the extra $4.

 

What can people do across the bridge that is not available to them in the city? Any unique shops, restaurants, museums, parks, etc?

 

If it really is just bland suburbia over there, they may have trouble surviving this until the hype wears down and the $4 toll is just another part of the typical routine. In that case, if I owned one of those businesses, I would offer a full $4 credit for any $xx purchase with a receipt from the tollbooth from that day. No need to over-complicate things.

[ShayB]

I don't think you are solving the right problem.

 

People who freak out over a $4 toll while on their way to spend $50-$75 on dinner and ice cream aren't really freaking out over the $4. 

 

They are freaking out because they have no control over the decision to spend that $4 if there is something they want on the other side of that bridge. They are not likely to be placated by a discount card because, again, it is not about the $4.

 

Instead of trying to scrape together reparations from the local businesses (which - let's face it - just means you are robbing Peter to pay Paul the money Mary stole from him), you should focus on how can position the business community as a premium destination *worth* the extra $4.

 

What can people do across the bridge that is not available to them in the city? Any unique shops, restaurants, museums, parks, etc?

 

If it really is just bland suburbia over there, they may have trouble surviving this until the hype wears down and the $4 toll is just another part of the typical routine. In that case, if I owned one of those businesses, I would offer a full $4 credit for any $xx purchase with a receipt from the tollbooth from that day. No need to over-complicate things.

 

Sort of like how most businesses downtown validate parking. Nice idea.

[umc]

Jack nailed it.  In talking on here about it and with others I see that it isn't about a discount but more about creating value, a reason to come across despite the tolls.  These will all be electronic tolls so there won't be receipts (from what I understand) and tracking wouldn't be cut and dry, but ultimately if $4 is keeping people away there's a bigger issue.  I do think that the suburbs are going to have to raise their game.  There were plans for some unique attractions that were about to be created years ago and that were approved and then they all went away, which may come back to bite them until things normalize over time.  

[Jack Gordon]

Jack nailed it.  In talking on here about it and with others I see that it isn't about a discount but more about creating value, a reason to come across despite the tolls.  These will all be electronic tolls so there won't be receipts (from what I understand) and tracking wouldn't be cut and dry, but ultimately if $4 is keeping people away there's a bigger issue.  I do think that the suburbs are going to have to raise their game.  There were plans for some unique attractions that were about to be created years ago and that were approved and then they all went away, which may come back to bite them until things normalize over time.  

 

When emotions run high, it is easy for true motivations to become obfuscated. 

 

The hard truth is that if the burbs have nothing special to offer, then they have nobody to blame but themselves for failing to be competitive.

 

It is never too late to start, though, and it sounds like they need a leader to bring them out of the wilderness.

 

THERE is your opportunity